Feb. 1, 1964 - The song “Louie Louie” has been criticized by Indiana’s first citizen, Governor Matthew Welsh, as “pornographic.” The Governor reported today that after hearing the hit recording by The Kingsmen, his “ears tingled.” Welsh promptly fired off a letter to Reid Chapman, president of the Indiana Broadcasters Association, requesting that the record be banned from all radio stations in the state.
A spokesman at Indianapolis’ WIBC, the city’s top-rated radio station, said the record (this week’s No. 6 in the nation) was No. 4 at the station for the past two weeks but was no longer being played, apparently as a result of the Governor’s criticism.
Attempts to pinpoint alleged pornographic content in the song have been fruitless thus far, as The Kingsmens’ performance renders the lyrics virtually unintelligible. Sources at Sceptor-Wand Records, the New York company that released the recording, flatly stated today that “not in anyone’s wildest imagination are the lyrics as presented on the Wand recording in any way suggestive, let alone obscene.”
