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Let’s give it to ’em right now!! The Inside Story of Louie, Louie…
Cover of "Louie, Louie" by Dave Marsh
This is a truly great book about rock and roll. The sub-title of the book is as follows: “The History and Mythology of the World’s Most Famous Rock’n’Roll Song; Including the Full Details of Its Torture and Persecution at the Hands of the Kingsmen, J. Edgar Hoover’s F.B.I., and a Cast of Millions; and Introducing, for the First Time Anywhere, the Actual Dirty Lyrics” Isn’t that intriguing? You bet it is!
I was totally surprised by this book. I thought it was going to be some kind of light, funny take on the history of “Louie, Louie”. This is a serious and scholarly look at the song and it’s significance. That’s not to say that the book isn’t entertaining as well, because IT IS! This book will make you laugh and make you think.
First of all, The Kingsmen did not write Louie, Louie. A great soul singer from L.A. named Richard Berry wrote the song. He had a reasonable amount of success with it at first. His story is a subject all by itself. Paul Revere and the Raiders released a version of the song within days of The Kingsmen. Their versions fought it out on the radio for weeks, but The Kingsmen ultimately won. Why?, well that’s why you should read the book. Well, that reason and because you want to know what the dirty lyrics are, right? Dave Marsh makes a great case for Louie, Louie being the greatest Rock’n’Roll song of all time. There are now over 3,000 version of Louie, Louie. There is an annual Louie, Louie radio marathon called “Maximum Louie, Louie”. Maximum Louie, Louie is held every April 11th and they play every known version of Louie, Louie. There is a web site where you can report any new versions that you know of. He also makes amazing connections between the primal scream of “Let’s give it to ’em right now!” and Kurt Cobain and the birth of Grunge or The Seattle Sound. After all, the Kingsmen were from Portland Oregon. The F.B.I. spent more time and money investigating the song than they did investigating John Lennon. J. Edgar Hoover finally decided that the lyrics were indecipherable. Ain’t Rock’n’Roll Grand! There are so many fascinating stories in this book that I can’t share them. Suffice to say the book is worth the time you will invest in reading it. I strongly recommend it. As for me? “…we gotta go now!”
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George Harrison Documentary is must see Television…
George Harrison
Martin Scorsese has struck again. First he made the documentary “The Last Waltz”: a film about the final concert of The Band. Then he makes a documentary about the early career of Bob Dylan called “No Direction Home”. Now he gives us this amazing documentary called: “George Harrison – Living in the Material World”.
The documentary aired last week on HBO. The documentary is in two parts and is a total of about 4 hours long. Scorsese was given exclusive access to George Harrison’s private archives by his widow Olivia Harrison. Much of the material has never been seen before.
Part one starts with his childhood and ends with the making of “The White Album”. Some of the highlights of part one were the discussion with Paul McCartney about how George auditioned for John Lennon in the dead of night on the top deck of a Liverpool double-decker bus. There are a lot of very interesting storys, pictures, and video about their early years in Germany provided by their long time friend Klaus Voorman. The best moment of part 1 is right at the end when they interview Eric Clapton about playing on the song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. Eric tells how George insisted that he play on the cut. Eric says that the song is about the slow disintegration of the Beatles from George’s perspective: “I look at you all, see the love there that’s sleeping; while my guitar gently weeps.” That was a wow moment for me. I had never heard that before. Now it seems so obvious.
Part 2 covers the break up of the Beatles and continues the story of George’s exploration of eastern religious thought. Highlights include interviews with Phil Spector, Ringo Starr and his last wife Olivia Harrison, as well as his son Dhani. There is a riveting conversation with Olivia about the night a nut broke into the Harrison home and attacked and stabbed George. Also, her description of the moment of his death.
This documentary is well worth the time invested to watch it. You can catch the reruns on HBO or it is available on demand at HBO GO.com.
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Posted in Life Events, TV Reviews
Tagged Bob Dylan, Dhani Harrison, Eric Clapton, George Harrison-Living in the Material World, HBO, HBO GO, John Lennon, Klaus Voorman, Martin Scorsese, No Direction Home, Olivia Harrison, Paul McCartney, Phil Spector, Ringo Starr, The Band, The Last Waltz, The White Album, While My Guitar Gently Weeps
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