# Marching Band prohibited from playing "Louie Louie" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 5, 2005, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marching-band-prohibited-from-playing-louie-louie/302591 "2005-05-05T20:37:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wartime\_Consigliori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@Wartime\_Consigliori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wartime_Consigliori)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marching-band-prohibited-from-playing-louie-louie/302591/1 "2005-05-05T20:37:23Z")
[The ignorant tight-ass club strikes again!](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,155628,00.html) Good Lord, what was this superintendent thinking? Was she thinking?! For Christ’s Sake, even the FBI “investigated” the song some 40 years ago and found it to be kosher. What really makes this friggin’ ridiculous is that the marching band was not even going to sing the damned song! Man, when someone that out of touch with reality is running the school system, then Houston (or in this case Benton Harbor, MI) we definately have a problem. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marching-band-prohibited-from-playing-louie-louie/302591/2 "2005-05-05T20:43:59Z")
> [@](#): > > the FBI spent two years investigating the lyrics before declaring they not only were not obscene but also were “unintelligible at any speed.” It takes two years for the FBI to read the lyrics to a song? Did it ever dawn on them to just ask the record company? ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marching-band-prohibited-from-playing-louie-louie/302591/3 "2005-05-05T20:46:58Z")
> [@Wartime Consigliori](#): > > Marching Band prohibited from playing “Louie Louie” I absolutely support the banning of this song – it’s bad enough when a rock band plays it; it’s much worse when a marching band does. ---
**Author:** ![Wartime\_Consigliori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@Wartime\_Consigliori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wartime_Consigliori)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marching-band-prohibited-from-playing-louie-louie/302591/4 "2005-05-05T20:51:19Z")
Ya know, I gotta admit you have a valid point there, **JeffB** ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marching-band-prohibited-from-playing-louie-louie/302591/5 "2005-05-05T21:19:38Z")
[The lyrics in question.](http://www.thesmokinggun.com/louie/louiereal1.html) I don’t think our school administrators have enough to do. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marching-band-prohibited-from-playing-louie-louie/302591/6 "2005-05-05T21:23:41Z")
[From here](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_316): > [@](#): > > “Louie Louie, me gotta go. Louie Louie, me gotta go. A fine little girl, she wait for me. Me catch the ship across the sea. I sailed the ship all alone. I never think I’ll make it home. Louie Louie, me gotta go . Three nights and days we sailed the sea. Me think of girl constantly. On the ship, I dream she there. I smell the rose in her hair. Louie Louie, me gotta go. Me see Jamaican moon above. It won’t be long me see me love. Me take her in my arms and then I tell her I never leave again. Louie Louie, me gotta go.” _Obviously_ obscene! I mean, you _know_ what those Jamaicans mean when they say, ‘Me take her in my arms’. _Louie, Louie_ is a not-so-subtle song about date rape. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marching-band-prohibited-from-playing-louie-louie/302591/7 "2005-05-05T21:34:26Z")
I can’t wait to see what high school football games will look like in 5-10 years. \*There will be no cheerleaders (cheering could lead to dancing). \*There will be no marching bands. Since pretty much every song is about love or sex it is only a matter of time before they are all banned. \*There will be no cheering at all by fans. We have to protect the feelings of the kids on the losing team don’t we? Better yet, they just won;t keep score. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marching-band-prohibited-from-playing-louie-louie/302591/8 "2005-05-05T21:38:21Z")
Johnny L.A. has obiously not heard Iggy Pop’s rendition! and don’t quote entire songs, I don’t want you to get banned! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marching-band-prohibited-from-playing-louie-louie/302591/9 "2005-05-05T21:40:55Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#): > > and don’t quote entire songs, I don’t want you to get banned! Considering where the quote was taken from (see the link) and who wrote it, I didn’t think it would be a problem. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marching-band-prohibited-from-playing-louie-louie/302591/10 "2005-05-05T21:52:15Z")
You know, I can’t help but to be reminded of Frank Zappa’s album “Joe’s Garage.” It looks like _The Central Scrutinizer_ has struck again. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marching-band-prohibited-from-playing-louie-louie/302591/11 "2005-05-05T21:59:22Z")
> [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](#): > > You know, I can’t help but to be reminded of Frank Zappa’s album “Joe’s Garage.” Which reminds me, they can still play Dinah Moe Hum, can’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marching-band-prohibited-from-playing-louie-louie/302591/12 "2005-05-05T22:18:32Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > Which reminds me, they can still play Dinah Moe Hum, can’t they? Couldn’t possibly be any worse than the explicit lyrics from ‘Jazz From Hell’, right? ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marching-band-prohibited-from-playing-louie-louie/302591/13 "2005-05-05T23:01:35Z")
I support legislation that authorizes the public whipping of any high school marching band that plays “Louie Louie”, “Rockin’ Robin”, or “Hang On Sloopy”. That’s practically all our band played. (When my sister went through high school four years prior, _they_ got to play _Peaches En Regalia_ at an exhibition.) ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marching-band-prohibited-from-playing-louie-louie/302591/14 "2005-05-05T23:10:24Z")
[The Master speaks](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_316.html). Robin ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marching-band-prohibited-from-playing-louie-louie/302591/15 "2005-05-05T23:28:05Z")
In my collection is an LP from 1985 which is a special compilation by WMMR 93.3 FM Philly, and it includes the Rice University Marching Owl Band performing Louie, Louie. Allegedly the MOB, as they are known, concludes every halftime show with a rendition. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marching-band-prohibited-from-playing-louie-louie/302591/16 "2005-05-06T01:22:00Z")
> [@DeadlyAccurate](#): > > It takes two years for the FBI to read the lyrics to a song? Did it ever dawn on them to just ask the record company? How can something be obscene if it’s unintelligable? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marching-band-prohibited-from-playing-louie-louie/302591/17 "2005-05-06T01:43:52Z")
And here I was assuming this was about Williams-Brice Stadium. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marching-band-prohibited-from-playing-louie-louie/302591/18 "2005-05-06T04:53:18Z")
I just got done writing a very brief and polite email to Superintendent Dawning as well as the news editor of the Herald-Palladium (the local paper there), including the link to Cecil’s article and the lyrics. I urged her to reconsider. I sure hope she doesn’t pull books from the school library without bothering to read them first. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marching-band-prohibited-from-playing-louie-louie/302591/19 "2005-05-06T06:30:35Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > How can something be obscene if it’s unintelligable? ::points at 75% of rap music these days:: ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marching-band-prohibited-from-playing-louie-louie/302591/20 "2005-05-06T06:32:50Z")
D’oh…make that: :: points at 75% of rap music these days:: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marching-band-prohibited-from-playing-louie-louie/302591.md?page=2)