Louie Louie#2020s

The "extraordinary roller-coaster tale of obscurity, scandal, success and immortality"{{cite web|first=Steven|last=Van Zandt|author-link=Steven Van Zandt|website=BBC Radio International|title=BBC Radio International Pop Docs Catalogue - Louie Louie and the G Men (FE234)|page=13|url=https://static.files.bbci.co.uk/wspartners/assets/default/0001/01/7ef2eb57689c0eb1d9e256ac22bd8ac22f5bf0f3.pdf|access-date=October 2, 2023}} and "remarkable historical impact"{{sfn|Doll|2017|p=296}} of "Louie Louie" have been recognized by organizations and publications worldwide. A partial list (see Recognition and rankings table below) includes the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame, National Public Radio, VH1, Rolling Stone Magazine, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Recording Industry Association of America. Other major examples of the song's legacy include the celebration of International Louie Louie Day every year on April 11; the annual Louie Louie Parade in Philadelphia from 1985 to 1989; the LouieFest in Tacoma from 2003 to 2012; the ongoing annual Louie Louie Street Party in Peoria; and the unsuccessful attempt in 1985 to make it the state song of Washington.

Dave Marsh in his book Louie Louie: The History and Mythology of the World's Most Famous Rock 'n' Roll Song wrote, "It is the best of songs, it is the worst of songs",{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=3}} and also labeled it "cosmically crude".{{cite book|title=Bruce Springsteen on Tour: 1968-2005|first=Dave|last=Marsh|author-link=Dave Marsh|year=2006|isbn=978-1596912823|publisher=Bloomsbury USA|page=23}} Rock critic Greil Marcus called it "a law of nature"{{cite book|title=Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll Music|publisher=Plume|location=New York |last=Marcus|first=Greil|author-link=Greil Marcus|date=2015 |page=362|isbn=978-0142181584}} and New York Times music critic Jon Pareles, writing in a 1997 obituary for Richard Berry, termed it "a cornerstone of rock".{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|title=Richard Berry, Songwriter of 'Louie Louie,' Dies at 61|date=January 25, 1997|first=Jon|last=Pareles|author-link=Jon Pareles|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/25/arts/richard-berry-songwriter-of-louie-louie-dies-at-61.html}} Music historian Peter Blecha noted, "Far from shuffling off to a quiet retirement, evidence indicates that 'Louie Louie' may actually prove to be immortal." Although the song "surely resists learned exegesis",{{cite book|title=Rock of Ages: The Rolling Stone History of Rock & Roll|page=275|first1=Ed|last1=Ward|author-link1=Ed Ward (writer)|first2=Geoffrey|last2=Stokes|author-link2=Geoffrey Stokes|first3=Ken|last3=Tucker|author-link3=Ken Tucker|date=1986|publisher=Summit Books|location=New York|isbn=0-671-54438-1}} other writers described it as "musically simple, lyrically simple, and joyously infectious",{{cite book|first=Michael|last=Forest|page=15|chapter=Primal and Spontaneous: Neil Young's Aesthetics of Authenticity|editor=Douglas L. Berger|title=Neil Young and Philosophy|date=2019|isbn=978-1498505123|publisher=Lexington Books}} "deliciously moronic",{{cite book|title=Punk: The Whole Story|first=Mark|last=Blake|author-link=Mark Blake (writer)|date=2006|publisher=DK|location=London|page=238|isbn=978-0756623593}} "a completely unforgettable earworm",{{sfn|McLucas|2010|page=56}} "the essence of rock's primal energy",{{cite book|title=Living in Spanglish: The Search for Latino Identity in America|first=Ed|last=Morales|date=2007|publisher=St. Martin's Press|page=155|isbn=978-1429978231}} and "the immortal international hit ... that defines rock 'n' roll."

Others noted that it "served as a bridge to the R&B of the past and the rap scene of the future",{{cite book|title=Hip Hop in America: A Regional Guide|page=289|first=Mickey|last=Hess|date=2009|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Santa Barbara|isbn=978-0313343216}} that "it came to symbolize the garage rock genre, where the typical performance was often aggressive and usually amateurish",{{cite book|title=Rock and Roll and the American Landscape: The Birth of an Industry and the Expansion of the Popular Culture, 1955-1969|first=Stuart|last=Rosenberg|date=2009|publisher=iUniverse|page=112|isbn=978-1440164583}} and that "all you need to make a great rock 'n' roll record are the chords to 'Louie Louie' and a bad attitude."{{cite magazine|magazine=Spin Magazine| date=February 1993|first=James|last=Marshall|title=Blue Light Special|page=82}}

Music historian and filmmaker Eric Predoehl of The Louie Report described the song as,

Purity. It's just a very pure, honest rock 'n' roll song. It's a song of romantic ideals hidden amongst a three-chord melody. It's an idealistic song. It's a misunderstood song. It's a confusing and disorienting song. It's like a heartbeat.

Humorist Dave Barry (with perhaps some exaggeration) called it "one of the greatest songs in the history of the world".{{cite book|first=Dave|last=Barry|author-link=Dave Barry|title=Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs|page=46|date=2012|location=Kansas City|publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing|isbn=978-1449437589}} American Songwriter summarized, "It might be the best-known rock song of all time. It might be the most important rock song of all time."{{cite web|website=American Songwriter|first=Jacob|last=Uitti|date=March 31, 2023|access-date=April 4, 2023|url=https://americansongwriter.com/who-wrote-the-seminal-classic-rock-song-louie-louie-hint-its-not-who-you-think/|title=Who Wrote The Seminal Classic Rock Song "Louie Louie"? Hint: It's Not Who You Think}}

The Kingsmen's recording was the subject of an FBI investigation about the supposed, but nonexistent, obscenity of the lyrics that ended without prosecution.{{cite web|url=http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/funny/lascivious-louie-louie|title=The Lascivious 'Louie Louie'|website=The Smoking Gun|access-date=February 18, 2009}} The nearly unintelligible (and innocuous) lyrics were widely misinterpreted, and the song was banned by radio stations. Marsh wrote that the lyrics controversy "reflected the country's infantile sexuality" and "ensured the song's eternal perpetuation",{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=118-119}} while another writer termed it "the ultimate expression of youthful rebellion".{{cite book |last1=Perone |first1=James E. |title=Smash Hits: The 100 Songs That Defined America |date=17 October 2016 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-4408-3469-1 |page=143 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sHkbDQAAQBAJ |language=en}} Jacob McMurray in Taking Punk To The Masses noted, "All of this only fueled the popularity of the song ... imprinting this grunge ur-message onto successive generations of youth, ... all of whom amplified and rebroadcast its powerful sonic meme ...."{{cite book|first=Jacob|last=McMurray|date=2011|page=1|title=Taking Punk to the Masses: From Nowhere to Nevermind|location=Los Angeles|publisher=Fantagraphics|isbn=978-1606994337}}

Richard Berry was inspired to write the song in 1955 after listening to an R&B interpretation of "El Loco Cha Cha" performed by the Latin group Ricky Rillera and the Rhythm Rockers. The tune was written originally as "Amarren Al Loco" ("Tie Up The Madman" or "Tie Up That Lunatic") by Cuban bandleader Rosendo Ruiz Jr. (also known as Rosendo Ruiz Quevedo),{{cite web|title=Strachwitz Frontera Collection Genre History: Everybody Does the Cha-Cha-Cha|url=https://frontera.library.ucla.edu/blog/2016/10/genre-history-everybody-does-cha-cha-cha|date=October 13, 2016|first=Agustin|last=Gurza|access-date=March 8, 2024|website=frontera.library.ucla.edu}} but became best known in the "El Loco Cha Cha" arrangement by René Touzet which included "three great chords, solid and true" and a ten-note "1-2-3 1–2 1-2-3 1–2" tumbao or rhythmic pattern.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=31}}{{cite book|author=Sublette, Ned|author-link=Ned Sublette|editor=Eric Weisbard|title=Listen Again: A Momentary History of Pop Music|chapter=The Kingsmen and the Cha-Cha-Chà|date=2007|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0822340416}} The "unforgettable hook" of "Louie Louie" was lifted directly from Touzet's composition.{{cite book|first=Timothy|last=Snyder|author-link=Timothy Snyder|title=On Freedom|page=75|date=2024|chapter=Unpredictability|isbn=978-0593728727|location=New York|publisher=Crown Publishing Group}}

File:Louie Louie rhythm.svg In Berry's mind, the words to "Louie Louie" "just kind of fell out of the sky", superimposing themselves over the repeating bassline as he scribbled backstage on a strip of toilet paper.{{cite news|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|first=Bob|last=Greene|author-link=Bob Greene|date=January 29, 1997|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1997/01/29/the-whole-story-of-louie-louie-down-to-the-punctuation/|access-date=April 8, 2024|title=The Whole Story of 'Louie Louie,' Down to the Punctuation}} Lyrically, the first person perspective of the song was influenced by "One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)", which is sung from the perspective of a customer talking to a bartender ("Louie" was the name of Berry's bartender).{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=31–33}} He additionally cited Chuck Berry's "Havana Moon" and his own exposure to Latin American music for the song's speech pattern and references to Jamaica.{{cite AV media notes | date = 1989 | first=Peter|last=Blecha|author-link=Peter Blecha|title = The Best of Louie Louie | type = liner notes | publisher = Rhino Records | id = R1 70605}}

Los Angeles-based Flip Records recorded Berry's composition with his vocal group the Pharaohs in April 1956. The Pharaohs were Godoy Colbert (first tenor), Stanley Henderson (second tenor, subbing for Robert Harris), and Noel Collins (baritone). Gloria Jones of the Dreamers provided additional backup vocals. Session musicians included Plas Johnson on tenor sax, Jewel Grant on baritone sax, Ernie Freeman on piano, Irving Ashby on guitar, Red Callender on bass, Ray Martinez on drums, and John Anderson on trumpet.{{cite AV media notes |title=Richard Berry "Louie Louie"|date=1986 |first1=Jim |last1=Dawson|author-link1=Jim Dawson|first2=Ray|last2=Topping |type=LP liner notes |publisher=Earth Angel JD-901 |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/3250774-Richard-Berry-Louie-Louie| location=Stockholm|website=Discogs.com}}

File:Richard Berry - Flip 321 - 78 rpm release.jpgFlip released the record in April 1957 with "Louie Louie" as the B-side of "You Are My Sunshine", but prior to the song's release, Berry sold his portion of the publishing and songwriting rights for "Louie Louie" and four other songs for $750 to Max Feirtag, the head of Flip Records, to raise cash for his upcoming wedding. Both 7-inch 45 RPM and 10-inch 78 RPM versions were pressed. (An early 45 RPM label misprint exists, reported by Steve Propes, with the title rendered as "Louie Lovie".){{cite magazine|magazine=Record Convention News|date=February–March 2007|first=Steve|last=Propes|author-link=Steve Propes|title=45 RPM Oddities: The "Louie Lovie" Story|location=Sylmar, CA|publisher=Valley Printers}}{{cite web|url= https://rockinsteve.wordpress.com/2007/08/|first=Steve|last=Propes|author-link=Steve Propes|date=August 7, 2007|website=45 RPM|title=Richard Berry "Louie Louie" 1957|access-date=November 22, 2023}}

A Cash Box review rated the A-side as a B+, but the B-side only rated a B with the comment, "Richard Berry chants a middle beat with a steady, syncopated rhythm that captures an excitement."{{cite magazine|magazine=Cash Box|date=April 6, 1957|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/50s/1957/CB-1957-04-06.pdf|title=R&B Reviews|page=40|access-date=April 8, 2024}} Local A-side airplay was modest, but then KGFJ deejay Hunter Hancock flipped the record and put the B-side in heavy rotation, resulting in a regional hit, particularly in San Francisco.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|page=37}} When Berry toured the Pacific Northwest, local R&B bands began to play the song, increasing its popularity. The song was re-released by Flip in 1961 as an A-side single and again in 1964 on a four-song EP, but never appeared on any of the national charts. Sales estimates ranged from 40,000{{cite news|newspaper=Financial Times|date=October 8, 2018|first=Ian|last=McCann|title=Louie Louie — why the influential garage classic was investigated by the FBI|url=https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/louie-louie.html|access-date=April 11, 2023}} to 130,000 copies.{{cite news|newspaper=The Independent|date=June 26, 1993|first=Richard|last=Williams|author-link=Richard Williams (journalist)|title='Louie Louie': written on lavatory paper and sold for only dollars 750: Richard Williams on a rock 'n' roll classic that sold 300m and inspired a generation|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/louie-louie-written-on-lavatory-paper-and-sold-for-only-dollars-750-richard-williams-on-a-rock-n-roll-classic-that-sold-300m-and-inspired-a-generation-1494065.html|access-date=April 11, 2023}}

Other versions appeared on Casino Club Presents Richard Berry (1966), Great Rhythm and Blues Oldies Volume 12 (1977),This re-recording, produced by Johnny Otis with session guitar by Shuggie Otis, also appears on Shuggie Otis In Session: Great Rhythm & Blues (2002) and Pioneers of Rhythm & Blues Volume 5 (2008). and The Best of Louie, Louie (1983). Although similar to the original, the version on Rhino's 1983 The Best of Louie, Louie compilation{{AllMusic|id=mw0000652173 |title=Various artists: The Best of Louie Louie, Vol. 1 - Review|first=Andrew|last=Hamilton}} is actually a note-for-note re-recording (with backup vocals by doo wop revival group Big Daddy){{cite book|title=The Da Capo Book of American Singing Groups: A History 1940-1990|first=Jay|last=Warner|year=1992|publisher=Da Capo Press|location=Boston|page=522|isbn=0-306-80923-0}} created because licensing could not be obtained for Berry's 1957 version. The original version was included on a 1986 Swedish compilation, but not until the Ace Records Love That Louie release in 2002 did it see wide distribution.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pages=41-42, 195}}

In the mid-1980s, Berry was living on welfare. Drinks company California Cooler wanted to use "Louie Louie" in a commercial, but discovered it needed Berry's consent because despite having sold the publishing rights, he still owned the radio and television performance rights.{{cite AV media notes|first=Rhino|last=Reagan|date=1983|title=The Best of Louie, Louie: The Greatest Renditions of Rock's #1 All Time Song|type=LP liner notes|publisher=Rhino Records|location=Los Angeles}} The company asked the Artists Rights Society to locate him which led to Berry's taking legal action to regain his rights to the song. The settlement made Berry a millionaire.{{cite magazine|magazine=Goldmine|first=Mike|last=Greenblatt|date=May 15, 2015|title=The up and down life of Richard Berry|access-date=November 13, 2023|url=https://www.goldminemag.com/articles/life-richard-berry}}{{cite news|last=Kelner|first=Martin|author-link=Martin Kelner|title=Louie, Louie. Oh, oh . . .: Until a soft drinks company tracked him down, Richard Berry was living on welfare in the slums of LA.|location=London|work=The Independent, 21 October 1993|date=21 October 1993}}

While the title of the song is often rendered with a comma ("Louie, Louie"), in 1988, Berry told Esquire magazine that the correct title of the song was "Louie Louie" with no comma.{{Cite magazine |title=The Man Who Wrote 'Louie Louie' |last=Greene |first=Bob |author-link= Bob Greene |magazine = Esquire |date=September 1, 1988 |issue=110 |pages=63–67|url=https://classic.esquire.com/article/1988/9/1/the-man-who-wrote-louie-louie}}

"Louie Louie" is the world's most recorded rock song,{{cite news|newspaper=Bangkok Post|first=John|last=Clewley|date=28 January 2014|title=Big Ban Creates Hot Hit|url=https://www.bangkokpost.com/life/arts-and-entertainment/391821/big-ban-creates-hot-hit|access-date=28 February 2023}}{{cite web|first=Jessica|last=Curry|title=Richard Berry: Los Angeles Native Turned Tacoma Icon|date=20 June 2019|url=https://tacomamusichistory.org/2019/06/20/richard-berry-los-angeles-native-turned-tacoma-icon/|website=Tacoma Music History|access-date=28 February 2023}} with published estimates ranging from over 1,600{{cite news |last=Blecha |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Blecha|title=Garage Rock Anthem "Louie Louie" Turns 50 |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/garage-rock-anthem-louie-louie-turns-50/ |access-date=July 21, 2019 |newspaper=The Seattle Times |date=April 1, 2007}} to more than 2,000{{cite magazine|magazine=Mojo Magazine|title=10 Great Versions of Louie Louie|first=Paul|last=Stokes|date=30 April 2015|url=https://www.mojo4music.com/articles/stories/10-great-versions-of-louie-louie/|access-date=28 February 2023}} "with ever more still being released and performed".{{cite book|first=Samuel|last=Murray|chapter=The Kingsmen, 'Louie Louie' (1963)|date=2022|isbn=978-1501368424|title=One-Hit Wonders: An Oblique History of Popular Music|editor=Sarah Hill|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|location=London}} It has been released or performed by a wide range of artists from reggae to hard rock, from jazz to psychedelic, from hip hop to easy listening. Peter Doggett labeled it "almost impossible to play badly"{{sfn|Doggett|2015|p=434}} and Greil Marcus asked, "Has there ever been a bad version of 'Louie Louie'?"{{cite news|url=https://www.seattlestar.net/2021/07/mr-jimbo-metastasizing-or-you-cant-always-death-what-you-want-greil-marcus-on-the-doors/ |newspaper=Seattle Star|first=Andrew|last=Hamlin|title=Mr. Jimbo Metastasizing, or, You Can't Aways Death What You Want: Griel Marcus on the Doors|date=July 16, 2021|access-date=October 31, 2021}} Paul Revere summarized, "Three chords and the most mundane beat possible. Any idiot could learn it, and they all did."{{cite news |last=Prichep |first=Deena |title='Louie Louie': The story behind the song everyone knows but no one understands |url=https://www.npr.org/2023/10/31/1209181745/louie-louie-the-story-behind-the-song-everyone-knows-but-no-one-understands |date=October 31, 2023 |work=NPR |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20231101100704/https://www.npr.org/2023/10/31/1209181745/louie-louie-the-story-behind-the-song-everyone-knows-but-no-one-understands |archivedate=November 1, 2023 |accessdate=November 2, 2023 }}

The Kingsmen version in particular has been cited as the "Rosetta Stone" of garage rock, the defining "ur-text" of punk rock,{{cite web|url=https://thevinylfactory.com/features/proto-punk-10-records-that-paved-the-way-for-76/|website=The Vinyl Factory|title=Proto-punk: 10 records that paved the way for '76|first=Nick|last=Soulsby|date=August 31, 2016|access-date=August 26, 2021}} and "the original grunge classic".{{cite book|title=The '90s: The Inside Stories from the Decade That Rocked|editor=Rolling Stone|isbn=978-0061779206|location=New York|publisher=Harper Collins|first=Michael|last=Azerrad|orig-date=April 16, 1992|chapter=Seattle: An Inside Tour of the Decade's Greatest Scene|date=2010}} "The influential rock critics Dave Marsh and Greil Marcus believe that virtually all punk rock can be traced back to a single proto-punk song, 'Louie Louie'."{{cite book|first=Stuart A.|last=Kallen|title=The History of Alternative Rock|page=12|date=2012|isbn=978-1420507386|publisher=Lucent Books|location=San Diego}}

Pronunciation has varied widely from Berry's original "Lou-ee Lou-ee" to "Lou-ee Lou-eye" (Kingsmen, 1963), "Lou-ee Lou-eye-ay" (Angels, 1964), "Lou-eye Lou-way" (Sonics, 1966; Iggy Pop, 1972), "Lou-ee-a Lou-way" (Kinks, 1964; Motörhead, 1978), "Lou-way Lou-way" (Clarke/Duke Project, 1981), and others.

Richard Berry was on the underbill for a concert in the Seattle–Tacoma area in September 1957{{cite web|website=HistoryLink|first=Peter|last=Blecha|date=September 27, 2009b|title=Richard Berry, Los Angeles R&B singer, brings "Louie Louie" to Seattle on September 21, 1957|url=https://www.historylink.org/File/9173|access-date=June 19, 2023}} and his record appeared on local radio station charts in November 1957{{Sfn|Blecha|2009|pages=3-4}} after "African American DJs Bob Summerrise and Eager Beaver started playing it on their radio shows”. Local R&B musicians Ron Holden and Dave Lewis popularized "Louie Louie", rearranging Berry's version and performing it at live shows and "battle of the bands" events.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pages=58-61}}{{sfn|Blecha|2009|page=106}}

Holden recorded an unreleased version, backed by the Thunderbirds, for the Nite Owl label in 1959.{{sfn|Blecha|2009|page=91}} As a leader of the "dirty but cool" Seattle R&B sound,{{cite book|title=Room Full of Mirrors|chapter=Spanish Castle Magic|author-link=Charles R. Cross|first=Charles R.|last=Cross|page=76|date=2006|publisher=Hachette Books|isbn=978-1401382810}} he would often substitute mumbled, "somewhat pornographic"{{cite book|title=Holden On To Family Roots|first=Linda Holden|last=Givens|date=2009|publisher=Xlibris|isbn=978-1477160817|page=112}} lyrics in "a live tour de force [that] often lasted ten minutes or longer, devastating local audiences." Lewis, "the singularly most significant figure on the Pacific Northwest's nascent rhythm & blues scene in the 1950s and 1960s",{{cite web|first=Peter|last=Blecha|author-link=Peter Blecha|url=http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=8684|title=Lewis, Dave (1938–1998): Father of Northwest Rock|website=HistoryLink|date=July 22, 2008|access-date=February 7, 2022}} released a three chord clone, "David's Mood - Part 2", that was a regional hit in 1963.

The Wailers, Little Bill and the Bluenotes, the Frantics, Tiny Tony and the Statics, Merrilee and the Turnabouts, and other local groups soon added the song to their set lists.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|page=61}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Louie Louie

| cover = Etiquette_ET-1_Label.jpeg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Rockin' Robin Roberts

| B-side = Maryanne

| released = {{Start date|1961}}

| recorded = 1960

| writer = Richard Berry

| studio =

| genre =

• Rhythm and blues
• rock and roll

| length = {{Duration|m=2|s=40}} single, {{Duration|m=2|s=32}} album

| label = Etiquette ET-1

| producer =

}}

Robin Roberts developed an interest in rock 'n' roll and rhythm and blues records as a high school student in Tacoma, Washington. Among the songs he began performing as an occasional guest singer with a local band, the Bluenotes, in 1958 were "Louie Louie", which he had "rescued from oblivion" after hearing Berry's obscure original single, and Bobby Day's "Rockin' Robin", which gave him his stage name.{{cite web|title=Roberts, "Rockin' Robin" (1940-1967)|first=Peter|last=Blecha|author-link=Peter Blecha|url=https://www.historylink.org/File/9217|website=Historylink.org|date=November 30, 2009a|access-date=November 30, 2021}}

In 1959, Roberts left the Bluenotes and began singing with another local band, the Wailers, famed for their "hard-nosed R&B/rock fusion".{{cite book|title=The Pacific Region: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Cultures|date=2004|isbn=978-0313085055|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, CT|first1=Aaron|last1=DiFranco|first2=Jan|last2=Goggins|page=364}} Known for his dynamic onstage performances, Roberts added "Louie Louie" to the band's set and, in 1960 recorded the track with the Wailers as his backing band.{{sfn|Blecha|2009|p=116}} The arrangement, devised by Roberts with the band, was "the first-ever garage version of 'Louie Louie'"{{sfn|Blecha|2009|page=116}} and included "one of the true great moments of rock", his ad-libbed "Let's give it to 'em, RIGHT NOW!!" before the guitar solo.

Released as a single on the band's own label, Etiquette, in early 1961, it became a huge hit locally, charting at No. 1 on Seattle's KJR and establishing "Louie Louie" as "the signature riff of Northwest rock 'n' roll".{{sfn|Blecha|2009|page=119}} It also picked up play across the border in Vancouver, British Columbia, appearing in the top 40 of the CFUN chart. The popularity of the Roberts release effectively buried another "reasonably close to the Richard Berry/Ron Holden arrangement" version put out at about the same time by Little Bill Englehardt (Topaz T-1305).{{sfn|Blecha|2009|page=116}}

The record was then reissued and promoted by Liberty Records in Los Angeles, but it failed to chart nationally.{{sfn|Blecha|2009|page=118}} The track was included on the 1963 album The Wailers & Co, the 1964 compilation album Tall Cool One, the 1998 reissue of the 1962 album The Fabulous Wailers Live at the Castle, and multiple later compilations.{{AllMusic|id=mn0000487012|title=The Fabulous Wailers discography}}

Roberts was killed in an automobile accident in 1967, but his "legacy would reverberate down through the ages".{{sfn|Blecha|2009|page=119}} Dave Marsh dedicated his 1993 book, "For Richard Berry, who gave birth to this unruly child, and Rockin' Robin Roberts, who first raised it to glory."{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=v}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Louie Louie

| cover = Jerden 712 Label.jpeg

| alt =

| caption = Original release

| type = single

| artist = the Kingsmen

| album = The Kingsmen in Person

| B-side = Haunted Castle

| released = {{Start date|1963|06}} (Jerden)
{{Start date|1963|10}} (Wand)

| recorded = April 6, 1963

| studio = Northwestern Inc.

| writer = Richard Berry

| genre = *Garage rock{{cite magazine|first= Bonnie |last= Stiernberg |title= The 50 Best Garage Rock Songs of All Time |magazine= Paste |url= https://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2014/08/the-50-best-garage-rock-songs-of-all-time.html?a=1 |access-date=May 15, 2016}}{{cite book |chapter= Nuggets|last= Seward|first= Scott|title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |year=2004 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |edition=4th |editor1-last=Brackett |editor1-first=Nathan |editor2-last=Hoard |editor2-first=Christian |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |pages = 918–919}}

• proto-punk{{cite book |first=Bill |last=Osgerby|editor=Roger Sabin|chapter='Chewing out a rhythm on my bubble-gum': The teenage aesthetic and genealogies of American punk |title=Punk Rock: So What?: the Cultural Legacy of Punk |url=https://archive.org/details/punkrocksowhatcu00roge |url-access=registration |location=London |publisher=Routledge |date=1999 |page=157 |isbn=978-0-415-17030-7 }}{{cite web|url=https://thevinylfactory.com/features/proto-punk-10-records-that-paved-the-way-for-76/|title=Proto-punk: 10 records that paved the way for '76|first=Anton|last=Spice|date=August 31, 2016|website=the Vinyl Factory|access-date=December 21, 2024}}
• rhythm and blues{{AllMusic|id=mn0000773642 |first=Mark|last=Deming|title=Kingsmen Biography|access-date=December 9, 2023}}

| length = {{Duration|m=2|s=42}} (Jerden), {{Duration|m=2|s=24}} (Wand)Time listed as 2:24 on the Wand single although 2:42 is more accurate.

| label = Jerden 712, Wand 143

| producer = *Ken Chase

• Jerry Dennon

| prev_title =

| prev_year =

| next_title = Money

| next_year = 1964

| misc = {{Extra album cover

| header = Wand Re-issue

| type = single

| cover = Wand 143 Label.jpeg

| border =

| alt =

| caption = Second Wand release with "Lead vocal by Jack Ely" text

}}

}}

On 6 April 1963,{{sfnm|1a1=Peterson|1y=2005|1p=45|2a1=Blecha|2y=2009|2p=137}} the Kingsmen, a rock and roll group from Portland, Oregon, chose "Louie Louie" for their second recording.{{refn|The first Kingsmen recording was an unreleased acetate of "Peter Gunn Rock".{{cite book|title=Stomp and Shout: R & B and the Origins of Northwest Rock and Roll|first=Peter|last=Blecha|author-link=Peter Blecha|page=180|date=2023|location=Seattle|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=978-0295751252|chapter=Chapter 24: Doin' The Seaside}}}} The session took place at Northwestern Inc. Motion Pictures & Recording Studios at 411 SW 13th Avenue in Portland.{{refn|On July 2, 1993, a bronze historical marker was installed at the site by the Oregon Historical Society to commemorate the event.{{cite magazine|magazine=Two Louies|date=July 1993|page=7|location=Portland|title=The Oregon Historical Society Dedicates a Plaque at the Site of the Kingsmen's "Louie Louie"|editor-first=Buck|editor-last=Munger}} The marker disappeared shortly afterward. On September 5, 2013, the City of Portland dedicated a replacement plaque at the site. It was removed in 2015 after vandalism and theft attempts.{{cite book|title=PDXccentric - The Odyssey of Portland Oddities|first1=Scott|last1=Cook|first2=Aimee|last2=Wade|isbn=978-0979923272|date=2014|location=Portland|publisher=Slough Biscuit Press}}}} The one hour session, originally intended to produce an audition tape for a summer cruise ship gig, cost either $36,{{sfn|Peterson|2005|page=47}} $50,{{sfn|Blecha|2009|page=138}} or somewhere in between, and the band split the cost.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|page=98}}

The session was produced by Ken Chase, a local disc jockey on the AM rock station KISN who also owned The Chase, the teen nightclub where the Kingsmen were the house band. The engineer for the session was the studio owner, Robert Lindahl. The Kingsmen's lead vocalist, Jack Ely, based his version on the recording by Rockin' Robin Roberts with the Fabulous Wailers, but unintentionally reintroduced Berry's original stop-time rhythm as he showed the other members how to play it with a 1–2–3, 1–2, 1–2–3 beat instead of the 1–2–3–4, 1–2, 1–2–3–4 beat on the Wailers record.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=15}} The night before their recording session, the band played a 90-minute version of the song during a gig at a local teen club. The Kingsmen's studio version was recorded in one partial and one full take.{{sfn|Peterson|2005|pages=45-57}} They also recorded "Jamaica Farewell" and what became the B-side of the release, an original "surf instrumental"{{cite book|title=Psychedelia and Other Colours|chapter=The Savant-Garde: Surfadelica, Girl Groups and Garage Land|date=2015|first=Rob|last=Chapman|author-link=Rob Chapman (journalist)|publisher= Faber & Faber|location=London|isbn=978-0571282753}} by Ely and keyboardist Don Gallucci called "Haunted Castle".{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=98}}

The Kingsmen's version with its "ragged",{{cite book|title=Electric Wizards: A Tapestry of Heavy Music, 1968 to the Present|first=JR|last=Moores|location=London|publisher=Reaktion Books|isbn=978-1789144499|date=2022}} "sloppy",{{cite book|title=The Tombstone Tourist|chapter=The Legends|page=31|first=Scott|last=Stanton|date=2003|isbn=978-0743463300|location=New York|publisher=Gallery Books}} "chaotic",{{cite book|title=Kick It: A Social History of the Drum Kit|first=Matt|last=Brennan|page=190|location=London|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0190683863|date=2020}} "shambolic, lumbering style",{{sfn|Doggett|2015|p=332}} complete with "manic lead guitar solo, insane cymbal crashes, generally slurred and unintelligible lyrics",{{cite web|first=Peter|last=Blecha|author-link=Peter Blecha|date=1988|url=http://nwmusicarchives.com/artist/kingsmen-the-portland-or/|title=The Kingsmen: Portland's Rock Royalty|website=Northwest Music Archives|access-date=February 8, 2022}} transformed the earlier Rockin' Robin Roberts version on which it was based into a "bumbling, bear-in-a-china-shop",{{cite book|first=Bob|last=Stanley|date=2014|title=Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!:The Story of Pop Music from Bill Haley to Beyoncé|chapter=America Strikes Back: The Birds and Folk Rock|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0393242706|location=New York}} "gloriously incoherent",{{cite book|first=Peter|last=Doggett|author-link=Peter Doggett|title=Electric Shock: From the Gramophone to the iPhone – 125 Years of Pop Music|page=282|date=2015|publisher=Random House|isbn=9781448130313|location=London}} "raw and raucous" "stomping garage-rocker"{{cite book|title=Music USA: The Rough Guide|chapter=Seattle Rock in the 1960s|page=447|first1=Richie|last1=Unterberger|author-link1=Richie Unterberger|first2=Samb|last2=Hicks|editor=Jennifer Dempsey|date=1999|location=London|publisher=Rough Guides|isbn=978-1858284217}} "so wrong it's right".{{cite web|first=Brett|last=Milano|date=March 16, 2023|website=uDiscovermusic|title=The Greatest Debut 45 Records In History|url=https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/debut-singles/|access-date=March 21, 2023}} Ely had to stand on tiptoe to sing into a boom mike, and his braces further impeded his "sinew-stretching",{{cite news|work=The Independent|location=London|title=Jack Ely: Singer whose sinew-stretching rendition of "Louie Louie" helped make it the second-most covered song in pop music|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/jack-ely-singer-whose-sinewstretching-rendition-of-louie-louie-helped-make-it-the-secondmost-covered-song-in-pop-music-10213725.html|date=April 20, 2015|access-date=November 15, 2023}} "giraffe-neck gabble"{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=136}} singing. The result was a "raw and unsanitized, unmanaged and unscrubbed"{{cite AV media|title=I Love Louie Louie|author=The Rubinoos|type=lyrics|date=2014|publisher=Pynotic Productions|location=Berkeley, CA}} effort that the group hated but manager Ken Chase loved. Jerry Dennon's local Jerden label was contracted to press 1,000 vinyl 45s.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|page=99}}

The guitar break is triggered by a shout, "Okay, let's give it to 'em right now!", both lifted from the Roberts version.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=67}} Critic Dave Marsh suggests it is this moment that gives the recording greatness:{{sfn|Marsh|1999|p=14}}

[Ely] went for it so avidly you'd have thought he'd spotted the jugular of a lifelong enemy, so crudely that, at that instant, Ely sounds like Donald Duck on helium. And it's that faintly ridiculous air that makes the Kingsmen's record the classic that it is ....

Marsh ranked the song as No. 11 out of the 1001 greatest singles ever made, describing it as "the most profound and sublime expression of rock and roll's ability to create something from nothing".{{sfn|Marsh|1999|p=12}} The Independent in Britain noted that it reinforced "a growing suspicion that enthusiasm was more important to rock 'n' roll than technical competence or literal meaning", and Jarvis Cocker added that "you can't tell a word of what the singer is singing and it doesn't matter".{{cite book|first=Jarvis|last=Cocker|author-link=Jarvis Cocker|title=Mother, Brother, Lover: Selected Lyrics|date=2011|chapter=Introduction|page=1|isbn=978-0571281923|publisher=Faber & Faber|location=London}}

Music producer and historian Alec Palao wrote,

This is truly the quintessential garage band moment, an audio-vérité snapshot that communicates directly what red-blooded grass roots American rock 'n' roll is all about ... the Kingsmen's "Louie Louie" spills forth with a rush of teenage hormones: raw, untutored, yet seemingly ready to take on the world.

Albin J. Zak in The Poetics of Rock commented,{{cite book|title=The Poetics of Rock: Cutting Tracks, Making Records|publisher=University of California Press|first=Albin J.|last=Zak III|date=2001|page=43|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0520232242}}

What makes the Kingsmen's "Louie Louie" a good record? Neither lyrics nor melodic design, harmonic motion, rhythmic groove, or instrumental arrangement — all of which can be represented in some fashion apart from the record (though the lyrics would be at best an approximation) — hold the key to the answer. The record's power is in its sound, which represents multiple elements, processes, and voices — song, arrangement, sounds, techniques of sound recording and processing, musical performances, and all the particular ephemeral nuances that attend the moment of inscription. What is, from a certain perspective, mind-numbingly simple is in fact a complex network of phenomenal elements that we perceive as a whole.

A significant error on the Kingsmen version occurred just after the lead guitar break. As the group was going by the Wailers version, which had a restatement of the riff twice over before the lead vocalist came back in, it would be expected that Ely would do the same. Ely, however, missed his mark, coming in too soon before the second restatement of the riff. He realized his mistake and stopped the verse short, but the band did not realize that he had done so. As a quick fix, drummer Lynn Easton covered the pause with a drum fill. The error "imbued the Kingsmen recording with a touching humility and humanity" and is now so well known that multiple versions by other groups duplicate it.{{cite book|title=The Musical Ear: Oral Tradition in the USA|first=Anne Dhu|last=McLucas|date=2010|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-0754663966|page=57|chapter=Oral Tradition in American Popular Music}}{{cite web|website=Reverb.com|title=10 Times Studio Mistakes Created Music Magic|first=Emily|last=Harris|date=September 25, 2020|access-date=May 6, 2020|url=https://reverb.com/news/when-studio-mistakes-created-music-magic}}

First released in May 1963, the single was initially issued by the small Jerden label, before being picked up by the larger Wand Records in October 1963. Wand president Florence Greenberg said, "... it was forced down my throat by friends. I was ashamed to put it out."{{cite news|newspaper=San Francisco Examiner|first=Phyllis|last=Battelle|author-link=Phyllis Battelle|date=September 25, 1970|title=Spinning Grandma|page=39}} Herb Alpert and A&M Records passed on the distribution opportunity,{{cite magazine|magazine=American Songwriter|url=https://americansongwriter.com/herb-alpert-talks-passing-on-the-kingsmen-loving-the-beatles-and-recording-his-new-lp/|title=Herb Alpert Talks Passing on the Kingsmen, Loving the Beatles, and Recording His New LP|first=Jacob|last=Uitti|date=August 2021}} deeming it "too long" and "out of tune".{{cite news|newspaper=St. Pete Catalyst|first=Bill|last=DeYoung|date=November 28, 2022|url=https://stpetecatalyst.com/the-catalyst-interview-herb-alpert/|title=The Catalyst interview: Herb Alpert}}

Sales of the Kingsmen record were initially so low (reportedly 600) that the group considered disbanding. Things changed when Boston's biggest DJ, Arnie Ginsburg, was given the record by a pitchman. Amused by its slapdash sound, he played it on his program as "The Worst Record of the Week". Despite the slam, listener response was swift and positive.{{Cite web|date=August 8, 2015 |first=Dave |last=Lifton |title=How the Kingsmen Stirred Up Controversy With 'Louie Louie' |url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/kingsmen-louie-louie/ |access-date=2020-12-26 |website=Ultimate Classic Rock |language=en}}

By the end of October, it was listed in Billboard as a regional breakout and a "bubbling under" entry for the national chart. Meanwhile, the Raiders version, with far stronger promotion, was becoming a hit in California and was also listed as "bubbling under" one week after the Kingsmen debuted on the chart. For a few weeks, the two singles appeared destined to battle each other, but demand for the Kingsmen single, backed by national promotion from Wand, acquired momentum and by the end of 1963, Columbia Records had stopped promoting the Raiders version.

It entered the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for December 7, and peaked at No. 2 the following week, a spot which it held for six non-consecutive weeks; it would remain in the top 10 throughout December 1963 and January 1964 before dropping off in early February.{{Cite book| author = Whitburn, Joel | title = Joel Whitburn Presents Billboard Top 10 Singles Charts | year = 2001 | location = Menomonee Falls, WI| publisher = Record Research, Inc. | pages = 69–72 | isbn = 0-89820-146-2 | author-link = Joel Whitburn}} In total, the Kingsmen's version spent 16 weeks on the Hot 100, selling a million copies by April 1964.{{cite book|first=Joseph|last=Murrells|year=1978|title=The Book of Golden Discs|edition=2nd, illustrated|publisher=Barrie & Jenkins|location=London|page=131|isbn=0-214-20480-4|url=https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr|url-access=registration}} The Singing Nun's "Dominique" and Bobby Vinton's "There! I've Said It Again" prevented the single from reaching No. 1 (although Marsh asserts that it "far outsold" the other records, but was denied Billboard's top spot due to lack of "proper decorum".){{sfn|Marsh|1993|page=123}} "Louie Louie" did reach No. 1 on the Cash Box and Music Vendor/Record World pop charts, as well as No. 1 on the Cash Box R&B chart.{{Cite book|title= Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |date=2004 |publisher=Record Research |page=328|location=Menomonee Falls, WI}}Billboard R&B chart not published from November 30, 1963, to January 23, 1965. In Canada it was No. 1 for three weeks beginning December 30, 1963.{{cite web|url=http://chumtribute.com/63-12-30-chart.jpg| title=CHUM Hit Parade - December 30, 1963}} It was the last No. 1 on Cash Box before Beatlemania hit the United States with "I Want to Hold Your Hand".{{cite book| first= Frank| last= Hoffmann| date=1983| title= The Cash Box Singles Charts, 1950-1981| publisher= The Scarecrow Press, Inc| location= Metuchen, NJ & London| page= 835}} The Kingsmen version quickly became a standard at teen parties in the U.S. during the 1960s and, reaching No. 26 on the UK Singles Chart,{{sfn|Betts|2005|p=439}} was the preferred tune for a popular British dance called "The Shake".{{cite magazine|magazine=Music Week|date=November 29, 1986|title=Why Louie Louie won't lie down|first=Barry|last=Lazell|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-UK/Music/Archive-Music-Week-IDX/IDX/1986/Music-Week-1986-11-29-IDX-20.pdf|access-date=December 24, 2021}} The first album, The Kingsmen in Person, peaked at No. 20 in 1964 and remained on the charts for over two years (131 weeks total) until 1966.{{cite book| first= Joel| last= Whitburn| date=1996| title= Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Albums| publisher= Record Research Inc.| location= Menomonee Falls, WI| isbn= 0-89820-117-9| url-access= registration| url= https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstopp00whit}}

Due to the lyrics controversy and supported by the band's heavy touring schedule, the single continued to sell throughout 1965 and, after being reissued in 1966 as "Louie Louie 64-65-66", briefly reappeared on the charts, reaching No. 65 in Cash Box, No. 76 in Record World, No. 97 in Billboard{{cite book| last = Whitburn| first = Joel| title = The Comparison Book Billboard/Cash Box/Record World 1954-1982| location=Ann Arbor |publisher = Sheridan Books| year = 2015| isbn = 978-0-89820-213-7}}{{cite magazine|magazine=Cash Box|date=April 30, 1966|title=Louie, Louie Returns Again|page=52|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/60s/1966/CB-1966-04-30.pdf}} and cracking the Top 40 in the Washington market.{{cite magazine|magazine=Billboard|title=Top Sellers in Top Markets|date=May 14, 1966|page=52}} Total sales estimates for the single range from 10 million to over 12 million with cover versions accounting for another 300 million.{{cite news|newspaper=Los Angeles Daily News/Lewiston Journal|first=Lewis|last=Beale|date=September 5, 1986|title=After 23 years, 'Louie Louie' cooler than ever|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1899&dat=19860905&id=guJJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8B0NAAAAIBAJ&pg=6190,518467}}

Another factor in the success of the record may have been the rumour that the vocals were intentionally slurred by the Kingsmen to cover up lyrics that were allegedly laced with profanity, graphically depicting sex between the sailor and his lady. Crumpled pieces of paper professing to be "the real lyrics" to "Louie Louie" circulated among teens. The song was banned on many radio stations and in many places in the United States, including Indiana, where a ban was requested by Governor Matthew Welsh.{{cite magazine |first=Gil|last=Faggen|page=3|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/60s/1964/Billboard%201964-02-01.pdf|title=Indiana Gov. Puts Down 'Pornographic' Wand Tune |magazine=Billboard magazine |date=February 1, 1964|access-date=May 15, 2019}}{{cite web |first=Peter|last=Blecha|author-link=Peter Blecha|url=http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=5206 |title=Louie Louie – the Saga of a Pacific Northwest Hit Song |website=HistoryLink |date=February 15, 2003|access-date=March 5, 2016}}{{cite magazine|last=Macdonald|first=Cameron|title=Seconds: Phil Milstein: Louie|magazine=Stylus Magazine|date=June 28, 2006}}{{cite news|last=Higgins|first=Will|title=That time Indiana teens ratted out dirty 'Louie Louie' lyrics, and the FBI got involved|url=https://www.indystar.com/story/entertainment/2019/01/02/kingsmen-louie-louie-richard-berry-song-lyrics-dirty-version-fbi-investigation-indiana-teens/2240339002/|access-date=March 2, 2019|newspaper=Indianapolis Star|date=January 2, 2019}} These actions were taken despite the fact that practically no one could distinguish the actual lyrics. Denials of chicanery by Kingsmen and Ely did not stop the controversy. The FBI started a 31-month investigation into the matter and concluded they were "unable to interpret any of the wording in the record." However, drummer Lynn Easton later admitted that he yelled "Fuck" after fumbling a drum fill at 0:54 on the record.{{sfnm|1a1=Blecha|1y=2009|1p=138|2a1=Marsh|2y=1993|2p=97}}{{cite news|last=Attig|first=Rick|title=Ex-Kingsman brings act to C.O.|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4EZTAAAAIBAJ&pg=6174,3247956&dq=jack+ely+kingsmen&hl=en|access-date=March 11, 2013|newspaper=The Bend Bulletin|date=August 4, 1987}}{{snopes|link=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/louie-louie-fuck/|title=Did ‘Louie Louie’ Drummer Yell ‘F*ck’ During Recording?}}{{cite book|title=The Mind of the Censor and the Eye of the Beholder: The First Amendment and the Censor's Dilemma|first=Robert|last=Corn-Revere|author-link=Robert Corn-Revere|date=2021|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1107129948|page=143|chapter=Ya Got Trouble: Censorship and Popular Music}}

By the time the Kingsmen version had achieved national popularity, the band had split. Two rival editions—one featuring lead singer Jack Ely, the other with Lynn Easton who held the rights to the band's name—were competing for live audiences across the country. A settlement was reached later in 1964 giving Easton the right to the Kingsmen name but requiring all future pressings of the original version of "Louie Louie" to display "Lead vocal by Jack Ely" on the label.{{sfn|Blecha|2009|p=156}} Ely released "Love That Louie" (as Jack E. Lee and the Squires) in 1964 and "Louie Louie '66" and "Louie Go Home" (as Jack Ely and the Courtmen) in 1966 without chart success. He re-recorded "Louie Louie" in 1976 and again in 1980, and these versions appear on multiple 60s hit compilations credited to "Jack Ely (formerly of the Kingsmen)" or "re-recordings by the original artists".

Subsequent Kingsmen "Louie Louie" versions with either Lynn Easton or Dick Peterson as lead vocalist appeared on Live & Unreleased (recorded 1963, released 1992), Live at the Castle (recorded 1964, released 2011), Shindig! Presents Frat Party (VHS, recorded 1965, released 1991), 60s Dance Party (1982), California Cooler Presents Cooler Hits (recorded 1986, released 1987),{{cite book|first=Greil|last=Marcus|author-link=Greil Marcus|title=Real Life Rock: The Complete Top Ten Columns, 1986-2014|date=2015|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|isbn=9780300196641|chapter=The Village Voice, 1986-1990|page=10}} The Louie Louie Collection (as the Mystery Band, 1994), Red, White & Rock (2002), Garage Sale (recorded 2002, released 2003), and My Music: '60s Pop, Rock & Soul (DVD, 2011).{{cite web|first=Clay|last=Stabler|url=https://louielouie.org/discography/|website=The Kingsmen Official Site|title=Kingsmen Discography|access-date=August 25, 2021}} A solo version by Peterson was also included on the 1999 Circle of Friends, Volume 1 CD.{{cite AV media|location=Hollywood|title=Circle of Friends, Volume 1|date=1999|publisher=MainStreet Entertainment 60153CD}}

On 9 November 1998, after a protracted lawsuit that lasted five years and cost $1.3 million, the Kingsmen were awarded ownership of all their recordings released on Wand Records from Gusto Records, including "Louie Louie". They had not been paid royalties on the songs since the 1960s.{{cite magazine|title=Kingsmen reign - High court grants royalties, tapes of 'Louie'|url=https://variety.com/1998/music/news/kingsmen-reign-1117488295/|magazine=Variety|date=November 9, 1998|first=Christopher|last=Stern}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.louielouie.org/modules.php?name=Lawsuit_Info|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130312073206/http://www.louielouie.org/modules.php?name=Lawsuit_Info|title=Lawsuit info at Louielouie.org|archive-date=March 12, 2013}}

When Jack Ely died on April 28, 2015, his son reported that "my father would say, 'We were initially just going to record the song as an instrumental, and at the last minute I decided I'd sing it.{{'"}}{{cite news|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|title=Jack Ely dies at 71; vocalist on the Kingsmen's 'Louie Louie'|date=April 30, 2015|access-date=February 28, 2022|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-jack-ely-20150430-story.html}} When it came time to do that, however, Ely discovered the sound engineer had raised the studio's only microphone several feet above his head. Then he placed Ely in the middle of his fellow musicians, all in an effort to create a better "live feel" for the recording. The result, Ely would say over the years, was that he had to stand on his toes, lean his head back and shout as loudly as he could just to be heard over the drums and guitars.{{cite web |last1=Dubois |first1=Steven |last2=Rogers |first2=John |title='Louie Louie' Singer Jack Ely Dies in Oregon at 71 |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/28/louie-louie-jack-ely-dies_n_7165492.html |website=Huffington Post |agency=Associated Press |access-date=March 5, 2016 |date=April 28, 2015}}

When Mike Mitchell died on April 16, 2021, he was the only remaining member of the Kingsmen's original lineup who still performed with the band.{{cite magazine |last1=Kreps |first1=Daniel |title=Mike Mitchell, Guitarist on the Kingsmen's 'Louie Louie,' Dead at 77 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/mike-mitchell-guitarist-the-kingsmen-louie-louie-dead-obit-1157393/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=18 April 2021 |date=18 April 2021}} His "Louie Louie" guitar break has been called "iconic",{{cite web|website=Guitar.com|date=April 19, 2021|first=David|last=Seah|url=https://guitar.com/news/music-news/mike-mitchell-kingsmen-louie-louie-dies/|title=Mike Mitchell, Co-Founder of Kingsmen and Guitarist on Louie Louie, Dies at 77|access-date=February 28, 2022}} "blistering",{{cite web|website=Guitar World|title=Mike Mitchell, The Kingsmen co-founder and Louie Louie guitarist, dies aged 77|url=https://www.guitarworld.com/news/mike-mitchell-the-kingsmen-co-founder-and-louie-louie-guitarist-dies-aged-77|first=Matt|last=Owen|date=April 19, 2021|access-date=February 28, 2022}} and "one of the most famous guitar solos of all time".{{cite news|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/apr/19/mike-mitchell-guitarist-on-the-kingsmens-louie-louie-dies-aged-77|date=April 19, 2021|title=Mike Mitchell, guitarist on the Kingsmen's Louie Louie, dies aged 77|first=Ben|last=Beaumont-Thomas|access-date=February 28, 2022}} Guitar Player magazine noted, "Raw, lightning-fast, and loud, the solo's unbridled energy helped make the song a No. 2 pop hit, but also helped set the template for garage-rock – and later hard-rock – guitar."{{cite magazine|magazine=Guitar Player|first=Jackson|last=Maxwell|date=April 19, 2021|url=https://www.guitarplayer.com/news/mike-mitchell-guitarist-and-co-founder-of-the-kingsmen-dead-at-77|title=Mike Mitchell, Guitarist and Co-Founder of The Kingsmen, Dead at 77|access-date=February 28, 2022}}

Citing it as “the only piece of pop music I can remember from my youth”, British writer Peter Ackroyd selected the Kingsmen's "Louie Louie", along with works by Beethoven, Bach, and Prokofiev as music selections on the BBC Radio 4 show, Desert Island Discs.{{Cite AV media|type=radio interview|interviewer=Kirsty Young|interviewer-link=Kirsty Young|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b01hw633|title=Desert Island Discs - Peter Ackroyd - BBC Sounds|date=May 20, 2012|website=BBC.co.uk|access-date=November 19, 2023}} British newspaper The Independent in 2015 declared it the "party anthem of the universe". Paste Magazine in 2018 said, "There is no other song as essential to the garage rock genre … and no one else made it nearly as notable as The Kingsmen did."{{Cite web |title=The 50 Best Garage Rock Albums of All Time |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/garage-rock/the-50-best-garage-rock-albums-of-all-time |first1=Josh|last1=Jackson|first2=Annie|last2=Black|date=January 29, 2018|access-date=2025-06-11 |website=Paste Magazine |language=en-US}}

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=New Zealand|type=single|title=Louie Louie|artist=Kingsmen|award=Gold|access-date=December 15, 2024|relyear=1963|certyear=2024|source=radioscope}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|title=Louie Louie|artist=Kingsmen|award=Silver|access-date=December 18, 2024|relyear=2006|certyear=2023|id=19176-6438-1}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|noshipments=true|streaming=true}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Louie Louie

| cover = Raiders Sande 45.jpg

| caption = Original release

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Paul Revere & the Raiders

| album = Here They Come!

| B-side = Night Train

| released = {{Start date|1963|05}} (Sandē)
{{Start date|1963|06}} (Columbia)

| recorded = April 1963

| studio = Northwestern Inc.

| genre =

| length = {{Duration|m=2|s=38}}

| label = Sandē 101, Columbia 4-42814

| writer = Richard Berry

| producer = Roger Hart

| prev_title = So Fine

| prev_year = 1963

| next_title = Louie Go Home

| next_year = 1963

| misc = {{Extra album cover

| header = National release

| type = single

| cover = Raiders_Louie_Louie_single_label.png

| border =

| alt =

| caption =

}}

}}

Shortly after the Kingsmen, Paul Revere & the Raiders recorded a "cleaner, more accomplished" "soulful version"{{cite AV media|type=CD notes|work=Paul Revere & the Raiders Greatest Hits|first=Billy|title=Some History|last=Altman|date=1999|publisher=Columbia Records}} of "Louie Louie" in the same Portland studio. Sources concur that the Kingsmen session was first, but differ on the Raiders recording date.{{refn|Timing of the Raiders session date varies from one day after the Kingsmen,{{sfn|Gillett|1996|p=314}} two days (Mark Lindsay, 2011),{{cite news|newspaper=Austin Chronicle|title=Good Thing: Q&A with Mark Lindsay|first=Jim|last=Caligiuri|date=April 13, 2011|access-date=January 13, 2025|url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/music/2011-04-13/good-thing/}} three days (Mark Lindsay, 2015),{{cite web|website=x.com|first=Mark|last=Lindsay|url=https://x.com/MarkLindsay/status/593174479372685314|date=April 28, 2015|title="To settle it once and for all: Jack Ely/The Kingsmen recorded Louie Louie 3 days BEFORE the Raiders."|access-date=January 13, 2025}} five days,{{cite web|title=On This Day in 1963 Roger Hart Produced Louie Louie-Raiders Version!|date=April 11, 2011|publisher=Stumptown Blogger|url=https://www.stumptownblogger.com/2011/04/on-this-day-in-1963-roger-hart-produced-louie-louie-raiders-version.html}} and seven days.{{sfn|Blecha|2009|p=139}} Steve West's 2020 biography gives April 29th as the Raiders recording date based on "CBS archives", but the CBS receipt date was likely much later than the recording date.}}

Personnel included Mark Lindsay (sax, vocals), Steve West (guitar), and Mike Smith (drums) with Paul Revere subbing on bass.{{cite web|website=Northwest Music Archives Discography & Labelography|title=Louie Louie/Night Train|url= https://nwmusicarchives.com/record/louie-louie-night-train-2/|access-date=December 23, 2024}}{{cite book|title=The Lost Raider: The True Story of the Original 1963 Recording of "Louie Louie"|author1=Steve West|author2=Linda West|author3=Malachi Mata|date=2020|isbn=979-8372889415}} The recording was paid for and produced by KISN radio personality Roger Hart, who soon became personal manager for the band.{{cite magazine|magazine=Vintage Guitar|first=Dan|last=Forte|title=Steve West: Life Since "Louie, Louie"|url=https://www.vintageguitar.com/24687/steve-west/|date=September 2015|page=24}} Released on Hart's Sandē label and plugged on his radio show,{{sfn|Blecha|2009|p=139}} their version was more successful locally. Columbia Records issued the single nationally in June 1963 and it went to No. 1 in the West and Hawaii, but only reached No. 103 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. The quick success of "Louie Louie" faltered, however, due to lack of support from Columbia and its A&R man Mitch Miller,{{cite web|website=Sundazed|title=The Tall Cool Tale of Paul Revere & the Raiders: A Conversation with Mark Lindsay and Paul Revere|first=Domenic|last=Priore|author-link=Domenic Priore|date=March 24, 2011|url=https://sundazed.com/a-conversation-with-mark-lindsay.aspx|access-date=April 4, 2023}} a former bandleader (Sing Along With Mitch) with "retrogressive taste"{{cite book|title=America's Songs III: Rock!|first=Bruce|last=Pollock|date=2017|isbn=978-1317269649|publisher=Taylor & Francis|page=59|chapter=1961-1964}} who disliked the "musical illiteracy" of rock and roll.{{cite news|newspaper=The Los Angeles Times|title=Obituaries: Mitch Miller dies at 99; musical innovator and host of 'Sing Along With Mitch'|date=March 10, 2014|first=Dennis|last=McLellan|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-mitch-miller-20100803-story.html|access-date=October 16, 2023}}

The Raiders version opened with Lindsay's saxophone intro followed by Smitty's exhortation to "Grab yo woman, it's-a 'Louie Louie' time!".{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=96}} Another signature phrase was "Stomp and shout and work it on out". Lyrically, only the first verse was used with Lindsay improvising the remaining vocals. The original version also contains a scarcely audible "dirty lyric" when Lindsay says, "Do she fuck? That psyches me up!" behind the guitar solo.{{cite AV media notes |title=Paul Revere & the Raiders - The Essential Ride '63-'67 |date=2019 |first=Al |last=Quaglieri |page=6 |type=CD sleeve notes |publisher=Columbia Records |location=New York City}}

Robert Lindahl, president and chief engineer of NWI and sound engineer on both the Kingsmen and Raiders recordings, stated that the Raiders version was not known for "garbled lyrics" or an amateurish recording technique, but, as one author noted, their "more competent but uptight take on the song" was less exciting than the Kingsmen's version.{{cite book|title=Five Years Ahead of My Time: Garage Rock from the 1950s to the Present|first=Seth|last=Bovey|date=2019|publisher=Reaktion Books|isbn=978-1789140941|location=London|page=40}}

Live versions were included on Here They Come! (1965), Paul Revere Rides Again! (1983), The Last Madman of Rock and Roll (1986, DVD), and Mojo Workout! (2000). Later releases featured different lead vocalists on Special Edition (1982, Michael Bradley), Generic Rock & Roll (1993, Carlo Driggs), Flower Power (2011, Darren Dowler), and The Revolutionary Hits of Paul Revere & the Raiders (2019, David Huizenga).

The Raiders also recorded Richard Berry's "Have Love, Will Travel", a "'Louie Louie' rewrite",{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=39}} and "Louie, Go Home", an answer song penned by Lindsay and Revere after Berry declined their request to write a "Louie Louie" follow-up,{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=174}} as well as "Just Like Me", a "first cousin to 'Louie Louie'".{{cite news|newspaper=The Guardian|first=Michael|last=Hann|date=October 6, 2014|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2014/oct/06/paul-revere-five-great-songs-america-60s-rock-legend|title=Paul Revere – five great songs from one of America's 60s rock legends|access-date=March 21, 2023}}

Surf music icons the Beach Boys released their version on the 1964 album Shut Down Volume 2 with lead vocals shared by Carl Wilson and Mike Love. Their effort was unusual in that it was rendered "in a version so faithful to Berry's Angeleno-revered original"{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=144}} instead of the more common garage rock style as they "[paid] tribute to the two most important earlier recordings of 'Louie Louie' — the 1957 original by Richard Berry and the Pharaohs, and the infamously unintelligible 1963 cover by the Kingsmen".{{sfn|Doll|2017|page=266}} Other surf music versions included the Chan-Dells in 1963, the Pyramids and the Surfaris in 1964, the Trashmen, the Invictas, and Jan and Dean in 1965, the Challengers in 1966, the Ripp Tides in 1981, and the Shockwaves in 1988.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}

Otis Redding's "spunky ... free-associating", "rich soul take"{{cite magazine|magazine=Far Out|title=The five best covers of 'Louie, Louie'|date=November 8, 2024|first=Ben|last=Forrest|url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/five-best-covers-louie-louie/|access-date=November 12, 2024}} version was released on his 1964 album Pain in My Heart. Dave Marsh called it "the best of the era" and noted that he "rearranged it to suit his style" by adding a full horn section and "garble[d] the lyrics so completely that it seems likely he made up the verses on the spot" as he "sang a story that made sense in his life" (including making Louie a female).{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=145}}

Other versions by R&B artists included Bobby Jay and the Hawks in 1964, Ike & Tina Turner, the Tams, and Nat & John in 1968, Wilbert Harrison in 1969, the Topics in 1970, and Barry White in 1981.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}

With a version on their 1964 album A Halo to You, the Angels were the first girl group to cover "Louie Louie".{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=144}} Their "unlikely stab at [the] frat rock staple"{{cite web|first=Mick|title=Girl Zone!|last=Patrick|date=2015|website=Ace Records|url=https://acerecords.co.uk/girl-zone|access-date=February 3, 2024}} was also one of the first to deliberately duplicate the Jack Ely early vocal re-entry mistake after the bridge. The Best of Louie Louie, Volume 2 included their rendition.

A Minnesota girl group, the Shaggs, released a version as a 1965 single (Concert 1-78-65), and Honey Ltd. covered the song on a 1968 album and as a single (LHI 1216); however, the distinction of first girl group participation on a version of "Louie Louie" would go to the Shalimars, an Olympia girl group who provided overdubbed backing vocals in 1960 for a recording by Little Bill (Englehardt) released as a single in 1961 (Topaz 1305).{{sfn|Blecha|2009|page=116}}

Female solo artist versions in the 1960s included Italian singer Maddalena in 1967 as a single titled "Lui Lui", Tina Turner in 1968 (released in 1988 on Ike & Tina Turner's Greatest Hits, Volume 2), and Julie London on her 1969 album Yummy, Yummy, Yummy.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Louie Louie

| cover =

| alt =

| type = song

| artist = the Kinks

| EP = Kinksize Session

| released = {{Start date|1964|11|27}}

| recorded = {{Start date|1964|10|18}}

| studio = Pye, London

| genre = Rhythm and blues

| length = {{Duration|m=2|s=57}}

| label = Pye NEP 24200

| writer = Richard Berry

| producer = Shel Talmy

}}

The Kinks recorded "Louie Louie" on October 18, 1964. It was released in November 1964 in the UK on the Kinksize Session EP, reaching No. 1 on the Record Retailer EP chart.{{cite book|title=The Virgin Book of British Hit Singles|volume=2|chapter=EP Listings by Artist|page=527|first1=Dave|last1=McAleer|author-link=Dave McAleer|first2=Andy|last2=Gregory|first3=Matthew|last3=White|date=2010|publisher=Virgin Books|isbn=978-0-7535-2245-5}} It was also released in 1965 on two US-only albums, Kinks-Size and Kinkdom, and on a French album, A Well Respected Man. Live 1960s versions were released on bootlegs The Kinks in Germany (1965), Kinky Paris (1965), Live in San Francisco (1969), Kriminal Kinks (1972), and The Kinks at the BBC (2012).{{cite AV media|title=The Kinks Discography|website=Discogs.com|url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/94078-The-Kinks}}

The Kinks version re-entered the charts in 2015, reaching No. 19 on the UK singles chart based on sales, downloads and streaming. The Kast Off Kinks continue to perform it live, occasionally joined by original Kinks members.{{cite web|website=KastOffKinks|title=Kast Off Guests|url=http://kastoffkinks.co.uk/html/kast_off_guests.html|access-date=October 15, 2023}}

Sources vary on the impact of "Louie Louie" on the writing of "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night". One writer called the two songs "sparse representations of a 'Louie Louie' mentality",{{cite book|title=Rock And Roll: A Social History|page=315|first=Paul|last=Friedlander|date=2018|isbn=978-0813343068|publisher=Avalon Publishing|location=New York}} while another succinctly called the former "a rewrite of the Kingsmen's 'Louie Louie'".{{cite book|first=Steve|last=Sullivan|title=Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings Volume 1|publisher=Scarecrow Press|date=2013|page=858|isbn=978-0810882959}} A 1965 letter to London's Record Mirror opined, "Besides completely copying the Kingsmen's vocal and instrumental style, The Kinks rose to fame with two watery twists of this classic...."{{cite magazine|magazine=Record Mirror|location=London|title=Louie – A Pop Yardstick!|page=2|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-UK/Music/Archive-Record-Mirror-IDX/IDX/60s/Record-Mirror-1965-01-23-S-OCR-IDX-2.pdf|date=January 23, 1965|first=Alex|last=Donald|access-date=December 24, 2021}} An opposing opinion was voiced by a different author who noted that the "You Really Got Me" riff is "unquestionably a guitar-based piece, [that] fundamentally differs from "Louie Louie" and other earlier riff pieces with which it sometimes is compared".{{cite book|first=James E.|last=Perone|title=Mods, Rockers, and the Music of the British Invasion|publisher=ABC-CLIO|date=2009|page=107|isbn=978-0275998608}}

Dave Marsh asserted that the Kinks "blatantly based their best early hits" on the "Louie Louie" riff.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=143}} Other sources stated that Davies wrote "You Really Got Me" while trying to work out the chords of "Louie Louie" at the suggestion of the group's manager, Larry Page.{{cite book|title=You Really Got Me: The Story of the Kinks|last=Hasted|first=Nick|date=2011|page=28|publisher=Omnibus Press|location=London|isbn=978-1849386609}} According to biographer Thomas M. Kitts, Davies confirmed that Page suggested that "he write a song like 'Louie Louie'", but denied any direct influence.{{cite book|title=Ray Davies: Not Like Everyone Else|first=Thomas M.|last=Kitts|date=2008|page=41|isbn=978-0415977692|publisher=Routledge|location=London}}

Biographer Johnny Rogan noted no "Louie Louie" influence, writing that Davies adapted an earlier piano riff to the jazz blues style of Mose Allison, and that he was further influenced by seeing Chuck Berry and Gerry Mulligan in Jazz on a Summer's Day, a 1958 film about the Newport Jazz Festival. Rogan also cited brother Dave Davies' distorted power chords as "the sonic contribution that transformed the composition" into a hit song.{{cite book|title=Ray Davies: A Complicated Life|first=Johnny|last=Rogan|date=2015|location=New York|publisher=Random House|page=137|isbn=978-0099554080}}

Whether directly or indirectly, the Kingsmen version influenced the musical style of the early Kinks. They were huge fans of the Kingsmen's "Louie Louie" and Dave Davies remembered the song inspiring Ray's singing, saying in an interview:{{sfn|Hasted|2011|page=28}}{{cite magazine|magazine=Mojo Magazine|first=Johnny|last=Black|date=September 2000|title=The Kinks: Hellfire Club|issue=82}}

We played that record over and over. And Ray copied a lot of his vocal style from that guy [Jack Ely]. I was always trying to get Ray to sing, because I thought he had a great voice, but he was very shy. Then we heard The Kingsmen and he had that lazy, throwaway, laid-back drawl in his voice, and it was magic.

Alec Palao in the Love That Louie CD liner notes highlighted Davies' "supremely lecherous, almost drunken vocal" and suggested that "Davies drew from 'Louie' the urchin persona that populated so much of the Kinks' early work".

{{Infobox song

| name = Louie Louie

| cover =

| alt =

| type = song

| artist = The Sandpipers

| album = Guantanamera

| released = October 1966

| recorded = 1966

| studio = A&M, Hollywood

| genre = Easy listening

| length = {{Duration|m=2|s=45}} (single), {{Duration|m=2|s=47}} (album)

| label = A&M Records 819

| writer = Richard Berry

| producer = Tommy LiPuma

}}

After their No. 1 hit "Guantanamera", the Sandpipers, with producer Tommy LiPuma and arranger Nick DeCaro, "cleverly revived"{{cite magazine|magazine=Billboard|date=October 8, 1966|page=16|title=Spotlight Singles - Top 60}} the same soft rock, smooth ballad, Spanish language approach with a "quiet, yet majestic", "sweet interpretation"{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|first=Richard|last=Swift|editor=Colin Larkin|chapter=Volume 7: Rich, Young and Pretty|page=248|publisher=Muze|date=2006|isbn=978-0195313734|location=New York}} of "Louie Louie", reaching No. 30 and No. 35 on the Billboard and Cashbox charts, respectively (the highest charting U.S. version after the Kingsmen). The success of their "smoky version"{{cite book|title=Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-Listening, and Other Moodsong|first1=Joseph|last1=Lanza|date=2004|edition=Revised and Expanded|publisher=University of Michigan Press|location=Ann Arbor|page=118|isbn=978-0472089420}} heralded the entry of the ever adaptable "Louie Louie" into the MOR and easy listening categories and many followed: David McCallum and J.J. Jones (1967), Honey Ltd. (1968), Julie London (1969), Sounds Orchestral (1970), Line Renaud (1973), Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin (1991), and others released singles and albums featuring slower and mellower versions of what had previously been an up tempo pop and rock standard.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=147, 208-238}}

With the only instrumental version to make the charts, Travis Wammack reached No. 128 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 in April 1966.{{cite book| first= Joel| last= Whitburn| author-link=Joel Whitburn|date=1992| title= Joel Whitburn's Bubbling Under the Top 100 1959-1985| publisher= Record Research Inc.| location= Menomonee Falls, WI| isbn= 0-89820-082-2}} An early guitar innovator and "precursor to guitar-hero shredding", his distinctive sound on "Louie Louie" was "liberally laced with fuzztone" created by playing through an overdriven drive-in movie speaker.{{cite web|website=AL.com|title=Meet the unsung Muscle Shoals guitarist who's also a snake hunter|first=Matt|last=Wake|url=https://www.al.com/entertainment/2018/07/muscle_shoals_music_travis_wam.html|date=July 3, 2018|access-date=March 7, 2023}}

Released as a single (Atlantic 2322), the track was not included on Wammack's first album in 1972 or any thereafter. It appeared on a 1967 French release (Formidable Rhythm And Blues (Vol. 3)), but not again until two Wammack compilations, That Scratchy Guitar From Memphis (1987) and Scr-Scr-Scratchy! (1989). It was also included on two later various artists compilations, Love That Louie: The Louie Louie Files (2002) and Boom Boom A Go-Go! (2014).

Other notable 1960s instrumental versions included the Ventures, Ian Whitcomb, and Sandy Nelson in 1965, Ace Cannon and Pete Fountain in 1966, Floyd Cramer in 1967, and Willie Mitchell in 1969.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}

The Sonics released their "blistering makeover ... definitive punk arrangement" as a 1965 single (Etiquette ET-23) and on the 1966 album Boom. Later versions appeared on Sinderella (1980) and Live at Easy Street (2016).

Described as a major influence on punk and garage music worldwide,{{cite news|first=Dave|last=Good|title=The Sonics invented punk|newspaper=The San Diego Reader|date=August 13, 2014|access-date=September 22, 2021|url=https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2014/aug/13/note-sonics-invented-punk/}} the group's characteristic hard-edged, fuzz-drenched sound and "abrasive, all-out approach"{{sfn|Bovey|2019|page=34}} "took the Northwest garage sound to its most primitive extreme"{{sfn|Bovey|2019|page=32}} and made their "Louie Louie" version ahead of its time. They also made it more "fierce and threatening"{{sfn|Blecha|2009|page=184}} by altering the traditional 1-4-5-4 chord pattern to the "darker, more sinister" 1-3b-4-3b.

Cuban percussionist and bandleader Mongo Santamaria's version, a "cousin of 'Watermelon Man'",{{cite news|newspaper=The Chicago Tribune|date=November 24, 1989|title='Louie Louie' Meets Ike and Tina, the Angels and Mongo|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1989/11/24/louie-louie-meets-ike-and-tina-the-angels-and-mongo/|access-date=February 27, 2024}} returned "Louie Louie" to its Afro-Cuban roots, echoing Rene Touzet's "El Loco Cha Cha" with his conga- and trumpet-driven Latin jazz version. Originally released on the 1966 album Hey! Let's Party, it was also included on the 1983 compilation The Best of Louie Louie, Volume 2. Other early Latin-flavored versions were released by Pedrito Ramirez con los Yogis (Angelo 518, 1965), Pete Terrace (El Nuevo Pete Terrace, 1966), Eddie Cano (Brought Back Live from P.J.'s, 1967), Mario Allison (De Fiesta, 1967), and Rey Davila (On His Own, 1971).

Latin American jazz/rock innovator Carlos Santana compared Tito Puente's 1962 "Oye Como Va" to "Louie Louie" saying, "... how close the feel was to 'Louie Louie' and some Latin jazz tunes"{{cite book|title=The Universal Tone: Bringing My Story to Light|date=2014|first1=Carlos|last1=Santana|author-link1=Carlos Santana|first2=Ashley|last2=Kahn|author-link2=Ashley Kahn|first3=Hal|last3=Miller|page=237|publisher=Little, Brown & Co.|location=New York|isbn=978-0316244916}} and "... this is a song like 'Louie Louie' or 'Guantanamera'. This is a song that when you play it, people are going to get up and dance, and that's it."{{cite book|title=Carlos Santana: A Biography|page=36|date=2009|author=Weinstein, Norman|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Santa Barbara|isbn=978-0313354205}}

"Louie Louie" occurred repeatedly as an "idée fixe" in the musical lexicon of Frank Zappa in the 1960s with the Soul Giants{{cite magazine|magazine=Far Out Magazine|first=Tom|last=Taylor|date=December 4, 2023|title=A Confederacy of Weirdos: How Frank Zappa assembled The Mothers of Invention|url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/how-frank-zappa-assembled-the-mothers-of-invention/|access-date=December 5, 2023}} and the Mothers of Invention. He categorized the riff as one of several "Archetypal American Musical Icons ... [whose] presence in an arrangement puts a spin on any lyric in their vicinity"{{cite journal|last=Borders|first=James|title=Frank Zappa's 'The Black Page': A Case of Musical Conceptual Continuity|journal=Expression in Pop-Rock Music: Critical and Analytical Essays 2nd Ed.|editor-first=Walter|editor-last=Everett|pages=51–75, 155|location=New York|publisher=Routledge|date=2008}} and used it initially "to make fun of the old-fashioned rock 'n' roll they had transcended". Although he characterized the Kingsmen version as a "mutilation" and an "Animal House joke",{{cite magazine|magazine=Society Pages|first1=Denn|last1=Simms|first2=Eric|last2=Buxton|first3=Rob|last3=Samler|title=Frank Zappa Interview December 22, 1989|date=April 1990|page=24|issue=1}} he had a higher opinion of Richard Berry, calling him "one of the most important figures in the West Coast rhythm-and-blues scene of the Fifties"{{cite magazine|magazine=New Musical Express|date=April 26, 1975|title=Call Francis Vincent Zappa!: A Mother Goes A-courting|first=Mick|last=Farren|author-link=Mick Farren|page=28}} and saying, "No one may not underestimate {{sic}} the impact of 'Louie Louie', the original Richard Berry version."{{cite book|title=Songwriters on Songwriting|chapter=Frank Zappa|first=Paul|last=Zollo|author-link=Paul Zollo|date=1991|page=121|isbn=978-0306812651|publisher=Da Capo Press|location=Boston}}

His original compositions "Plastic People" and "Ruthie-Ruthie" (from You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1) were set to the melody of "Louie Louie" and included "Music by Richard Berry" credits.{{AllMusic|id=mw0000194897 |title=Frank Zappa - You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 1 - Review|first=Francois|last=Couture}} Zappa said that he fired guitarist Alice Stuart from the Mothers of Invention because she couldn't play "Louie Louie", although this comment was obviously intended as a joke.{{cite web |url=https://www.historylink.org/File/20799 |publisher=HistoryLink.org |first=Peter|last=Blecha|author-link=Peter Blecha|title=Alice Stuart Biography|date=June 20, 2019}}

At a 1967 concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Mothers of Invention keyboardist Don Preston climbed up to the venue's famous pipe organ, usually used for classical works, and played the signature riff (included on the 1969 album Uncle Meat). Quick interpolations of "Louie Louie" also frequently turn up in other Zappa works.{{cite book |last=Ulrich |first=Charles |date=May 13, 2018 |title=The Big Note: A Guide to the Recordings of Frank Zappa |location=Vancouver |publisher=New Star Books |isbn=978-1-554201-46-4}}

• Little Bill with the Adventurers and the Shalimars, on a 1961 single (Topaz T-1305).{{sfn|Blecha|2009|page=116}}
• The Jordan Brothers, live in 1963.{{cite news|newspaper=Republican Herald|location=Pottsville, PA|first=Ron|last=Devlin|title=Central PA Music Hall of Fame inducts Jordan Brothers|url=https://www.republicanherald.com/2025/03/08/the-jordan-brothers-frackvilles-fab-four-inducted-into-central-pa-music-hall-of-fame/|access-date=March 10, 2025|date=March 8, 2025}}
• Terry Kath, on a 1963 demo with his first group, The Mystics.{{cite web|first=Tim|last=Wood|date=1998|website=terrykath.com|title=The Mystics - Terry Kath's first rock band|url=http://www.terrykath.com/news/2021/12/11/the-mystics-terry-kaths-first-rock-band|access-date=4 March 2023}}{{cite AV media|title=The Mystics - Louis|date=1963|url=https://www.45cat.com/record/nc946066us |publisher=Balkan Recording Studio|location=Berwyn, IL|website=45cat.com|type=45 single}}
• The Swamp Rats, on a 1964 single (St. Clair MF69). Also released on their 1979 album Disco Sucks.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• The Pyramids, on their 1964 album The Pyramids Play The Original Penetration!{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• The Standells, on a 1964 album The Standells in Person at P.J.s.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Leon Russell, "pumping chords all the way through" as a session player on The Top-40 Song Book, a 1964 singalong album by arranger H. B. Barnum and producer David Axelrod.{{cite book|first=William|last=Sargent|title=Superstar in a Masquerade|chapter=Chapter 14: The Output of Contributions: H. B. Barnum|date=2021|publisher=Page Publishing|isbn=978-1662431159}}
• The Sentinals, on their 1964 album Vegas Go Go.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Pat Metheny, in the 1960s with his first group, The Beat Bombs.{{cite news|newspaper=The San Diego Union-Tribune|date=September 24, 2021|first=George|last=Varga|access-date=February 20, 2022|title=Pat Metheny, a 20-time Grammy-winner, looks forward and back with new band Side-Eye: 'Music is the carrot'|url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/music/story/2021-09-24/pat-metheny-side-eye}}
• John Fogerty, live in 1964 with the Golliwogs{{cite book|title=Fortunate Son: My Life, My Music|first=John|last=Fogerty|author-link=John Fogerty|date=2015|publisher=Little, Brown|location=New York|isbn=9780316244565|chapter=The... Golliwogs?}}{{cite book|title=Up Around The Bend|first=Craig|last=Werner|page=37|date=1998|publisher=Avon Books|location=New York|isbn=0-380-80153-1|chapter=Golliwogs}}
• Allen Collins, with his first group, The Mods, in 1964{{cite book|page=48|title=Guitar Greats of Jacksonville|first=Michael Ray|last=FitzGerald|date=2023|chapter=The Biggest Thing Since the Ventures|publisher=The History Press|location=Charleston, SC|isbn=978-1467153416}}
• The Bobby Fuller Four, recorded 1964, released on a French bootleg LP I Fought The Law in 1983 and on El Paso Rock: Early Recordings, Vol. 1 in 1996.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Jan and Dean, live on their 1965 Command Performance album backed by the Fantastic Baggys;{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}} considered by some the "best track on the album".{{cite book|title=The Jan & Dean Record: A Chronology of Studio Sessions, Live Performances and Chart Positions|first=Mark A.|last=Moore|date=March 14, 2016 |publisher=McFarland & Company|location=Jefferson, NC|isbn=978-1476622903|page=215}}
• Steven Tyler, with his group The Strangeurs in 1965.{{cite book|title=Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith|chapter=Quest for Immortality|page=33|isbn=978-0062188151|date=2012|location=New York|publisher=HarperCollins|author1=Aerosmith|first2=Stephen|last2=Davis|author-link2=Stephen Davis (music journalist)}}
• A Millbrook School 1965 single featuring the Moongazers with "new singing sensation" Gino Wertz.{{cite AV media|type=LP liner notes|title=Millbrook School - The Moongazers|date=1965|url=https://www.discogs.com/release/28843054-Various-Music-From-Millbrook|access-date=July 2, 2024|first=Jack|last=Nichols}}
• Sandy Nelson, an instrumental version on his 1965 album Boss Beat;{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}} also included on the 2005 compilation Sandy Nelson's Big Sixties Beat Party.
• Marshall Crenshaw, with his first group in Detroit in the mid-1960s.{{cite web|website=Local Spins|first=John|last=Sinkevics|date=March 16, 2024|title=Rocker Marshall Crenshaw 'still connected' to Michigan as 40th anniversary tour comes home|access-date=March 17, 2024|url=https://localspins.com/rocker-marshall-crenshaw-still-connected-to-michigan-as-40th-anniversary-tour-comes-home-local-spins/}}
• The Invictas, on their 1965 album The Invictas À Go-Go; re-released in 1983.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• The Pink Finks (Australia), on a 1965 charting single (Mojo MO-001){{cite book|title=Wild about You!: The Sixties Beat Explosion in Australia and New Zealand|author1=Marks, Ian D.|author2=McIntyre, Iain|date=2010|chapter=Top 100 Beat 'n' Garage Tracks|page=323|publisher=Verse Chorus Press|location=Portland|isbn=978-1891241284|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IH0R2srt8osC}} with Ross Wilson singing "whatever sounded right to him".{{cite book|title=Wild about You! The Sixties Beat Explosion in Australia and New Zealand|chapter=The Pink Finks|page=139|date=2011|isbn=978-1891241284|location=Melbourne|publisher=Verse Chorus Press|first1=Ian D.|last1=Marks|first2=Iain|last2=McIntyre}}
• The Outcasts (New York), recorded 1960s, released in 1987 on The Battle Of The Bands Live!{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• The Ventures, an instrumental version on their 1965 album The Ventures a Go-Go.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Ian Whitcomb, an instrumental piano version on a 1965 single (Tower 216).{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• The Castaways, live in 1965 at the Cow Palace.{{cite book|title=Everybody's Heard about the Bird: The True Story of 1960s Rock 'n' Roll in Minnesota|chapter=Liar, Liar|first=Rick|last=Shefchik|date=2015|isbn=978-1452949741|publisher=University of Minnesota Press}}
• Jim Morrison's first vocal performance on stage was "Louie Louie" in 1965 with Rick and the Ravens (with Ray Manzarek) at the Turkey Joint West in Santa Monica,{{cite book|last=Manzarek|first=Ray|author-link=Ray Manzarek|title=Light My Fire – My Life with The Doors|date=1998|publisher=Berkley Boulevard Books|location=New York City|page=86|isbn=0-425-17045-4}}{{cite book|title=The Doors: The Illustrated History|page=17|first=Gillian G.|last=Gaar|date=2015|isbn=978-1627887052|publisher=Voyageur Press|chapter=1966 The Ceremony Is About to Begin}} and the newly formed Doors initially used it as their opening number.{{cite book|title=The Doors: A Lifetime of Listening to Five Mean Years|first=Greil|last=Marcus|author-link=Greil Marcus|date=2011|isbn=978-1586489458|publisher=PublicAffairs|chapter=Soul Kitchen|location=New York}}
• Todd Rundgren, in 1965 with his first group, Money. He described "Louie Louie" as "a song that changed my life"{{cite podcast|first=Jesse|last=Thorn|author-link=Jesse Thorn|title=Bullseye: Todd Rundgren on the song that changed his life|website=NPR.org|publisher=NPR|date=17 February 2023|url=https://www.npr.org/2023/02/16/1157743525/todd-rundgren-on-the-song-that-changed-his-life|access-date=25 February 2023}} and said, "You hear it for the first time, you don't understand the words or what the song is about, but you never forget it."{{cite web|website=Far Out Magazine|url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/song-that-changed-todd-rundgren-life/|title=The song that changed Todd Rundgren's life|date=December 25, 2023|first=Ben|last=Forrest|access-date=December 27, 2023}}
• Don and the Goodtimes, backing Jim "Harpo" Valley on the 1966 album Harpo: Jim Valley with Don and the Goodtimes. The "extended raunch fest" that combined "elements of both the Raiders' and Kingsmen's arrangements" was also included on the various artists albums The Hitmakers (1966), Northwest Battle of the Bands, Volume 2 (2001), and Love That Louie (2002).{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Jack Ely and the Courtmen, on a 1966 single (Bang B-520) as "Louie Louie '66";{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}} a version that "ploughs the same basic furrow as the original" with "a slightly harsher edge."
• The Troggs, on their 1966 UK album From Nowhere. Their 1966 hit single "Wild Thing" used the same chord progression as "fundamentally a 'Louie Louie' rewrite".{{cite book|title=Electric Wizards: A Tapestry of Heavy Music – 1968 to the Present|first=JR|last=Moores|date=2022|isbn=978-1789144499|publisher=Reaktion Books|location=London|page=36}} James Marshall of Spin Magazine said of the Troggs, "All you need to make a great rock 'n' roll record are the chords to 'Louie Louie' and a bad attitude."{{cite magazine|magazine=Spin|first=James|last=Marshall|title=Blue Light Special: The Troggs|date=February 1993|volume=8|number=11|page=82}} A rerecorded version was released on the 2013 album This Is The Troggs.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• The Challengers, on their 1966 album California Kicks.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Psychedelic versions by the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band in 1966 on their debut album Volume One, Friar Tuck on his 1967 album Friar Tuck and His Psychedelic Guitar, Neighb'rhood Childr'n on their 1997 album (recorded 1967) Long Years in Space, and the Underground All-Stars on their 1968 album Extremely Heavy!.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• The Beau Brummels, on a 1966 album Beau Brummels '66 and a second version on the 1968 compilation The Best of the Beau Brummels, Vol. 44.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Ace Cannon, an instrumental saxophone version on his 1966 album Sweet & Tough.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Pete Fountain, an instrumental clarinet version on his 1966 album I've Got You Under My Skin;{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}} also included on the 1983 compilation The Best of Louie Louie, Volume 2.
• The Swingin' Medallions, on their 1966 album Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love).{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• The Syndicate of Sound, a live version from 1966 released in 1991 by Cream Puff War magazine.{{cite magazine|first=Alec|last=Palao|author-link=Alec Palao|magazine=Cream Puff War|title=Syndicate of Sound - "Louie Louie"|issue=2|date=1993|publisher=Palao-Cost|location=Santa Clara, CA}}
• Pink Floyd, in an earlier incarnation as The Pink Floyd Sound, regularly performed psychedelic versions with "wild improvised interludes"{{cite book|title=Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd: Dark Globe|first=Julian|last=Palacios|date=2015|publisher=Plexus Publishing Limited|isbn=978-0859658829}} and "echo-laced discordant jams"{{cite book|title=Portobello Road: Lives of a Neighbourhood|chapter=Pink Floyd Go into Interstellar Overdrive|first=Julian|last=Mash|publisher=Frances Lincoln|location=London|date=2014|isbn=978-1781011522}} in the mid-1960s.{{cite book|last=Miles|first=Barry|author-link=Barry Miles|title=In The Sixties|date=2002|publisher=Jonathan Cape|location=London|page=104|isbn=0-224-06240-9}}{{cite book|last=Mason|first=Nick|author-link=Nick Mason|title=Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd|date=2004|publisher=Chronicle Books|location=San Francisco|page=36|isbn=1-452-16641-2}} However, after an October 1966 Melody Maker concert review criticized their "dated R&B things" and said "Psychedelic versions of 'Louie Louie' won't come off", the song was dropped from future setlists.{{cite book|title=London Live – From the Yardbirds to Pink Floyd to the Sex Pistols: The Inside Story of Live Bands in the Capital's Trail-blazing Music Clubs|first=Tony|last=Bacon|date=1999|isbn=978-0879305727|publisher=Miller Freeman Books|location=London|page=81}}
• Eddie Cano and his Quintet, on his 1967 Brought Back Live from P.J.'s album.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Floyd Cramer, an instrumental piano version on his 1967 album Here's What's Happening!{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• David McCallum, on his 1967 It's Happening Now! album;{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}} described by Billboard as "exceptional as it builds slowly".{{cite magazine|magazine=Billboard|date=January 21, 1967|title=Album Reviews: Music – It's Happening Now!|page=45}}
• The Robbs, on a 1968 EP W'R-IT In Milwaukee Radio!{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• The Tams, on their 1968 album A Little More Soul.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• The Dick Crest Orchestra, on a 1968 album Would You Believe.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Africa, in a medley with "Ode to Billie Joe" on their 1968 album Music From "Lil Brown"; described as "surprisingly ripe for lysergic interpretation."{{AllMusic|id=mw0000939664 |title=Music from "Lil Brown" - Review|first=Jason|last=Ankeny}}
• Ike and Tina Turner recorded "a sultry, little known rendition"{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 26, 2023|access-date=June 26, 2023|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/26/arts/music/amplifier-newsletter-tina-turner-cover-songs.html|title=Tina Turner, a Queen of Rock 'n' Roll Covers|url-access=subscription}} in 1968 sung from "his avaricious girlfriend's point of view" with "the forlorn sailor owning a yacht".{{sfn|Marsh|1993|page=145}} Their "soul romp" version was released on Ike and Tina Turner's Greatest Hits, Volume 2 in 1988 and also on The Best of Louie Louie, Volume Two in 1989.
• Honey Ltd., on their eponymous 1968 album and as a single (LHI 1216).{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}} A "slow-tempo, brass and funk rendition ... replete with cries of "Sock it to me, Louie!", it was produced by Jack Nitzsche and featured Ry Cooder on guitar.{{cite magazine|magazine=Perfect Sound Forever|date=March 2005|url=http://www.furious.com/perfect/honeyltd.html|title=Loud Harmonic Transcendence - The Honey Ltd. Story|first=Jonathan|last=Ward|access-date=April 2, 2023}} One writer characterized it as "slow, vague, and really drawn out"{{cite book|title=Re/Search #14: Incredibly Strange Music, Volume 1|date=1993|publisher=RE/Search Publications|location=San Francisco|page=183|first1=V.|last1=Vale|author-link=V. Vale|first2=Andrea|last2=Juno}} and group member Joan Sliwin said, "I never understood ... why 'Louie, Louie'?"{{cite news|title=Honey Ltd. Discuss Key Tracks From Their Long-Lost Lee Hazlewood Sessions|url=https://www.self-titledmag.com/honey-ltd-discuss-key-tracks-from-their-long-lost-lee-hazlewood-sessions/|access-date=February 10, 2015|newspaper=self-titled Magazine|date=September 10, 2013}}
• Wilbert Harrison, on his 1969 album Let's Work Together and as a single (Juggernaut 70SUG405). Noted for "imparting his own personal stamp" and "unique vocal delivery" on his version.{{cite book|first=Bill|last=Dahl|title=All Music Guide to Soul: The Definitive Guide to R&B and Soul|page=298|chapter=Wilbert Harrison|date=2003|publisher=Backbeat Books|location=San Francisco|isbn=978-0879307448|editor-first1=Vladimir|editor-last1=Bogdanov|editor-link1=Vladimir Bogdanov (editor)|editor-first2=John|editor-last2=Bush|editor-first3=Chris|editor-last3=Woodstra|editor-first4=Stephen Thomas|editor-last4=Erlewine|editor-link4=Stephen Thomas Erlewine}}
• Willie Mitchell, an instrumental trumpet version on his 1969 album On Top.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead (Joey Covington (vocals), Jerry Garcia, Jorma Kaukonen, Gary Duncan, Jack Casady, Mike Shrieve, others), live at the Family Dog at Great Highway, San Francisco on September 7, 1969.{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/gd69-09-07.sbd.dfinney.5808.sbeok.shnf|website=Archive.org|title=Grateful Dead Live at Family Dog at the Great Highway on 1969-09-07|date=April 23, 2004|access-date=September 12, 2021}}
• The Beatles, from the Get Back/Let It Be sessions in 1969; released on the 1995 Jamming With Heather bootleg CD.
• A "sexiest-of-all version by smokey-voiced diva Julie London"{{cite book|title=Rock'n'Roll's Strangest Moments: Extraordinary But True Tales from 45 Years of Rock & Roll History|first=Mike|last=Evans|date=2006|isbn=978-1849941815|publisher=Portico Books|location=London|chapter=The Strange Story of 'Louie Louie'}} released as a 1969 single (Liberty 56085) and included on her final album Yummy, Yummy, Yummy, which also featured other contemporary rock songs.
• George Strait, in the late 1960s with his high school group, The Stoics.{{cite magazine|magazine=Billboard|first=Ray|last=Waddell|date=August 16, 2013|title=George Strait: The Billboard Cover Story Q&A|url=https://www.billboard.com/music/country/george-strait-the-billboard-cover-story-qa-5657700/|access-date=February 1, 2024}}
• The Messengers, on their eponymous 1969 album and a 1970 single, both on the Rare Earth label.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}

Iggy Pop (then known as Jim Osterberg) began performing "Louie Louie", "a song nearly as old and unkillable as Iggy himself",{{cite news|newspaper=Los Angeles Daily News|url=https://www.dailynews.com/2023/04/25/iggy-pop-the-losers-rock-and-roar-all-night-at-las-orpheum/|date=April 25, 2023|first=Peter|last=Larsen|title=Iggy Pop & the Losers rock and roar all night at LA's Orpheum|access-date=April 27, 2023}} "with his own version of the dirty lyrics"{{cite book|title=Iggy Pop: Open Up and Bleed|last=Trynka|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Trynka|page=89|publisher=Crown/Archtype|location=New York|isbn=978-0767927222|date=2007}} in 1965 as a member of the Iguanas. Later with the Stooges and as a solo performer, he recorded multiple versions of the song, "turn[ing] the source material into something suitable for the modern age".{{cite magazine|magazine=American Songwriter|first=Em|last=Casalena|date=January 3, 2025|url=https://americansongwriter.com/4-of-iggy-pops-best-cover-songs-one-might-just-shock-you/|access-date=January 6, 2025|title=4 of Iggy Pop's Best Cover Songs}} As the "godfather of punk", he inspired a host of punk rock successors, including many with their own versions as the song became a "live staple for many punk-rock bands of the 1970s".{{AllMusic|id=mn0000926548 |title=Iggy Pop}}{{cite book|first=Stuart|last=Borthwick|title=Popular Music Genres: An Introduction|date=2020|location=Edinburgh|publisher=University Press|page=82}}

A 1964 instrumental demo cut with Osterberg/Pop on drums was released on Jumpin' with the Iguanas (1995){{cite magazine|magazine=Far Out Magazine|first=Jordan|last=Potter|date=January 16, 2023|access-date=January 17, 2023|url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/iggy-pop-high-school-band-iguanas/|title=Listen to Iggy Pop in his high school band 'The Iguanas'}} and a London rehearsal version from 1972 was released on Heavy Liquid (2005) and again on Born in a Trailer (2016). A 1973 live version was released on The Detroit Tapes (2009). Metallic KO (1976) featured a provocative version with impromptu obscene lyrics from the last performance of Iggy and the Stooges in 1974 at the Michigan Palace in Detroit where, according to Lester Bangs, "you can actually hear hurled beer bottles breaking on guitar strings".{{cite book|last=Bangs|first=Lester|author-link=Lester Bangs|chapter=Iggy Pop: Blowtorch in Bondage|title=Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung|editor-first=Greil|editor-last=Marcus|editor-link=Greil Marcus|location=New York|publisher=Anchor Books|date=1977|page=207}} ("55 Minute Louie-Louie", released in 2017 by Shave on their High Alert digital album, commemorated the occasion.) Consequence called this version "a rock standard blown up from the inside out" and said, "The band's cover of 'Louie Louie' somehow both honors their rock ‘n’ roll forebears and spits on their legacy. In other words, it's punk at its best."{{cite web|website=consequence.net|url=https://consequence.net/2022/04/iggy-pop-in-10-songs/2/|title=Iggy Pop in 10 Songs|first=Collin|last=Brennan|date=April 21, 2022|access-date=April 25, 2022}}

Pop later wrote a new version with political and satirical verses instead of obscenities that was released on American Caesar in 1993. One lyric in particular captured Pop's long term relationship with the song: "I think about the meaning of my life again, and I have to sing "Louie Louie" again."{{cite web|title=IT'LL ALL BE OVER SOON: JOE BONOMO ON THE STOOGES' "LOUIE LOUIE"|first=Joe|last=Bonomo|url=http://marchxness.com/round1-lemonheadsvsstooges/|website=Marchxness.com|date=March 2022|access-date=March 6, 2022}} Far Out Magazine called it "the best version of the song out there".{{cite magazine|magazine=Far Out Magazine|url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/iggy-pop-8-greatest-cover-songs/|title=From The Who to James Brown: Iggy Pop's 8 greatest cover songs|first=Mick|last=McStarkey|date=September 23, 2021|access-date=October 28, 2021}} It was used during the opening credits of Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story and as an ending song in Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes in which Pop took part as himself. The video game Just Dance also featured this version performed by a dancing Iggy Pop avatar.

Multiple live versions were released on Nuggets (recorded 1980, released 1999), Where The Faces Shine - Volume 2 (recorded 1982, released 2008), The Legendary Breaking Point Tour (recorded 1983, released 1993), Kiss My Blood (1991, VHS), Beside You (1993), and Roadkill Rising (1994).{{cite AV media|website=Discogs.com|title=Iggy Pop Discography|url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/11073-Iggy-Pop|access-date=October 24, 2023}}

"Louie Louie" journeyed to its lyrical Jamaican destination with a "slow skanking"{{cite book|title=Reggae & Caribbean Music|first=Dave|last=Thompson|author-link=Dave Thompson (author)|date=2002|publisher=Backbeat Books|location=San Francisco|isbn=9780879306557|page=180|chapter=Part Two: Artist/Genre Profiles}} reggae version "as soulful as it gets"{{cite AV media notes|first=Alec|last=Palao|author-link=Alec Palao|title=Love That Louie: The Louie Louie Files|date=2002|type=CD liner notes|publisher=Ace Records |location=London}} by Toots and the Maytals. A shorter version was released as a 1972 single in Jamaica (Jaguar J.49) and the U.K. (Trojan TR-7865) with a longer version included on the 1973 Funky Kingston album, described by rock critic Lester Bangs writing in Stereo Review as "Perfection, the most exciting and diversified set of reggae tunes by a single artist yet released".{{cite web|url=https://www.boston.com/culture/obituaries/2020/09/12/toots-hibbert-beloved-reggae-star-dead-at-77/|website=Boston.com|title=Toots Hibbert, beloved reggae star, dead at 77|first=Hillel|last=Italie|date=September 12, 2020|access-date=October 8, 2021}}

A BBC reviewer said, "The goofy garage anthem becomes both fiery sermon and dance-til-you-drop marathon. And, thanks to Toots’ soulman's disregard for verbal meaning, the words are, if anything, even harder to discern than in the Kingsmen's version."{{cite web|website=BBC.com|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/cvn8/|title=Toots and the Maytals Funky Kingston Review|first=Angus|last=Taylor|date=2009|access-date=October 8, 2021}} Rolling Stone wrote, "And it passes the toughest test of any 'Louie Louie' remake — it rocks hard"{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/toots-hibbert-maytals-essential-songs-tribute-1058737/|magazine=Rolling Stone|title=Toots and the Maytals: 15 Essential Songs|date=September 12, 2020|first=David|last=Brown|access-date=October 8, 2021}} while Hi-Fi News & Record Review cited its "incomprehensible majesty" and "crazy vigour" that made it "the best version ever".{{cite magazine|magazine=Hi-Fi News & Record Review|title=Toots & The Maytals: Funky Kingston|first=Steve|last=Sutherland|date=October 11, 2019|url=https://www.hifinews.com/content/toots-maytals-funky-kingston}} Another author, writing about the song's use in a scene in This Is England noted, "A black Jamaican band's cover of a black American song, made famous by a white American band, seems an appropriate signifier of the racial harmony that [director Shane] Meadows seeks to evoke ...."{{cite book|first=David|last=Forrest|page=180|title=Social Realism: Art, Nationhood and Politics|date=2013|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|location=Newcastle upon Tyne |isbn=978-1443853064}}

The group performed the "infectiously danceable rocksteady rendering" frequently in concert and a live version appeared on the 1998 various artists album Reggae Live Sessions Volume 2. Toots Hibbert also performed it solo and with other acts until his death in 2020, most notably the Red Hot Chili Peppers{{cite web|website=Variety.com|first=Jem|last=Aswad|title=Legendary Reggae Singer Toots Hibbert, Frontman of the Maytals, Dies at 77|url=https://variety.com/2020/music/news/toots-hibbert-maytals-reggae-dies-1234767701/|date=September 11, 2020|access-date=October 24, 2023}} and the Dave Matthews Band.{{cite news|newspaper=Times Union|first=Michael|last=Lisi|title=Dave Matthews Band with Toots and The Maytals, SPAC, 08/14/2007|url=https://blog.timesunion.com/localarts/dave-matthews-band-with-toots-and-the-maytals-spac-08142007/6528/|date=August 14, 2007|access-date=October 24, 2023}}

Although musically not a true cover version, "Brother Louie", Errol Brown and Tony Wilson's song about an interracial romance, was "strongly inspired by the Kingsmen's classic"{{cite book|title=The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits|first=Fred|last=Bronson|author-link=Fred Bronson|date=2003|page=341|publisher=Billboard Books|isbn=978-0823076772|chapter=Brother Louie: Stories}} and described by Dave Marsh as "one of the truest heirs Richard Berry's 'Louie Louie' ever had" based on its theme of separated lovers and its minor key reprise of the chorus.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=152-154}} The original release by Hot Chocolate reached No. 7 on the UK singles chart. A cover version by Stories was a No. 1 hit in the U.S. later the same year.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=152-154}} In 1993, the Quireboys' version reached No. 31 in the UK.

Multiple live versions by Patti Smith, the "punk poet laureate",{{AllMusic|id=mn0000747445|title=Patti Smith Biography|first=Steve|last=Huey}} were released in the mid-1970s on bootleg albums Let's Deodorize The Night, Teenage Perversity & Ships In The Night, In Heat, and Bicentenary Blues, usually as a medley in which Lou Reed's "Pale Blue Eyes" would "sacrilegiously segue" into "Louie Louie".{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}{{cite web|url=https://www.covermesongs.com/2014/08/the-story-behind-patti-smiths-gloria.html|title=The Story Behind Patti Smith's "Gloria"|author=Padgett, Ray|date=August 4, 2014|website=Covermesongs.com|access-date=October 28, 2021}} A 1975 live version at The Bottom Line was described as "uptight" with her "raw voice barking out the chorus".{{cite book|title=Patti Smith: A Biography|page=85|first=Nick|last=Johnstone|date=2012|isbn=978-0857127785|publisher=Music Sales|location=London|chapter=Rock 'n' Rimbaud}} Her version has also been described as tapping "directly into the primal, urchin-like spirit of rock's renaissance".{{cite book|title=Patti Smith's Horses|date=2008|first=Philip|last=Shaw|page=142|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|location=London}}

Described as "a committed and omnipresent figure on the punk and post-punk scene in Manchester",{{cite book|last=Inglis|first= Ian|date=2006|title=Performance of Popular Music: History, Place and Time| location=Farnham|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-0-7546-4057-8|page=93}} Jon the Postman became known for waiting until headline bands like the Buzzcocks, the Fall, and Warsaw (later Joy Division){{cite book|title=Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division|chapter=Timeline Two: June 1976-December 1977|first=Peter|last=Hook|author-link=Peter Hook|date=2012|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York|isbn=978-0062222565}} had finished their sets (sometimes before they had finished), then mounting the stage in a drunken state, grabbing the microphone, and performing his own versions of "Louie Louie".Ogg, Alex (2006) No More Heroes: A Complete History of UK Punk from 1976 to 1980, Cherry Red Books, {{ISBN|978-1-901447-65-1}}, pp. 310–311 The first occurrence was at a Buzzcocks concert at the Band on the Wall venue on May 2, 1977,{{cite magazine|last=Quantick|first=David|author-link=David Quantick|title=John the Postman's Puerile (review)|magazine=Q Magazine|date=September 1998}} which he described:

I think the Buzzcocks left the stage and the microphone was there and a little voice must have been calling, 'This is your moment, Jon.' I've no idea to this day why I sang 'Louie Louie,' the ultimate garage anthem from the 60s. And why I did it a cappella and changed all the lyrics apart from the actual chorus, I have no idea. I suppose it was my bid for immortality, one of those great bolts of inspiration.{{cite book|last=Haslam|first=Dave|author-link=Dave Haslam|date=2000|title=Manchester, England|page=118|publisher=Fourth Estate Ltd.|isbn=978-1-84115-146-5}}

For some reason it appeared to go down rather well. I suppose it was taking the punk ethos to the extreme – anyone can have a go. Before punk it was like you had to have a double degree in music. It was a liberation for someone like me who was totally unmusical but wanted to have a go.{{cite AV media notes |title=Jon The Postman - Puerile |date=2007 |first=CP |last=Lee|author-link=CP Lee|type=CD sleeve notes |publisher=Overground Records |location=London}}

A version of the song by The Fall with Jon on vocals appeared on the Live 1977 album which was described by Stewart Home as taking "the amateurism of the Kingsmen to its logical conclusion with grossly incompetent musicianship and a drummer who seems to be experiencing extreme difficulty simply keeping time".{{cite book|last=Stewart|first=Home|author-link=Stewart Home|date=1996|title=Cranked up Really High: Genre Theory and Punk Rock|edition=2nd|publisher=Codex|location=London|page=41|isbn=978-1-899598-01-4}} A version with his group Puerile was included on the 1978 album John the Postman's Puerile.

{{Infobox song

| name = Louie Louie

| cover = Louie Louie Motorhead.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Motörhead

| album = Overkill (re-issue)

| B-side = Tear Ya Down

| released = 25 August 1978

| recorded = 1978

| studio = Wessex, London

| genre =

• Rock and roll
• hard rock

| length = {{Duration|m=2|s=47}}

| label = Bronze/EMI

| writer = Richard Berry

| producer =

• Neil Richmond
• Motörhead

| prev_title = Motorhead

| prev_year = 1977

| next_title = Overkill

| next_year = 1979

}}

Motörhead's "charming, laid-back rendition of an old rock chestnut" originated as a "cheap one-take demo" produced by Alvin Lee.{{cite book|title=Lemmy: The Definitive Biography|first=Mick|last=Wall|author-link=Mick Wall|date=2016|isbn=978-1409160250|location=London|publisher=Orion Publishing Group}} With support from manager Doug Smith, the track was rerecorded and shopped to Bronze Records. Founder Gerry Bron disliked the "incendiary, almost sullen rendition",{{cite book|chapter=Chapter 4|title=Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers: The Rise of Motörhead|first=Martin|last=Popoff|author-link=Martin Popoff|date=2017|isbn=9781770413474|location=Toronto|publisher=ECW Press}} labeling it "about the worst record I'd ever heard". Nevertheless, it was released as the group's second single, "purely as a favour" to promoter Neil Warnock, to coincide with an upcoming tour.

A "rough-edged cover of the garage rock warhorse"{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal Music|page=170|first1=William|last1=Phillips|first2=Brian|last2=Cogan|date=2009|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0313348013}} with Clarke's guitar emulating the opening electric piano riff, it was paired with "Tear Ya Down" on a 7" vinyl single. Supported by a "back-breaking" touring schedule, the "high-octane" version reached No. 68 on the UK Singles Chart.{{cite book|title=Overkill: The Untold Story of Motörhead|date=2017|first=Joel|last=McIver|author-link=Joel McIver|chapter=Chapter 5: 1978-1979|publisher=Omnibus Press|location=London|isbn=978-0857127181|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xeWaAwAAQBAJ}} The track also appeared on the CD re-issues of Overkill (1996) and The Best of Motörhead (2000).{{cite AV media|website=Discogs.com|url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/233658-Mot%C3%B6rhead|title=Motörhead Discography|access-date=October 24, 2023}}

Lead singer Lemmy Kilmister said,

I think we did a really good version of it – people tell me that it's one of the few times it's been recorded where the lyrics can be understood! Actually, I only got the first two verses and then the last verse was largely improvised.{{cite book|title=Lemmy – The Autobiography: White Line Fever|first1=Lemmy|last1=Kilmister|author-link=Lemmy Kilmister|first2=Janiss|last2=Garza|date=2003|page=116|isbn=978-0806525907|location=New York|publisher=Kensington Publishing}}

On 25 October 1978, a pre-recording of the band playing the song was broadcast on the BBC show Top of the Pops,{{cite book|last=Burridge|first=Alan|title=Illustrated Collector's Guide to Motörhead|date=1995|publisher=Collector's Guide Publishing|isbn=0-9695736-2-6}} and was subsequently released on the 2005 album BBC Live & In-Session. Another live 1978 version was released on Lock Up Your Daughters (1990) and a 1978 alternate studio track appeared on Over the Top: The Rarities (2000). The 2005 "deluxe edition" of Overkill included the original version, the BBC version, and two alternate versions.

Bluto Blutarsky (John Belushi) performing "Louie Louie" in National Lampoon's Animal House forever cemented the song's status as a "frat rock" classic and a staple of toga parties. Belushi may have insisted on singing "Louie Louie" because he associated it with losing his virginity,{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=164}} but, according to director John Landis, it was included in the screenplay by soundtrack producer Kenny Vance long before Belushi was involved with the project because "... it would be the song the Deltas would sing".{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=162}}

In the film, the Deltas were clearly aping the Kingsmen version complete with slurred dirty lyrics, but the setting was 1962, a year before the Kingsmen recording. Although Richard Berry released his original version of the song in 1957, and the song had been popular with local bands in the Northwest following Rockin' Robin Roberts' 1961 single, the mythical Faber College was based on Dartmouth College in the Northeast U.S., so the use of "Louie Louie" was an anachronism.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=162}}

The Kingsmen version was heard during the film along with a brief live rendition by Belushi with Tim Matheson, Peter Riegert, Tom Hulce, Stephen Furst, Bruce McGill, and James Widdoes. A separate version by Belushi played during the credits and was included on the soundtrack album. The Belushi version was also released as a single (MCA 3046) and reached No. 89, No. 91, and No. 91 on the Billboard, Cashbox, and Record World charts, respectively.

Another actor from the film, DeWayne Jessie as Otis Day of Otis Day and the Knights, included a version on the VHS release Otis My Man in 1987.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}} The film's soundtrack producer Kenny Vance (formerly of Jay and the Americans) also released a version with his group The Planotones on the 2007 album Dancin' And Romancin'.{{cite web|website=kennyvanceandtheplanotones.com|url=https://kennyvanceandtheplanotones.com/product/dancin-and-romancin/|title=Kenny Vance and the Planotones - Dancin' and Romancin'|access-date=October 24, 2023}}

Bruce Springsteen has had a long association with "Louie Louie", playing it at multiple concerts and guest appearances, and commenting often on its significance.

From the 1979 No Nukes concert:

Rock is primarily about longing. All the great rock songs are about longing. "Like A Rolling Stone" is about longing; 'How does it feel to be without a home?' — "Louie, Louie"! You're yearning for –'Where's that big party that I know is out there, but I can't find it'.{{cite web|url=https://vermilioncountyfirst.com/2021/09/23/bruce-springsteen-releasing-the-legendary-1979-no-nukes-concerts/|title=Bruce Springsteen Releasing 'The Legendary 1979 'No Nukes' Concerts'|website=Vermilion County First|date=September 23, 2021|access-date=September 29, 2021}}

From the 2018 soundtrack album for Springsteen on Broadway (spoken intro to "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"):

There is no love without one plus one equaling three. It's the essential equation of art. It's the essential equation of rock 'n' roll. It's the reason the universe will never be fully comprehensible. It's the reason "Louie Louie" will never be fully comprehensible. And it's the reason true rock 'n' roll, and true rock 'n' roll bands, will never die.{{cite web|url=https://genius.com/Bruce-springsteen-tenth-avenue-freeze-out-springsteen-on-broadway-lyrics|title=Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out (Springsteen on Broadway)|website=Genius.com|date=December 14, 2018|access-date=September 28, 2021}}

He has said that "Born in the U.S.A." was "the most misunderstood song since 'Louie Louie'",{{cite web|title=The lasting relevance of Thunder Road: Why Bruce Springsteen is everything but aging 'Dad music'|first=Rowena|last=Soons|website=The Bubble|url=https://www.thebubble.org.uk/culture/music/the-lasting-relevance-of-thunder-road-why-bruce-springsteen-is-everything-but-aging-dad-music/|date=December 8, 2014|access-date=September 29, 2021}} and one critic characterized The River as "Less Kierkegaard, lots more Kingsmen".{{cite book|title=The Words and Music of Bruce Springsteen|first=Rob|last=Kirkpatrick|date=2007|page=72|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|location=Westport, CT}}

The first known recorded performance was on September 9, 1978, at the University of Notre Dame on the Darkness Tour, followed by other tour performances in 1978, 1981, 2009, and 2014. He also played the song in guest appearances with other groups in 1982 (at the Stone Pony with Cats on a Hot Surface) and 1983 (at The Headliner in Neptune, NJ with Midnight Thunder). Song "snippets" are frequently played within other songs: "High School Confidential", "Twist and Shout", "Glory Days", and "Pay Me My Money Down".

Multiple concert bootleg albums included a live "Louie Louie" version: Reggae 'N' Soul (1988), Notre Dame Game (1981), Rockin' Days (1983), Rock Through the Jungle (1983), Rock & Roll Is Here to Stay (1990), Clubs' Stories (1994), Songs for an Electric Mule (1994), Lost & Live (1995), The Boss Hits the Sixties (2009), Satisfaction (2014), Charlotte, NC 04/19/14 (2014), Who's Been Covered by the Boss (2014), Saginaw 1978 (2015), and High Hopes Tour 2014 (2018).

E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg played "Louie Louie" on his 2017 live Jukebox show,{{cite web|title=Max Weinberg plays Cream, Cheap Trick, Bowie and more at Jukebox debut|url=https://www.njarts.net/max-weinberg-plays-cream-cheap-trick-bowie-jukebox-debut/|website=NJArts.net|first=Jay |last=Lustig|date=July 17, 2017|access-date=September 29, 2021}} and guitarist Nils Lofgren credited some of his success to "I just happened to play 'Louie Louie' a little different than the other guys."{{cite web|title=Guitarist Nils Lofgren: What it's like to play in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, and life beyond Bruce|first=Sam|last=Gnerre|url=https://www.dailybreeze.com/2012/11/26/guitarist-nils-lofgren-what-its-like-to-play-in-bruce-springsteens-e-street-band-and-life-beyond-bruce/|website=Daily Breeze|date=November 26, 2012|access-date=September 29, 2021}} Steven Van Zandt remembered it as the record that changed his life, saying, "That's where it all started."{{cite news|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-apr-05-et-hochman5-story.html|date=April 5, 2002|first=Steve|last=Hochman|title=Celebrating the Garage Spirit of Rock|access-date=September 30, 2021}}

More recently, Springsteen included the Kingsmen's version in a curated "frat rock" playlist on the 25th episode of his From My Home to Yours Sirius XM radio show in July 2021{{cite web|url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/bruce-springsteen-frat-rock-playlist/|title=Listen to Bruce Springsteen's new 'frat rock' playlist|website=Far Out Magazine|first=Tom|last=Taylor|date=2021|access-date=September 28, 2021}} and again as an intro on the 30th episode in October 2023.{{cite web|website=NJArts.net|date=October 9, 2023|first=Jay|last=Lustig|title=Radio: Springsteen reminisces with Freehold friends and fellow musicians on SiriusXM DJ show|url=https://www.njarts.net/springsteen-reminisces-with-freehold-friends-and-fellow-musicians-on-siriusxm-dj-show/|access-date=October 12, 2023}} In a 2024 interview on The Howard Stern Show, he described "Louie Louie" as "a great fucking song".{{cite web|website=NJArts.com|url=https://www.njarts.net/bruce-springsteen-returns-to-the-howard-stern-show-complete-transcript-videos/|title=Bruce Springsteen returns to 'The Howard Stern Show'|date=October 24, 2024|first=Jay|last=Lustig|access-date=October 31, 2024}}

• Sounds Orchestral, "by far the best of the numerous easy listening interpretations", in 1970 as a single (Janus 124) and on albums One More Time (US), Good Morning Starshine (UK), and Fantastic (France).
• Allman Brothers Band, live at the 1970 Tulane University homecoming dance.{{cite news|url=https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/keith_spera/article_3d9ffe36-1b69-11ea-938a-bb4172d043f8.html |first=Keith|last=Spera|date=December 10, 2019|title=Allman Brothers family album: local photographer traces band's early years in new book|newspaper=Times-Picayune}}
• "John Lennon and Friends", at his 31st birthday party in 1971; released on the 1989 bootleg CD Let's Have A Party.{{cite AV media|type=liner notes|title=John Lennon – Let's Have a Party|website=Discogs.com|url=https://www.discogs.com/release/14244040-John-Lennon-Lets-Have-A-Party}}
• MC5, included in early setlists{{cite book|title=MC5: Sonically Speaking: A Tale of Revolution and Rock 'n' Roll|page=16|first=Brett|last=Callwood|author-link=Brett Callwood|date=2010|location=Detroit|publisher=Wayne State University Press|isbn=978-0-8143-3485-0|chapter=In The Beginning}} and live in Helsinki in 1972; released on the Kick Copenhagen bootleg LP.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Flash Cadillac & the Continental Kids as Herby and the Heartbeats in American Graffiti (1973 soundtrack album and 1984 home video release).{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Line Renaud, French singer, actress, and AIDS activist, as a 1973 single (MGM K14500);{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}} also included on the 2007 compilation 100 Chansons.
• New York Dolls, live in the early 1970s;{{sfn|Marsh|1993|page=165}} their song "Private World" has been termed a "Louie Louie" update.{{cite web|website=superseventies.com|url=https://www.superseventies.com/spnewyorkdolls2.html|title=The New York Dolls (album review)|access-date=February 12, 2022}}
• Flamin' Groovies, on their 1971 album Teenage Head and included on their 1976 compilation Still Shakin'. Live versions appeared on Bucketful of Brains (1983), Slow Death Live (France, 1983) and Studio '70 (France, 1984).{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Heavy Cruiser, a Canadian group led by Neil Merryweather and Lynn Carey, on a 1972 single and eponymous album.{{cite web|website=JazzRockSoul.com|url=https://jazzrocksoul.com/artists/heavy-cruiser/|title=Heavy Cruiser|date=January 7, 2021 |access-date=September 19, 2024}}{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Lyres, recorded mid-1970s, released on their 1987 album Live at Cantones.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Goddo, a "Kinks-styled version"{{cite book|title=Travels with my Amp|first=Greg|last=Godovitz|author-link=Greg Godovitz|page=173|edition=3rd|publisher=Abbeyfield|location=Toronto|isbn=1-894584-06-6|date=2001}} on their initial 1975 single (A&M 398) that reached No. 75 on the Canadian RPM chart.{{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.4009b.pdf| title=RPM Top 100 Singles - August 30, 1975}}
• The Clash, on the 1977 Louie is a Punkrocker vinyl bootleg from the Sandinista! outtakes.{{cite web|url=https://www.vh1.com/news/etio66/best-louie-louie-covers|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220702053635/https://www.vh1.com/news/etio66/best-louie-louie-covers|url-status=live|archive-date=July 2, 2022|title=Louie-Palooza: 11 Killer Covers for International "Louie Louie" Day|first=Mike|last=McPadden|date=April 11, 2015|website=VH1|access-date=September 23, 2021}}Taken from the "Sandinista Sessions" tracks not used for the London Calling album. Also released on The Last Testament, a DVD included with the 25th anniversary edition of London Calling. One writer characterized it as "a raw and unusable jam".{{cite book|first=Tony|last=Fletcher|author-link=Tony Fletcher|date=2012|title=The Clash: The Music That Matters|isbn=978-0857127495|publisher=Omnibus Press|location=London}}
• The Dictators, live at Popeye's Spinach Factory in 1977.{{cite book|title=New York Rock: From the Rise of The Velvet Underground to the Fall of CBGB|first=Steven|last=Blush|author-link=Steven Blush|date=2016|location=New York|publisher=St. Martin's Press|page=147}}
• Warsaw (later Joy Division), included in early setlists and live in Liverpool in 1977.{{cite book|title=The Life of Ian Curtis: Torn Apart|first1=Mick|last1=Middles|author-link1=Mick Middles|first2=Lindsay|last2=Reade|date=2009|location=London|publisher=Omnibus Press|chapter=Leaders of Men}}
• The Fall, on the Live 1977 album.{{cite book|title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide|date=2004|editor-first1=Christian David|editor-last1=Hoard|editor-link1=Christian Hoard|editor-first2=Nathan|editor-last2=Brackett|editor-link2=Nathan Brackett|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York|isbn=978-0743201698|page=293}}
• The Pop Group, in early 1977 setlists because it was "easy to play".{{cite magazine|magazine=Mojo|issue=257|title=The Pop Group: Appetite for Deconstruction|url=https://www.mojo4music.com/articles/stories/the-pop-group-appetite-for-deconstruction/|first=Mark|last=Paytress|date=April 21, 2023|orig-date=2015|access-date=April 22, 2023}}
• Spider Stacy and the New Bastards (later with The Pogues), live at Whitefields School in 1977.{{cite book|title=Kiss My Arse: The Story of the Pogues|first=Carol|last=Clerk|author-link=Carol Clerk|date=2009|publisher=Omnibus Press|location=London|chapter=Going for a Burton|isbn=978-0857120199}}
• The Studs, "punk-spoof supergroup" (Cabaret Voltaire members Stephen Mallinder, Richard H. Kirk, and Chris Watson, plus Ian Craig Marsh, Adi Newton, Glenn Gregory, Martyn Ware, and Haydn Boyes-Weston), live in Sheffield, UK in June 1977.{{cite book|title=Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984|chapter=Living for the Future: Cabaret Voltaire, the Human League, and the Sheffield Scene|date=2006|first=Simon|last=Reynolds|author-link=Simon Reynolds|publisher=Penguin Publishing Group|location=London|isbn=978-0143036722|page=92}}
• Lou Reed, live at the Bottom Line May 21, 1978.{{cite web|website=The Rock and Roll Animal Web Page| title=The Lou Reed Concerts Listing and Known Audio Tapes|url=http://loureed.es/live1978.htm|access-date=October 24, 2023}}
• Blondie, live on the European Tour (December 1979-January 1980); released on the 1979 Wet Lips, Shapely Hips bootleg album.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}{{cite book|first=Daniel|last=Wheway|date=2016|title=The Essential Guide to Blondie and Deborah Harry|isbn=9781520328102|chapter=Blondie Tours|publisher=Daniel Wheway }}

{{Infobox song

| name = Louie Louie

| cover = Black Flag - Louie Louie cover.jpg

| alt =

| caption = The cover features Black Flag's singer Dez Cadena and some of his improvised lyrics to "Louie Louie".

| type = single

| artist = Black Flag

| album =

| B-side = Damaged I

| released = {{Start date|1981}}

• 7-inch single
• CD single

| recorded =

| studio =

| genre = Hardcore punk

| length = {{Duration|m=5|s=22}}

| label = Posh Boy

| writer = Richard Berry

| producer =

• Spot
• Black Flag

}}

The Hermosa Beach, California, hardcore punk band Black Flag released a "raw",{{cite book|title=Alternative Rock|first=Dave|last=Thompson|author-link=Dave Thompson (author)|date=2000|page=204|publisher=Miller Freeman|location=San Francisco|isbn=0-87930-607-6}} "rubbished",{{cite book|title=Post Punk Diary: 1980-1982|page=206|first=George|last=Gimarc|author-link=George Gimarc|date=1997|location=New York|publisher=St. Martin's Griffin|isbn=0-312-16968-X}} "brilliant, demented"{{cite web|first=Robert|last=Christgau|author-link=Robert Christgau|title=The Village Voice: Consumer Guide|date=November 30, 1981|access-date=June 22, 2023|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv11b-81.php}} version of "Louie Louie" as a single in 1981 on Posh Boy Records. It was the band's first release with Dez Cadena as singer, replacing Ron Reyes. Cadena would go on to sing on the Six Pack EP before switching to rhythm guitar and being replaced on vocals by Henry Rollins.{{cite AV media notes |title=The First Four Years |title-link=The First Four Years (album) |author=Black Flag |date=1983 |type=CD insert |publisher=SST Records |id=SST CD 021 |location=Lawndale, California}}{{cite book |last=Azerrad |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Azerrad |title=Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981–1991 |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |date=2001 |location=New York City |pages=24–25, 28–29 |isbn=0-316-78753-1}}

Bryan Carroll of AllMusic gave the single four out of five stars, saying, "Of the more than 1,500 commitments of Richard Berry's 'Louie Louie' to wax ... Black Flag's volatile take on the song is incomparable. No strangers to controversy themselves, the band pummel the song with their trademark pre-Henry Rollins era guitar sludge, while singer Dez Cadena spits out his nihilistic rewording of the most misunderstood lyrics in rock history."

You know the pain that's in my heart
It just shows I'm not very smart
Who needs love when you've got a gun?
Who needs love to have any fun?{{AllMusic|id=mw0000197875|title=Review: "Louie Louie"|first=Bryan|last=Carroll|access-date=November 4, 2022}}

The single also included an early version of "Damaged I", which would be re-recorded with Rollins for the band's debut album, Damaged, later that year. Demo versions of both tracks, recorded with Cadena, were included on the 1982 compilation album Everything Went Black.{{AllMusic|id=mw0000192996|title=Review: Everything Went Black|first=Alex|last=Ogg|access-date=November 4, 2022}}

The front cover art shows the main verse of the lyrics to "Louie Louie" over a photograph by Edward Colver featuring Black Flag's third singer Dez Cadena. Both tracks from the single were included on the 1983 compilation album The First Four Years, and "Louie Louie" was also included on 1987's Wasted...Again.{{AllMusic|id=mw0000193851 |title=Review: The First Four Years|first=John|last=Dougan|access-date=November 4, 2022}}{{AllMusic|id=mw0000194340|last=Dougan |first=John |title=Review: Wasted...Again|access-date=November 4, 2022 }} A live version of "Louie Louie", recorded by the band's 1985 lineup, was released on Who's Got the 10½?, with Rollins improvising his own lyrics.{{AllMusic|id=mw0000192997 |last=Raggett |first=Ned |title=Review: Who's Got the 10½? |access-date=November 4, 2022}}

Continued touring, line-up changes, and occasional reunions resulted in multiple recorded live versions with various lead singers Keith Morris, Ron Reyes, Dez Cadena, Henry Rollins, and Mike Vallely.{{cite news|newspaper=The Mercury News|first=Jim|last=Harrington|date=May 5, 2024|url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/05/review-legendary-punk-acts-gather-in-a-parking-lot-to-rock-with-fans/|access-date=May 7, 2024|title=Review: Legendary punk acts gather in a parking lot to rock with fans}}

A duo of "jazz rock fusioneers",{{sfn|Marsh|1993|page=170}} bassist Stanley Clarke and keyboardist George Duke, included a "killer version"{{cite book|title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide|date=1992|isbn=978-0679737292|publisher=Random House|location=New York|page=137|editor-first1=Anthony|editor-last1=DeCurtis|editor-link1=Anthony DeCurtis|editor-first2=Holly|editor-last2=George-Warren|editor-first3=James|editor-last3=Henke}} "funk cover"{{AllMusic|id=mw0001993745|first=Thom|last=Jurek|title=The Clarke/Duke Project, Vols. 1-3 Review}} on The Clarke/Duke Project, a 1981 album of eight original compositions and one cover. The song's combination of narration and singing within a storytelling structure elicited a variety of reactions ranging from "appealing"{{cite magazine|magazine=Stereo Review|title=Review of The Clarke/Duke Project|date=1981|volume=46|publisher=CBS Magazines|page=75}} and "imaginative adaptation"{{sfn|Marsh|1993|page=170}} to "probably the funkiest version of 'Louie Louie' ever recorded".{{cite web|title=[Review] Stanley Clarke/George Duke: The Clarke/Duke Project (1981)|first=Dave|last=Connolly|date=September 12, 2017|url=https://progrography.com/stanley-clarke/stanley-clarkegeorge-duke-clarkeduke-project-1981/|website=Progrography.com}} One Allmusic reviewer called it "a truly bizarre rendition"{{AllMusic|id=mw0000187963|first=Richard S|last=Ginell|title=The Clarke/Duke Project, Vol. 1 Review}} while another lamented that the Clarke/Duke version "criminally, never made it onto any of the various artists collections that showcased the legendary Richard Berry tune" (but it was included on The Best of Louie Louie, Volume 2).

A single was also released in Europe (cut to 3:38 from the album's 5:05 length).{{cite AV media|title=Stanley Clarke & George Duke - Louie Louie|date=1981|url=https://www.discogs.com/master/351637-Stanley-ClarkeGeorge-Duke-Louie-Louie#images |publisher=Epic Records|website=Discogs.com|type=45 single label and sleeve|id=EPCA-1141}} The album was nominated for a 1982 Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.{{cite web|url=http://www.awardsandshows.com/features/grammy-awards-1982-230.html|title=Grammy Awards 1982

|publisher=AwardsandShows|access-date=October 9, 2023}}

Disco king Barry White created Richard Berry's "all-time favorite" version{{sfn|Marsh|1993|page=168}} as he "reworked and revamped"{{cite magazine|magazine=Billboard|date=October 17, 1981|title=Disco Mix|first=Barry|last=Lederer|page=64}} the original to create a "Latin-tinged"{{cite magazine|magazine=Billboard|date=September 28, 1981|title=Top Album Picks - Soul|page=72}} rendition that "took the song from pure rock 'n' roll to pure moan 'n' groan".{{sfn|Marsh|1993|page=168}} Not all reaction was positive, however, as CD Review dismissed it as "blasphemy" and "disco-fied".{{cite magazine|magazine=CD Review|volume=8|page=36|title=Review of Barry White's Beware!|date=1992|publisher=WGE Publishers}}

White commented,

I'm gonna sing just like Richard Berry. I'm gonna do this song that this black guy wrote. Everybody thinks that these white guys recorded it, but a black guy did this.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|page=169}}

Dave Marsh summarized Berry's reaction,

In White's arrangement, "Louie Louie" emerges as an up-tempo Latin groove, driven by timbales and congas and punctuated by brilliant trumpet riffs, while White supplements the chorus with the plaintive interpolation "Comin' home, Jamaaaica!" Richard Berry loved it because White's version finally brought to life his original vision of "all the timbales and congas going, and me singing 'Louie Louie'." "Barry White did it exactly the way I wanted to do it," Berry enthused, "I loved it."{{sfn|Marsh|1993|page=168}}

In the Beware! liner notes, White wrote,

I would like to take this opportunity to emphasize and give an acknowledgement of credit. The song "Louie Louie" was originally written and created by a man who, I feel, was one of the true pioneers of my time. All my respect, highest admiration and love goes to Mr. Richard Berry.{{cite AV media notes|type=LP liner notes|title=Beware!|date=1981|first=Barry|last=White}}

The track was released on White's 1981 Beware! album, and also as 12" and a 7" single (shortened from 7:14 to 3:35).{{cite AV media|title=Barry White - Louie Louie|date=1981|url=https://www.discogs.com/release/3945117-Barry-White-Louie-Louie#images |publisher=Unlimited Gold|website=Discogs.com|type=45 single label|id=4Z9 02429}} White also performed it on Soul Train on September 19, 1981, and on American Bandstand on August 8, 1981.{{cite web|website=Metacritic|url=https://www.metacritic.com/tv/american-bandstand/season-24/episode-39-episode-2439/|title=American Bandstand Season 24|access-date=October 12, 2023}}

The Fat Boys with producers Latin Rascals brought "Louie Louie" up to date in 1988 with a hip hop version which reached No. 89 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 46 on the UK Top 100. Their rap, with rewritten lyrics, "chronicled a pursuit of the song's real words".{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=171}} Dave Marsh in 1993 called their version "the last great 'Louie Louie' to date".{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=171}}

The Fat Boys version was released on the Coming Back Hard Again album on the Tin Pan Apple label, and also on a 12" single (5:42 and 3:50 edits) and a 7" single (3:50 edit). The 2009 compilation album Fat Boys On Rewind included it as well.{{AllMusic|id=mn0000066743 |title=The Fat Boys - Discography}} Notable live performances in 1988 included Club MTV and the MTV Video Music Awards. The music video, directed by Scott Kalvert, was a parody of Animal House with food fights, dancing girls, and togas.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=171}}

• The Grateful Dead, multiple live versions in the 1980s with Brent Mydland on vocals.{{cite web|title=Louie Louie|date=March 20, 2007 |publisher=Dead.net|url=https://www.dead.net/song/louie-louie|access-date=April 15, 2021}}
• Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, on the 1992 CD reissue of the 1981 album I Love Rock 'n Roll; one of multiple versions that deliberately repeated the Jack Ely early vocal entry mistake. Joan Jett said of producer Neil Bogart's insistence that she record "Louie Louie", "This was a song that I did not want to do .... All that stuff at the beginning of the song is me trying to ensure that the song would suck. Didn't work. I thought it came out well."{{cite book|date=2014|title=Going Platinum: KISS, Donna Summer, and How Neil Bogart Built Casablanca Records|page=183|first1=Brett|last1=Ermilio|first2=Josh|last2=Levine|isbn=9781493016273|publisher=Lyons Press|location=Lanham, MD}}
• Half Japanese, on their 1981 album Our Solar System.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}} Described by Robert Christgau as "lots to laugh at".{{cite web|first=Robert|last=Christgau|author-link=Robert Christgau|website=robertchristgau.com|title=The Village Voice: Christgau's Consumer Guide|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv2-85.php|access-date=June 21, 2023|date=February 5, 1985}}
• Charlie Harper, on his 1981 album Stolen Property.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Magazine 60 (France), on their eponymous 1981 album.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• 39 Clocks (Germany), recorded as "Psychotic Louie Louie", on their 1982 album Subnarcotic.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Moe Tucker, on her 1982 album Playin' Possum.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Yo La Tengo, on an unreleased 1982 studio recording.{{cite book|title=Big Day Coming: Yo La Tengo and the Rise of Indie Rock|first=Jesse|last=Jarnow|date=2012|publisher=Penguin Publishing Group|location=New York|isbn=978-1101588680|chapter=Chapter 5: Annie and Those Guys}}
• Johnny Thunders, on his 1982 album In Cold Blood.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}} A second version was released on the 2008 Who's Been Talking? compilation.
• Rory Gallagher, live at the Olympia Hall Paris in 1982; released on the 2022 album A Burning Fever.{{cite AV media|date=2022|title=A Burning Fever|type=Album liner notes|publisher=Casino Records}}
• The Last, on the 1983 various artists album The Best of Louie Louie, also released on Painting Smiles on a Dead Man (France, 1983).{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Flo & Eddie, on the 1983 album The History of Flo & Eddie & the Turtles;{{AllMusic|id=mw0000844714 |title=The History of Flo & Eddie and the Turtles - Review|first=Lindsay|last=Planer|date=1983}} also live in 1980s concerts as the Turtles.{{cite news|newspaper=The Morning Call|url=https://www.mcall.com/1986/08/24/17000-hear-the-turtles-give-concert-of-nostalgia/|date=August 24, 1986|title=17,000 Hear the Turtles Give Concert of Nostalgia|access-date=January 21, 2024}}
• Australian Crawl, on their 1983 album Phalanx and as a single; another version was included on the 1986 album The Final Wave as "(The Last) Louie Louie".{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• David Surkamp on a 1984 single (Butt Records MGLS003).{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Television Personalities, live in Germany in 1984; included on the 1993 reissue of their 1985 album Chocolate-Art.{{AllMusic|id=mt0035223994|title=Television Personalities - I'm Waiting for the Man/Hang on Sloopy/Louie, Louie/Sister ...}}
• Royal Crescent Mob, live in 1985 in Louisville, KY; a 45-minute version as "Louisville Louisville".{{cite news|newspaper=The Los Angeles Times|first=Richard|last=Cromelin|date=August 23, 1987|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-08-23-ca-2836-story.html|access-date=June 23, 2023|title=Garage Funk from a Midwest Mob}}
• Howard Stern (vocals, piano) and Frank Zappa (guitar), live on The Howard Stern Show in 1985.{{cite web|website=howardstern.com|url=https://www.howardstern.com/news/2017/09/22/frank-zappa-hologram-form-set-tour-25-years-after-rockers-death/|title=Frank Zappa in Hologram Form Set to Tour 25 Years after Rocker's Death|date=September 22, 2017|access-date=February 9, 2024}} The show was rebroadcast on Sirius Satellite Radio in 2006 and the track was included on the Under The Covers compilation album in 2019.{{AllMusic|id=mw0003323059 |title=Frank Zappa - Under The Covers}}
• The Bangles, in 1985 on MTV's The Cutting Edge with comment, "Does anybody know the words?"{{cite AV media|time=7:20|title=MTV: IRS's The Cutting Edge|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JYmcP8b-0U|date=April 28, 1985}}
• Kevin Dunn, on his 1985 album Tanzfeld.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}} Described as "disjointed and slightly dissonant"{{cite web|website=survivingthegoldenage.com|url=https://survivingthegoldenage.com/kevin-dunn-no-great-lost-songs-1979-1985/|title=Kevin Dunn: No Great Lost|first=Adam|last=Morgan|date=May 19, 2010|access-date=June 26, 2023}} and "wickedly satirical",{{cite web|website=Trouser Press|url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/kevin-dunn-and-the-regiment-of-women/|title=Kevin Dunn and the Regiment of Women|first=Ira|last=Robbins|access-date=June 26, 2023}} his version was also released on the 2010 anthology No Great Lost: Songs, 1979–1985. Robert Christgau's album review characterized his rewritten "Louie Louie" lyrics as "inspirational verse".{{cite web|first=Robert|last=Christgau|website=robertchristgau.com|title=The Village Voice: Christgau's Consumer Guide|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv10-86.php|access-date=June 21, 2023|date=October 28, 1986}}
• Bob Dylan and Tom Petty during rehearsals for Farm Aid 1985;{{cite magazine|magazine=Rolling Stone|issue=465|date=January 18, 1986|first=Michael|last=Goldberg|author-link=Michael Goldberg (writer)|title=Back on the Road: Tom Petty teams up with new pal Bob Dylan|page=19|url=https://www.thepettyarchives.com/archives/magazines/1980s/1986-01-16-rollingstone|access-date=May 7, 2023}} released on the 2005 DVD So Many Directions Home Vol.2. Live versions by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were released on Live in Edinburgh 1982, Live at the Fillmore 1997, and other albums.
• The Kingsmen, in an audience performance at the end of Bud Clark's Inaugural Ball beginning his term as Mayor of Portland, Oregon in 1985.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19850504&id=JvFVAAAAIBAJ&pg=6944,761858 |title=Old Rockers Still Boppin' to Kingsmen |newspaper=The Register-Guard |location=Portland, Oregon |date=May 4, 1985 |page=4A |access-date=March 29, 2014}}
• Girl Trouble, on the 1990 album Stomp And Shout And Work It On Out !!!! (recorded 1985).{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• R.E.M., in multiple 1985 concert encores on the Pre-Construction and Reconstruction tours.{{cite web|website=remtimeline.com|url=https://www.remtimeline.com/1985.html|title=1985 Concert Chronology|access-date=October 24, 2023}} A 1984 concert version was released on a 1987 Italian promotional double LP, The Pop Dream.{{cite AV media|title=R.E.M. - The Pop Dream|location=Rome|publisher=Easy Flyte Records|website=Discogs.com|url=https://www.discogs.com/release/1713482-REM-The-Pop-Dream|access-date=October 25, 2023}}
• The Sisters of Mercy, on the 1985 bootleg Brimstone & Treacle EP. Various live versions appeared on bootleg albums Possession, Half Moon Over Amsterdam, The Lights Shine Clear Through The Sodium Haze, A Fire In The Hull, At The Blind Parade, Cryptic Flowers, Live In Maastricht, Tune In... Turn Off... Burn Out..., and The Quality Of Mercy.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• The Cult, on the 1986 Lil' Devil EP as "Wild Thing/Louie Louie (Live)".{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Hüsker Dü, Meat Puppets, Minutemen, Saccharine Trust, and SWA, on the 1986 VHS release The Tour.{{cite book|title=Hüsker Dü: The Story of the Noise-Pop Pioneers Who Launched Modern Rock|first=Andrew|last=Earles|chapter=Appendix VII|date=2010|page=262|publisher=Voyageur Press|location=Minneapolis|isbn=978-0760335048}}
• Meat Loaf, in multiple concerts in Germany, Switzerland, and the UK on the 20/20 World Tour in 1987.{{cite book|title=Everything Louder Than Everything Else: Meat Loaf Guide|chapter=Meat Loaf Tours|author=Wheway, Daniel|date=2017|isbn=978-0463226698}}
• Jimmy Buffett, live in 1987 at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre.{{cite news|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=August 18, 1987|first=Duncan|last=Strauss|title=Pop Music Review: 'Louie Louie' Spices up a Typical Buffett Revue|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-08-18-ca-2255-story.html?fbclid=IwAR1RYmYIlA6dQVLNIGs8-RajGoovJ0DJMJJDdOWG2kYAZdDifQg73I0rpfo|access-date=September 26, 2023}}
• ShowBiz Pizza debuted an animatronic version by Rock-afire Explosion in December 1987.{{cite web|website=showbizpizza.com|title=New Years '88 Showtape Review|url=https://www.showbizpizza.com/review/rae/1988_newyears.html|access-date=June 18, 2024}}
• The Purple Helmets (The Stranglers), on their 1988 album Ride Again{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}} and in multiple 1988 and 1989 live shows.{{cite web|url=http://www.stranglers.org.uk/live/purple_helmets.htm|title=The Stranglers: The Purple Helmets Bootlegs|access-date=June 27, 2023}}
• Tiger Moon, three mixes on a 1988 12" single (Vision Records VR 1205).{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Paul Shaffer, on the 1989 album Coast to Coast.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Deniz Tek, on his 1989 album Orphan Tracks.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• John Stamos with Scott Baio and cast members, on Full House S3E9 (November 24, 1989).{{cite web|website=Looper.com|title=Television: Uncle Jesse's Best Episodes of Full House Ranked|url=https://www.looper.com/1078355/uncle-jesses-best-episodes-of-full-house-ranked/|access-date=October 15, 2023|date=October 31, 2022|first=Larissa|last=Zageris}}
• Young & Restless, on their 1990 album Something to Get You Hyped.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}

Written by Mike Binder and directed by Joe Roth, Coupe de Ville featured an extended scene discussing possible interpretations of the "Louie Louie" lyrics and a closing credit montage of multiple versions.

Hearing the Kingsmen version on a car radio sparks an extended debate among the three Libner brothers (Patrick Dempsey, Arye Gross, Daniel Stern) about the lyrics and whether it is a "hump song", a "dance song", or a "sea chanty" with the eldest and most worldly brother arguing for the last interpretation.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=7-10}}{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/58456|website=AFI Catalog|title=Coupe de Ville|access-date=September 16, 2021}} As the Los Angeles Times noted, "Joe Roth obviously knows the importance of the "Louie Louie" lyric controversy".{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-03-09-ca-2114-story.html|website=Los Angeles Times|title=MOVIE REVIEW : 'Coupe de Ville' Comedy Takes a Wrong Turn|first=Michael|last=Wilmington|date=March 9, 1990|access-date=September 15, 2021}}

Multiple versions played during the closing credits: Richard Berry, the Rice University Marching Owl Band, the Sandpipers, Les Dantz and his Orchestra, the Kingsmen, and Young MC's "Louie Louie House Mix" (a remix of the Kingsmen version with samples from Richard Berry and the Rice University MOB). The movie trailer also used the Richard Berry and Kingsmen versions.

The soundtrack album, released by Cypress Records on vinyl, CD and cassette, included the Kingsmen and Young MC versions.{{cite AV media|type=liner notes|title=Coupe De Ville (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)|url=https://www.discogs.com/master/532183-Various-Coupe-De-Ville-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack|website=Discogs.com}} A 12" EP (Cypress Records V-74500) was released with four tracks: "Louie Rap", "Louie Vocal Attack", "Louie Louie House Mix", and "Louie DePalma Mix" (all "featuring Maestro Fresh Wes" and "produced by Young MC").{{cite AV media|type=liner notes|title=Young MC Featuring Maestro Fresh Wes – Louie Louie|url=https://www.discogs.com/release/2452740-Young-MC-Featuring-Maestro-Fresh-Wes-Louie-Louie|website=Discogs.com}}

A music video of "Louie Louie House Mix", credited to "Various Artists (featuring Young MC)", was concurrently released and included appearances by Robert Townsend ("It's a hump song!"), Kareem Abdul Jabbar ("It's a dance song!"), Martin Short, Young MC, and others.{{cite AV media|title=VHS Previews from 'Downtown' (CBS/Fox Video Aus., 1991) - Young MC 'Louie Louie' (House mix) music video|publisher=Archive.org|date=1991|time=:40|url=https://archive.org/details/vhspreviewsfromdowntowncbsfoxvideoaus1991|access-date=February 15, 2024}}

The inclusion of the Kingsmen's "Louie Louie" is a bit of an anachronism in that the film takes place on a trip from Detroit to Florida during the summer of 1963. The initial release of the Kingsmen version on the regional Jerden label was in May 1963, but no significant national radio airplay and chart activity (or lyrics controversy) occurred until October and its national chart debut was not until early November.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=7}}

The first release by the Three Amigos (Dylan Amlot, Milroy Nadarajah, and Marc Williams) was their multi-version cover of "Louie Louie". The 12" EP, titled Louie Louie, included "Original Mix", "Da Digglar Mix", "Wiseguys Remix", and "Touché's Bonus Beats".{{cite AV media|title=The Three Amigos - Louie Louie|website=Discogs.com|type=liner notes|url=https://www.discogs.com/release/82087-The-Three-Amigos-Louie-Louie}} The CD tracks were different: "Louie Louie (Original Radio Mix)", "We Rock", and "Louie Louie Wiseguys Remix". Released in July 1999 as a CD single, "Original Mix" featured heavy sampling of the Kingsmen intro and chorus. It reached No. 15 on the UK Singles Chart (higher than the Kingsmen's No. 26 in 1964), leading to a February 7, 1999 appearance on Top of the Pops.{{cite book| title=Complete UK Hit Singles 1952-2005|first=Graham|last=Betts|date=2005|publisher=Harper Collins|location=London|isbn=0-00-720076-5}}

• Johnny Winter, on the 1990 album A Lone Star Kind of Day.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Guru Josh, on his 1990 acid house album Infinity that reached No. 41 on the UK chart. But "when critics spotted a cover of "Louie Louie" on his debut album, the game was definitely up".{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor-first=Colin|editor-last=Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin|date=1995|page=1776|location=London|publisher=Guinness Publishing}}{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Ry Cooder, live in 1990 at a Village Music function with Richard Berry, Tim Drummond, Scott Mathews, Steve Douglas, and Johnnie Johnson.{{cite web|website=The Louie Report|first=Eric|last=Predoehl|url=https://www.louielouie.net/blog/?p=4501|title=Richard Berry, Ry Cooder & Steve Douglas in 1990 – LOUIE of the Week|date=January 1, 2013|access-date=November 29, 2024}}
• Eric Burdon, live in 1990 at a Ventura Beach concert;{{cite news|newspaper=The Roanoke Times|url=https://roanoke.com/news/local/louie-louie-on-the-friday-drive-time-tune/article_ead29b39-a977-5d61-a7fb-dfde9736223b.html|title='Louie, Louie' on the Friday drive-time tune|date=November 4, 2011|first=Dan|last=Casey|access-date=February 27, 2024|url-access=subscription}} Burdon also included the Kingsmen's version in his curated list of 13 tracks as host of Rolling Stone's Guest D. J. program #105 on March 26, 1984.{{cite AV media|date=1984|title=Eric Burdon, Guest D. J. Show #105|type=LP label|url=https://www.discogs.com/release/29791402-Eric-Burdon-Jim-Messina-Guest-DJ|access-date=February 27, 2024|website=Discogs.com}}
• Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin, on their 1991 album Spin as a medley with "Cast Your Fate to the Wind".{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• The Dave Matthews Band, in some of their early 1990s setlists. A version was included on the 2000 album The Best Of What's Around Vol. 1.{{cite web|last=Bernstein|first=Scott|url=https://www.jambase.com/article/dave-matthews-band-blacksburg-1992|title=Early Dave Matthews Band Recording From 1992 Surfaces|date=2019-02-07|access-date=February 10, 2019}}
• John Stamos and David Coulier, on Full House S7E3 (September 28, 1993) with Dylan & Blake Tuomy-Wilhoit.{{cite web|website=Ranker.com|title=Full List of Full House Episodes|url=https://www.ranker.com/list/full-list-of-full-house-episodes/reference?page=7|access-date=October 15, 2023}}
• The Queers, on a bonus 7" record included with the 1994 Shout at the Queers album.{{AllMusic|title=The Queers - Suck This Live Review|first=Mike|last=DaRonco|id=mw0000911280}}
• Neil Diamond, live at the 1995 NYU commencement ceremony.{{cite news|first=James|last=Barron|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 29, 1995 |title=For This Year's Graduates: Pomp, Circumstance and a Little Rock-and-Roll|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/29/us/for-this-year-s-graduates-pomp-circumstance-and-a-little-rock-and-roll.html |access-date=August 31, 2021}}
• At the 1997 opening of the Experience Music Project, an encore version was performed by the Kingsmen joined by Paul Allen, the Presidents of the United States of America, and Steve Turner of Mudhoney. The other members of Mudhoney declined to participate, calling it "kind of lame".{{cite web|url=https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~ptn/mudhoney/tourbook/1997.html|website=OCF Berkeley|title=Mudhoney Tourbook, 1997|access-date=August 25, 2021}}
• Warren Zevon, live with the Rock Bottom Remainders in Bangor, Maine in 1998. Horror author Stephen King sang lead, and music critic Joel Selvin performed an extended "scream solo".{{cite web|url=http://charnelhouse.tripod.com/essays/rockbottombangor.html|title=Rock Bottom Bangor|date=1998|publisher=charnelhouse.tripod.com}}

• The Guess Who, at their 2000 reunion concert in Winnipeg.{{cite book|title=Wheatfield Empire: The Listener's Guide to The Guess Who|first=Robert|last=Lawson|date=2020|publisher=Friesen Press|page=207|isbn=9781525581175}} The early group was known for their "most wondrous" "Louie Louie" medley imitating the Kingsmen, Kinks, Beach Boys, and Raiders.{{cite book|title=We'll Be Here For the Rest of Our Lives: A Swingin' Showbiz Saga|first1=Paul|last1=Shaffer|author-link1=Paul Shaffer|first2=David|last2=Ritz|date=2010|page=58|publisher=Anchor Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0767928861}} Burton Cummings regularly performs live versions at his concerts.{{cite web|publisher=The Niagara Gazette|first=Thom|last=Jennings|date=July 3, 2019|url=https://www.niagara-gazette.com/news/night_and_day/burton-cummings-delivers-the-hits-at-artpark/article_e79af929-55e7-5548-be8a-3894440f27ab.html|title=Burton Cummings delivers the hits at Artpark}}
• Chuck E. Cheese featured a cartoon version by Munch's Make Believe Band in its pizza parlor shows in 2001.{{cite web|website=showbizpizza.com|title=September 2001 Show|url=https://www.showbizpizza.com/review/cec/2001_september.html|access-date=June 18, 2024}}
• Al Copley, a "fresh arrangement" on his 2003 album Jump On It.{{AllMusic|id=mw0000418328|first=Robert L|last= Doerschuk|title=Al Copley - Jump On It Review}}
• Steve Jordan, released an innovative, "blatantly personal"{{cite book|first=Luis|last=Díaz-Santana Garza|title=Between Norteño and Tejano Conjunto: Music, Tradition, and Culture at the U.S.-Mexico Border|page=107|date=2021}} Tejano conjunto version on his 2005 album 25 Golden Hits.{{AllMusic|id=mw0000535062 |title=Steve Jordan - 25 Golden Hits}}.
• Mike Huckabee and Capitol Offense, live at HuckPAC 2008.{{cite book|title=Don't Stop Thinking About the Music: The Politics of Songs and Musicians in Presidential Campaigns|first1=Benjamin|last1=Schoening|first2=Eric|last2=Kasper|page=213|publisher=Lexington Books|location=Lanham|isbn=9780739172995|date=2011}}
• Lisa Simpson and the Springfield Children's Band, on the 2005 episode of The Simpsons (Episode 367: "We're on the Road to D'ohwhere").{{cite web|website=Wikisimpsons.com|url=https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/We%27re_on_the_Road_to_D%27ohwhere/References|title=We're on the Road to D'ohwhere|access-date=November 3, 2023}}
• Joe McPhee, Cato Salsa Experience, and The Thing, on the 2007 album Two Bands And A Legend.{{cite news|newspaper=The Guardian|first=Ben|last=Thompson|date=August 12, 2007|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/aug/12/jazz.popandrock|title=Cato Salsa Experience and The Thing with Joe McPhee, Two Bands and a Legend}}
• Eddie Angel and Johnny Rabb with The Trashmen, live at the Turf Club in St. Paul, MN on November 22, 2008.{{cite web|website=The Louie Report|first=Eric|last=Predoehl|url=https://www.louielouie.net/blog/?p=490|title=The Trashmen with Eddie Angel & Johnny Rabb – LOUIE of the Week!|date=December 1, 2008|access-date=November 29, 2024}}
• The Hives, live with The Sonics November 27, 2009 at Debaser Medis, Stockholm, Sweden.
• The Smashing Pumpkins, on their 2008 Live Smashing Pumpkins album series.{{cite web|website=Stereogum|url=https://www.stereogum.com/33681/new_live_smashing_pumpkins_video_99_floors/news/|date=November 6, 2008|first=Brandon|last=Stosuy|title=New Live Smashing Pumpkins Video – "99 Floors"|access-date=September 30, 2021}}
• Detroit7 (Japan), on two 2009 albums, Detroit7 and Black & White.{{cite AV media|website=Discogs.com|url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/1711358-Detroit7|title=Detroit7 Discography|access-date=November 7, 2023}}
• James Williamson with Careless Hearts, on their eponymous 2009 album.{{cite magazine|magazine=Record Collector|first=Kris|last=Needs|date=February 13, 2010|title=Album Reviews -James Williamson With The Careless Hearts|issue=373|url=https://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/album/james-williamson-withthe-careless-hearts|access-date=November 3, 2023}}

• Mark Lindsay, live on the 2011 Happy Together: 25th Anniversary Tour.{{cite web|website=NJ.com|url=https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2011/07/happy_together_tour_2011_revie.html|title=Happy Together Tour 2011 review|date=July 18, 2011|first=Mark|last=Voger|access-date=January 21, 2024}}
• Baby It's You!, a 2011 Broadway jukebox musical, featured a production of "Louie Louie" by cast members as the Kingsmen, the Shirelles and Chuck Jackson (not included on original cast soundtrack album).{{cite web|url=https://broadwaymusicalhome.com/shows/baby-its-you.htm |title=Baby It's You!|website=Broadway Musical Home|first1=Floyd|last1=Mutrux|author-link1=Floyd Mutrux|first2=Colin|last2=Escott|author-link2=Colin Escott|access-date=23 September 2021}}{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|first=Charles|last=Isherwood|date=27 April 2011|title=Girl Group Tale Is Reharmonized|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/theater/reviews/baby-its-you-story-of-the-shirelles-review.html|access-date=3 March 2023}}
• Shellie Morris and Ross Wilson, on the 2013 Rockwiz Duets Volume IV album; reviewed as "corny", "mid-tempo tripe".{{cite web|website=Tone Deaf|url=https://tonedeaf.thebrag.com/the-rockwiz-duets-vol-iv/|title=The Rockwiz Duets Vol IV| first=Natalie|last=Salvo|date=November 11, 2013|access-date=June 13, 2025}}
• Dick Dale, live at The Middle East in Cambridge in 2014.{{cite web|website=Next Exit Travel|url=https://nextexittravel.com/2014/08/15/dick-dale/|title=Dick Dale|date=August 15, 2014|first=Davida|last=Breier|access-date=November 7, 2023}}
• The Most (Sweden), on their 2015 album Invasion Completed; a "fabulously executed" cover.{{cite web|website=The Active Listener|url=http://active-listener.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-most-invasion-completed.html|title=The Most - Invasion Completed Review|date=December 8, 2015|first=Nathan|last=Ford|accessdate=November 7, 2023}}
• Billy Joel, live at the Moda Center in Portland on December 8, 2017.{{cite web|url=http://www.vrtxmag.com/articles/one-on-one-an-evening-with-billy-joel/|last=Swogger|first=Brendan|date=December 18, 2017|title=One on One: An Evening with Billy Joel|website=Vortex Magazine|access-date=20 December 2017}}

• The September 2021 issue of Rolling Stone magazine published a revised list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time that ranked "Louie Louie" No. 156, down from No. 55 and No. 54 in the 2004 and 2010 rankings, respectively.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-of-all-time-1224767/the-kingsmen-louie-louie-2-1225182/ |title=500 Greatest Songs of All Time: The Kingsmen, 'Louie Louie' |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=September 16, 2021 |access-date=2021-09-16}}
• My Morning Jacket, with Karina Rykman at the 2024 Rose on the River festival in Chicago.{{cite magazine|magazine=Relix|date=July 6, 2024|url=https://relix.com/news/detail/my-morning-jacket-welcome-karina-rykman-for-louie-louie-debut-and-more-at-the-salt-shed/|access-date=July 8, 2024|title=My Morning Jacket Welcome Karina Rykman for "Louie Louie" Debut and More in Chicago}}
• Bill Orcutt, on his 2024 album The Four Louies; a synthesis of "Louie Louie" and Steve Reich's Four Organs that "seamlessly melds these audio landmarks" and "provides a whiff of what made them revolutionary in the first place".{{cite web|first=Tom|last=Carter|title=Review of The Four Louies|website=Bandcamp.com|date=August 27, 2024|access-date=February 16, 2025|url=https://fakeestates.bandcamp.com/album/the-four-louies}}
• Jack White, Patrick Keeler, Dominic Davis, and Bobby Emmett live at Boston's Roadrunner in February 2025.{{cite web|website=the arts fuse|url=https://artsfuse.org/305727/rock-concert-review-singer-guitarist-jack-white-hes-in-love-with-rock-n-roll/|first=Paul|last=Robicheau|date=February 19, 2025|title=Rock Concert Review: Singer/Guitarist Jack White — He's in Love with Rock 'n' Roll|access-date=February 25, 2025}}
• The Limiñanas (France), a "chic reimagining" on their 2025 album Faded.{{cite web|website=Brooklyn Vegan|first=Bill|last=Pearis|date=February 21, 2025|url=https://www.brooklynvegan.com/album-reviews-the-murder-capital-liminanas-q-lazzarus-porridge-radio-trupa-trupa-the-balancing-act/|title=Album of the Week #2: The Limiñanas – Faded|access-date=February 28, 2025}}
• The Lemonheads, a "barely recognizable version" live at The Gov in Adelaide in 2025.{{cite web|website=Scenestr|first=James|last=Murphy|date=May 23, 2025|url=https://scenestr.com.au/music/review-the-lemonheads-the-gov-adelaide-20250523|title=Review: The Lemonheads @ The Gov (Adelaide)|access-date=May 23, 2025}}

;Table notes

{{notelist}}

;Table notes

{{notelist}}

Not listed:

• Motörhead — Overkill (UK #24); version included on the 1996 CD reissue but not on the original 1979 release.
• Joan Jett & the Blackhearts — I Love Rock 'n Roll (US #2, UK #25); version included on the 1992 CD reissue but not on the original 1981 release.

;Table notes

{{notelist}}

• In 1983 Rhino Records released The Best of Louie, Louie: The Greatest Renditions of Rock's #1 All Time Song in conjunction with KFJC's "Maximum Louie Louie" event. The album featured a re-recorded Richard Berry version,{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=41-42, 195}} influential versions by Rockin' Robin Roberts, the Sonics and the Kingsmen, Black Flag's version, and several other versions, some bizarre. These included an "outlandish" performance by the Rice University Marching Owl Band, an a cappella "Hallalouie Chorus", in which the song's title was sung to the melody of Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus", and a David Bowie imitation by Les Dantz and his Orchestra. Reissued on CD in 1988 by Rhino. Re-released in 2023 in Japan by Oldays as The Best of Louie Louie & More with 15 additional tracks.
• The Best of Louie Louie, Volume 2 followed in 1989 with versions by Paul Revere and the Raiders, Mongo Santamaria, Pete Fountain, the Kinks, Ike and Tina Turner, the Shockwaves, and others.{{AllMusic|id=mw0000654515|title=The Best of Louie Louie, Vol. 2 - Various Artists |first=Cub|last=Koda|author-link=Cub Koda|access-date=November 4, 2022}}
• In 1994 Jerden Records released The Louie Louie Collection by the Best of the Northwest, a Pacific Northwest-oriented compilation featuring versions by the Kingsmen, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Don and the Goodtimes, Little Bill & the Adventurers, the Feelies, Ian Whitcomb, the University of Washington Husky Marching Band, and others. (The UW Husky Marching Band has been playing "Louie Louie" for over 40 years.){{AllMusic|id=mw0000111821|title=Louie Louie Collection – Various Artists|access-date=November 4, 2022}}
• In 1997 The First Louie Louie Spanish Compilation was released by Louie Records featuring 11 versions by the Flaming Sideburns, the Navahodads, Luxury Liner, and others.{{cite AV media|title=The First Louie Louie Spanish Compilation|type=CD|location=Madrid|publisher=Louie Records|url=https://www.discogs.com/release/2950692-Various-The-First-Louie-Louie-Spanish-Compilation|date=1997|website=Discogs.com}}
• In 2002 Ace Records released Love That Louie: The Louie Louie Files, a comprehensive overview of the origins, impact and legacy of "the cultural phenomenon known as 'Louie Louie'." Featuring detailed sleeve notes by Alec Palao, the CD contained 24 tracks divided into eight sections titled "The Original Louie", "Inspirational Louie", "Northwest Louie", "Louie As A Way Of Life", "Transatlantic Louie", "Louie: The Rewrite", "Louie: The Sequel" and "Louie Goes Home". The first CD reissue of Richard Berry's original version was included along with multiple historically important versions.{{AllMusic|id=mw0000225973|title=Love That Louie: The Louie Louie Files – Various Artists |first=Richie|last=Unterberger |author-link=Richie Unterberger|access-date=November 4, 2022}}
• A 2024 compilation, Hunger Is Violence, featured 14 "diverse reinterpretations" of "Louie Louie" by some of Ireland's "most singular experimental and avant-garde talents" with proceeds benefiting the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign. The liner notes by Kevin Barry spotlighted "the song that invented viral" with its "single propulsive riff from deep in the vaults of time".{{cite web|website=The Thin Air|location=Dublin|first=Brian|last=Coney|date=December 4, 2024|access-date=February 16, 2025|url=https://thethinair.net/2024/12/premiere-various-artists-hunger-is-violence/|title=Premiere: Various Artists – Hunger is Violence}}

Shortly after the Kingsmen's version charted in late 1963, the first international covers appeared. Since the original lyrics were notoriously difficult to discern, the translations were often inaccurate or adapted to a different storyline. Early foreign language versions included:{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=230-238}}

• Los Apson (Mexico), as "Ya No Lo Hagas", on a 1963 single (Peerless 1263) and a 1964 album Atrás De La Raya{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Joske Harry's and the King Creoles (Belgium), on a 1963 single (Arsa 107){{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Les Players (France), as "Si C'Etait Elle", on a 1964 single (Polydor 1879) and a 1964 EP (Polydor 27 129){{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Los Supersónicos (El Salvador), on a 1965 single (DCA 1082) and eponymous album{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Pedrito Ramirez con Los Yogis (US), on a 1965 single (Angelo 518)
• I Trappers (Italy), as "Lui Lui Non Ha", on a 1965 single (CGD 9606)
• Los Corbs (Spain), as "Loui Loui", on a 1966 EP (Marfer M.622)
• Les Zèniths (Canada), on a 1966 single (Première 825)
• Maddalena (Italy), as "Lui Lui" on a 1967 single (RCA Italiana 3413){{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}}
• Los Yetis (Colombia), on a 1968 album Olvidate

In 1966 the Sandpipers, a US group, released a slower tempo Spanish language version that reached No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was covered that same year in German by Die Rosy-Singers.{{cite web|url=https://cover.info/en/song/Die-Rosy-Singers-Louie-Louie|website=coverinfo.com|title=Louie, Louie (1966) Die Rosy Singers|access-date=October 19, 2021}}

The 1983 compilation The Best of Louie, Louie featured a "goofy" Russian version by Red Square, and in 1997 an entire album of Spanish covers, The First Louie Louie Spanish Compilation, was released with versions by the Flaming Sideburns, the Navahodads, Los DelTonos, and eight others. Other Spanish versions were released by Los Hermanos Carrion (Mexico), as "Alu, Aluai" on a 1971 album Lagrimas de Cristal Que Manera de Perder, Los Elegantes (Spain), as "Luisa Se Va" on a 1985 album Paso A Paso,{{AllMusic|id=mr0005333519 |title=Los Elegantes - Paso A Paso}} and Desperados (Spain), on a 1997 album Por Un Puñado De Temas.

In 1988, Michael Doucet released a "great vocal treatment"{{cite book|title=Let the Good Times Roll!: A Guide to Cajun & Zydeco Music|page=64|first1=Patricia|last1=Nyhan|first2=Brian|last2=Rollins|first3=David|last3=Babb|date=1997|publisher=Upbeat Books|isbn=978-0965823203}} of "Louie Louie" in Cajun French on the Michael Doucet and Cajun Brew album. CD Review characterized his version as "oddly appropriate".{{cite magazine|magazine=CD Review|title=Basic 50: World Music|page=21|first=Linda|last=Kohanov|date=June 1990}}

More recent non-English efforts included:

• Elektricni Orgazam (Serbia), as "Lui Lui", on a 1986 album Distorzija
• Irha (Italy), as "Lui Luisa", on a 1989 EP Beati I Primi (Attack Punk Records - APR 12){{cite web|url=http://web.tiscali.it/skinepunk/oidisco.htm|website=Skin & Punk|title=Irha|access-date=September 30, 2021}}
• Eläkeläiset (Finland), as "Tilulilulei", on a 1994 album Joulumanteli
• The Dizzy Brains (Madagascar), as "Hiala Aho Zao", on a 2014 album Môla Kely
• Dynasis (Greece), as "Loui Loui" on a 2019 digital single{{cite AV media|url=https://www.reverbnation.com/%CE%94%CE%A5%CE%9D%CE%91%CE%A3%CE%99%CE%A3/song/11361330-dynasisloui-loui |title=Dynasis - Loui Loui}} - images ReverbNation.

"Louie Louie" has spawned a number of answer songs, sequels, and tributes from the 1960s to the present:

• "Louie Go Home", 1964, Paul Revere & the Raiders (Columbia 4-43008); also recorded in 1964 by Davie Jones & The King Bees (David Bowie) as "Louie Louie Go Home" and by The Who in 1965 as "Lubie (Come Back Home)".
• "Love That Louie", 1964, Jack E. Lee & The Squires (RCA 54-8452); a "brazen attempt to approximate the idiosyncrasies of its predecessor."
• "Louie Come Home", 1965, The Epics (Zen 202)
• "Louie Come Back", 1965, The Legends (Shout! Northwest Killers Volume 2, Norton NW 907){{AllMusic|id=mr0002428165 |title=Shout!: Northwest Killers, Vol. 2}}
• "Louise Louise", 1966, H.B. & The Checkmates (Lavender R1936); "a raucous re-write."
• "Louie Go Home", 1966, The Campus Kingsmen (Impalla V 1481); different song from the Raiders version{{cite AV media|title=The Campus Kingsmen - Louie Go Home|date=1966|type=record label|url=https://www.45cat.com/artist/campus-kingsmen|website=45cat.com}}
• "Louie Louie's Comin' Back", 1967, The Pantels (Rich RR-120){{cite AV media|title=The Pantels - Louie Louie's Comin' Back|date=1967|type=record label|url=https://www.45cat.com/artist/the-pantels|location=Oklahoma City|publisher=Rich Records RR-120|website=45cat.com}}
• "Louie Louie Louie", 1989, Henry Lee Summer (I've Got Everything, CBS ZK 45124){{AllMusic|id=mw0000199931 |title=I've Got Everything Review |first=Jason|last=Ankeny}}
• "Louie Louie Got Married", 1994, The Tentacles (K Records IPU XCIV){{cite web|website=Salon.com|first=Greil|last=Marcus|author-link=Greil Marcus|date=August 7, 1999|title=Real Life Rock Top 10|url=https://www.salon.com/1999/08/07/marcus_2/|access-date=October 16, 2023}}
• "Louie", 1994, by Phil Milstein on the RRRecords America The Beautiful experimental album; a "smog cloud" tribute collage of dozens of earlier versions.
• "Louie Louie (Where Did She Roam)", 1996, Thee Headcoats (SFTRI 335){{cite AV media|title=Thee Headcoats - Louie Louie (Where Did She Roam)|date=1995|type=record label|url=https://www.45cat.com/record/sftri335|website=45cat.com}}
• "The Louie Louie Variations", 1996, an "intriguingly titled", "alternative classical" composition by Phillip Kent Bimstein, performed by the Modern Mandolin Quartet, on his Garland Hirschi's Cows album.{{cite book|title=The Mandolin in America: The Full Story from Orchestras to Bluegrass to the Modern Revival|first=Walter|last=Carter|page=65|date=2016|isbn=978-1493079278|publisher=Backbeat|location=New York}} Bimstein described the work as "a lively fantasy based on the archetypical I-IV-V chord progression ... [that] sends a small fragment on a deconstructive mission through a contemporary classical landscape."{{cite web|website=bimstein.com|first=Phillip|last=Bimstein|title=The Louie Louie Variations|url=https://bimstein.com/project/the-louie-louie-variations/|date=1989|access-date=August 14, 2023}}
• "The Ballad of the Kingsmen", 2004, Todd Snider (East Nashville Skyline, Oh Boy Records OBR-031); commentary on the tendency of the "religious right and the government ... to blame rock music for the moral decline of our youth."{{AllMusic|id=mw0000656524 |title=East Nashville Skyline Review|first=Aaron|last=Latham}}
• "Louie Louie Music", 2012, Armitage Shanks (Louie Louie Music EP, Little Teddy LiTe765){{cite web|website=The Stranger|title=Luke Beetham of Pony Time|date=October 3, 2012|url=https://www.thestranger.com/pullout/2012/10/03/14913959/luke-beetham-of-pony-time|first=Kelly|last=O|access-date=October 18, 2023}}
• "I Love Louie Louie", 2014, The Rubinoos (45, Pynotic Productions 0045){{cite web|website=The Aquarian|first=Mike|last=Greenblatt|title=Rant 'n' Roll: The Rubinoos, Frank, Barry & Bowie|url=https://www.theaquarian.com/2015/01/21/rant-n-roll-the-rubinoos-frank-barry-bowie/|date=January 21, 2015|access-date=October 18, 2023}}
• "55 Minute Louie-Louie", 2017, Shave (High Alert, Rockstars Anonymous Music){{cite AV media|title=Shave - High Alert|date=2017|type=CD liner notes|url=https://www.discogs.com/release/16005659-Shave-High-Alert|website=Discogs.com}}
• "I Wanna Louie Louie (All Night Long)", 2018, Charles Albright (Everything Went Charles Albright, Sacramento Records 028){{cite AV media|title=Charles Albright – Everything Went Charles Albright|date=2018|type=CD liner notes|url=https://www.discogs.com/release/12644980-Charles-Albright-Everything-Went-Charles-Albright|location=Sacramento|publisher=Sacramento Records 028|website=Discogs.com}}

Due to the song's distinctive rhythm and simple structure, it has been used often as a basis for parodies and rewrites. Examples include:

• "Lilly Lilly" by Slim Jim. Satirized the mumbled vocals of the Kingsmen version. Released on a 1965 single (Laurie 3226) produced and co-written by Ernie Maresca.{{cite AV media|url=https://www.discogs.com/release/5161760-Slim-Jim-Lilly-Lilly|title=Slim Jim – Lilly Lilly|website=Discogs.com|date=1964|access-date=May 9, 2023}}{{cite book|title=The Complete Library of American Phonograph Recordings|first=Jerry|last=Osborne|date=1996|pages=78, 135, 211|publisher=Osborne Enterprises}}
• "Lewis Lewis" by the Rain Kings. Self-released on a 1966 EP with lyrics rewritten by group members Doug Dossett and Steve Lowry.{{cite web|url=https://garagehangover.com/rain-kings/|website=garagehangover.com|title=The Rain Kings|first=Chris|last=Bishop|date=April 27, 2008|access-date=May 9, 2023}}
• "Plastic People" by Frank Zappa (with Richard Berry co-writer credit). Included on Absolutely Free in 1967 and on You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1 in 1988.{{AllMusic|id=mw0000194897 |title=Frank Zappa - You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1 - Review|first=Francois|last=Couture}}
• The Lumpen, a Black Panther Party musical group, rewrote "Louie Louie" as a protest song in 1967.{{cite book|first=Denise|last=Sullivan|author-link=Denise Sullivan|date=2011|title=Keep on Pushing: Black Power Music from Blues to Hip-Hop|isbn=978-1569769065|publisher=Chicago Review Press|page=72|chapter=The Rhythm of the Rebel}}
• "Pharaoh Pharaoh". Written in 1971 by Tony Sbrana. Released on multiple religious music albums (often with added verses).{{cite web|url=https://louielouieweb.tripod.com/pharaoh.htm|title=Pharaoh, Pharaoh|website=Louie Louie Web|date=April 23, 2007|first=Mike|last=Hintze|access-date=May 9, 2023}}
• "Wal-ly Wal-ly" by Wally George. Political satire version released in 1984 on a 12" mini-LP (Rhino RNEP 612).{{cite web|url=https://dangerousminds.net/categories/category/they_hate_us_for_our_freedom|title=Listen Up Liberal Loonies: Right Wing Talk Show Host Wally George's 1984 Novelty Record|website=Dangerous Minds|first=Bennett|last=Kogon|date=February 8, 2019|access-date=May 9, 2023}}"Wally Wally" by Sis Q Lint ("Dedicated to everyone except Wally George") was written by Steven Valencia and released in 1984 (Martian 1719) as an answer song to the Wally George version, but was not based on "Louie Louie".
• "Ruthie-Ruthie" by Frank Zappa (with Richard Berry co-writer credit). Recorded in 1974 and released on You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1 in 1988.
• "Bernie Bernie" by The Bleacher Bums (with Richard Berry writer credit). Ode to Bernie Kosar released by Leaky Records on cassette and vinyl single in 1987.{{cite magazine|magazine=Cleveland Magazine|title=The Ballad of 'Bernie Bernie'|url=https://clevelandmagazine.com/in-the-cle/sports/articles/the-ballad-of-'bernie-bernie'|date=September 26, 2007|first=Kristin|last=Hampshire|access-date=May 9, 2023}}
• "Christmas Christmas" by Mojo Nixon. Released on the Punk Rock Christmas compilation in 1995.{{AllMusic|id=mw0000179474 |title=Punk Rock Christmas Review|first=Roch|last=Parisien}}
• "Santa Santa" by The '60s Invasion. Released on the 2012 album Incense & Chia Pets: A 60's Christmas Celebration.{{cite AV media|type=CD|date=2012|title=The '60s Invasion: Incense & Chia Pets: A 60's Christmas Celebration|url=https://www.amazon.com/Incense-Chia-Pets-60s-Invasion/dp/B009H441NM|access-date=May 9, 2023}}
• "Buddy Buddy". Ode to Oklahoma basketball star Buddy Hield written and recorded by Eric Kiper in 2015.{{cite news|newspaper=The Commercial Appeal|first=David|last=Williams|title=Being Buddy Hield: a primer on Oklahoma's star guard from the Bahamas|url=https://archive.commercialappeal.com/columnists/david-williams/Being-Buddy-Hield-a-primer-on-Oklahomas-star-guard-351095901.html/|date=November 17, 2015|access-date=May 9, 2023}}
• "Jedi Jedi". Star Wars parody released online by Royish Good Looks in 2018.{{cite AV media|type=digital single|title=Royish Good Looks - Jedi Jedi|date=2017|url=https://music.apple.com/us/song/jedi-jedi/1205747579}}

As "Louie Louie" began to climb the national charts in late 1963, Jack Ely's "slurry snarl"{{cite news|newspaper=The Boston Globe|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/05/02/louie-louie-singer-jack-ely-dies-oregon/U6rW1B47tfK9xhAtVoqWbM/story.html|title=Jack Ely, 71; Kingsman sang hit 'Louie, Louie'|first1=Steven|last1=Dubois|first2=John|last2=Rogers|date=April 30, 2015|access-date=February 28, 2022}} and "mush-mouthed",{{cite magazine|magazine=Spin Magazine|date=October 2008|page=98|title=Strange Bedfellows|first1=Andy|last1=Beta|first2=Victoria|last2=De Silverio|first3=Steve|last3=Kandell|first4=Dave|last4=Marchese|first5=John|last5=Mihaly|first6=Mac|last6=Montandon|first7=David|last7=Peisner|first8=Amanda|last8=Petrusich|author-link8=Amanda Petrusich}} "gloriously garbled",{{cite book|title=Music in Washington: Seattle and Beyond|first=Peter|last=Blecha|author-link=Peter Blecha|date=2007|isbn=978-0738548180|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|page=85|chapter=The "Louie Louie" Craze}} "infamously incomprehensible",{{cite book|first=Philip Dickenson|last=Peters|date=2003|title=Caribbean Wow 2.0: From Alexander Hamilton to Colin Powell - The Compelling Story of Caribbean Minds and Events that Made America Great|publisher=House of Zagada|location=Coral Gables, FL|page=76|isbn=978-1929970049}} "legendarily manic",{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, Volume 1|first=Steve|last=Sullivan|page=696|date=2013|isbn=9780810882966|publisher=Scarecrow Press|location=Lanham, MD}} "punk squawk" vocals gave rise to rumors about "dirty lyrics". The Kingsmen initially ignored the rumors, but soon "news networks were filing reports from New Orleans, Florida, Michigan, and elsewhere about an American public nearly hysterical over the possible dangers of this record". The song quickly became "something of a Rorschach test for dirty minds"{{sfn|Corn-Revere|2021|page=140}} who "thought they could detect obscene suggestions in the lyric".{{cite book|title=The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock & Roll|first=Charlie|last=Gillett|page=315|author-link=Charlie Gillett|location=New York|publisher=Da Capo Press|year=1996|isbn=978-0285633438}}

In January 1964, Indiana governor Matthew E. Welsh, acting on multiple complaint letters, determined the lyrics to be pornographic because his "ears tingled" when he listened to the record.{{cite magazine|magazine=Billboard|first=Gil|last=Faggen|date=February 1, 1964|page=3|title=Indiana Gov. Puts Down 'Pornographic' Wand Tune|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/60s/1964/Billboard%201964-02-01.pdf}} He referred the matter to the FCC and also requested that the Indiana Broadcasters Association advise their member stations to pull the record from their playlists. An initial FCC investigation found the song "unintelligible at any speed".{{cite news|newspaper=Ft. Worth Star|date=February 14, 1964|title='Gibberish at any Speed' 'Louie Louie' Lyrics Lurid? Not So, Rules FCC}}

The National Association of Broadcasters also investigated and deemed it "unintelligible to the average listener", but that "[t]he phonetic qualities of this recording are such that a listener possessing the 'phony' lyrics could imagine them to be genuine."{{sfn|Marsh|1993|page=127}} Neither the FCC nor the NAB took any further action.

In response, Max Feirtag of publisher Limax Music offered $1,000 to "anyone finding anything suggestive in the lyrics",{{cite magazine|magazine=Billboard|date=February 8, 1964|title='Louie' Publishers Say Tune Not Dirty at All|pages=4, 57|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/60s/1964/Billboard-1964-02-08.pdf}} and Broadcasting magazine published the actual lyrics as provided by Limax.{{cite magazine|title=What are the real lyrics to 'Louie'?|magazine=Broadcasting Volume 66|publisher=Broadcasting Publications Incorporated|year=1964|page=52}} Scepter/Wand Records commented, "Not in anyone's wildest imagination are the lyrics as presented on the Wand recording suggestive, let alone obscene."{{sfn|Marsh|1993|page=125}} Producer Jerry Dennon thanked the governor, saying, "We really owe Governor Welsh a lot. The record already was going great, but since he's stepped in to give us a publicity boost, it's hard to keep up with orders."{{cite news|newspaper=The Indianapolis Star|first=Thomas G.|last=Karsell|date=January 26, 1964|title=Offer Hearing Aid: 'Louie, Louie' Recorders Thank Welsh for 'Plug'}} Billboard noted, "It also seems likely that some shrewd press agentry may also be playing an important role in this teapot tempest."

The following month an outraged parent wrote to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy alleging that the lyrics of "Louie Louie" were obscene, saying, "The lyrics are so filthy that I can-not [sic] enclose them in this letter."{{Cite web|url=https://vault.fbi.gov/louie-louie-the-song/louie-louie-the-song/view|title=Louie Louie (The Song)|website=FBI|language=en-us|access-date=2019-04-28}}{{cite magazine|magazine=Sarasota Magazine|author=Pittman, Craig|date=August 25, 2017|url=https://www.sarasotamagazine.com/arts-and-entertainment/2017/08/sarasota-kingsmen-louie-louie|title=How a Sarasota Educator Got the FBI to Investigate the Lyrics of a Rock Song|access-date=November 3, 2021}} The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the complaint,{{cite magazine|title=FBI Eyes 'Louie' Lyrics|date=September 11, 1965|access-date=May 15, 2019|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/60s/1965/Billboard%201965-09-11.pdf|page=10|magazine=Billboard magazine}} and looked into the various rumors of "real lyrics" that were circulating among teenagers. In June 1965, the FBI laboratory obtained a copy of the Kingsmen recording and, after 31 months of investigation, concluded that it could not be interpretedThe FBI file states, "... the record was played at various speeds but none of the speeds assisted in determining the words of the song on the record." (Marsh, 1993, p. 116) and therefore the Bureau could not find that the recording was obscene.

Over the course of the investigation, a "folk legend of modern times that has yet to be bettered for sheer inanity", the FBI interviewed Richard Berry, members of the Kingsmen, members of Paul Revere and the Raiders, and record company executives. The one person they never interviewed was the man who actually sang the words in question, Jack Ely, whose name apparently never came up because he was no longer with the Kingsmen.{{cite web|publisher=Snopes.com|url=http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/louie.asp|title= Louie Louie|date= 2007|access-date = June 28, 2011}}{{cite web|website=techdirt|title=FBI Spent Years 'Researching' The Lyrics To 'Louie, Louie' Before Realizing The Copyright Office Must Have Them|first=Mike|last=Masnick|date=May 6, 2015|url=https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150503/22075130880/fbi-spent-years-researching-lyrics-to-louie-louie-before-realizing-copyright-office-must-have-them.shtml|access-date=February 8, 2022}}Marsh also notes (pp. 116-117) that the Kingsmen had a good reason not to mention Ely's name — they didn't want to publicize the fact that the original singer of their big hit was no longer with the group.

By contrast, in 1964 the Ohio State University student newspaper The Lantern initiated an investigation in response to a growing campus controversy. Working with local radio station WCOL, a letter was sent to Wand Records requesting a copy of the lyrics. The paper printed the lyrics in full, resolving the issue, and resulting in booking the Kingsmen for the fall homecoming entertainment.{{cite book|title=Ohio State University Student Life in the 1960s|first=William J.|last=Shkurti|date=2020|chapter=WCOL and the "Louie Louie" Phenomenon|page=52|publisher=The History Press|isbn=978-1467145992}}

In a 1964 interview, Lynn Easton of the Kingsmen said, "We took the words from the original version and recorded them faithfully",{{cite news|newspaper=Indianapolis Star|first=Will|last=Higgins|date=January 2, 2019|title=That time Indiana teens ratted out dirty 'Louie Louie' lyrics, and the FBI got involved|url=https://www.indystar.com/story/entertainment/2019/01/02/kingsmen-louie-louie-richard-berry-song-lyrics-dirty-version-fbi-investigation-indiana-teens/2240339002/|access-date=February 9, 2022}} and group member Barry Curtis later added, "Richard Berry never wrote dirty lyrics ... you listen and you hear what you want to hear."{{cite news|newspaper=The News Tribune|date=August 24, 2003|first=Rick|last=Nelson|title=It's 'Louie Louie' Time|location=Tacoma|pages=D1–D5}} Richard Berry told Esquire in 1988 that the Kingsmen had sung the song exactly as written and often deflected questions about the lyrics by saying, "If I told you the words, you wouldn't believe me anyway."{{cite news|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|title='Louie Louie' Writer Shared Little of Limelight|first=John M.|last=Glionna|date=January 25, 1997|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-01-25-mn-21952-story.html|access-date=February 28, 2022}}Some sources have the quote as "believe them" vs. "believe me".

In a 1991 Dave Marsh interview, Governor Welsh "emphatically denied being a censor", claiming he never banned the record and only suggested that it not be played. Marsh disagreed, saying, "If a record isn't played at the suggestion of the state's chief executive, it has been banned."{{sfn|Corn-Revere|2021|page=144}}

A history of the song and its notoriety was published in 1993 by Dave Marsh, including an extensive recounting of the multiple lyrics investigations,{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pages=114-138}} but he was unable to obtain permission to publish the song's actual lyrics{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=2}} because the then current owner, Windswept Pacific, wanted people to "continue to fantasize what the words are".{{cite magazine|magazine=Seattle Weekly|first=Mark D.|last=Fefer|date=June 10, 1998|url=https://www.seattleweekly.com/music/the-war-behind-the-scenes-over-rocks-relentless-party-song/|title=The war behind the scenes over rock's relentless party song|access-date=February 28, 2022}} Marsh noted that the lyrics controversy "reflected the country's infantile sexuality" and "ensured the song's eternal perpetuation"; he also included multiple versions of the supposed "dirty lyrics".{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=118-119}} Other authors noted that the song "reap[ed] the benefits that accrue from being pursued by the guardians of public morals"{{cite book|title=We All Want to Change the World: Rock and Politics from Elvis to Eminem|first=Tom|last=Waldman|date=2003|publisher=Taylor Trade Publishing|page=111|isbn=978-1461625797}} and "[s]uch stupidity helped ensure 'Louie Louie' a long and prosperous life."{{cite book|title=America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s|chapter=The Making of a Youth Culture|date=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0190217181|page=163|first1=Maurice|last1=Isserman|author-link1=Maurice Isserman|first2=Michael|last2=Kazin|author-link2=Michael Kazin}}

The lyrics controversy resurfaced briefly in 2005 when the superintendent of the school system in Benton Harbor, Michigan, refused to let a marching band play the song in a local parade; she later relented.{{cite magazine|magazine=Reason|url=https://reason.com/2022/02/20/how-anti-smut-activists-made-louie-louie-famous/|title=Moral Panic: How Anti-Smut Activists Made 'Louie, Louie' Famous|date=March 2022|first=Robert|last=Corn-Revere|author-link=Robert Corn-Revere|access-date=September 26, 2023}}

Music critic Dave Marsh wrote a 245-page book about the song, Louie Louie: 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.{{cite book |last=Marsh |first=David |title=Louie Louie: The History and Mythology of the World's Most Famous Rock 'n Roll Song... |year=1993 |publisher=Hyperion|location=New York |isbn= 978-1562828653 |ref=none}}

The Who were impacted in their early recording career by the riff/rhythm of "Louie Louie", owing to the song's influence on the Kinks, who were also produced by Shel Talmy. Talmy wanted the successful sounds of the Kinks' 1964 hits "You Really Got Me", "All Day and All of the Night", and "Till the End of the Day" to be copied by the Who.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|p=144}} As a result, Pete Townshend penned "I Can't Explain", "a desperate copy of The Kinks",{{sfn|Hasted|2011|page=36}} released in March 1965. The Who also covered the 1964 Lindsay-Revere sequel "Louie Go Home" in 1965 as "Lubie (Come Back Home)".

In 1979, "Louie Louie" (Kingsmen version) was included on the Quadrophenia soundtrack album, and in 1980 the group performed a brief version in concert at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.{{cite AV media notes|title=The Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone Tapes Volume 198 - Sports Arena, June 28, 1980|date=1980|type=CD liner notes|publisher=JEMS Archive}}{{cite AV media|title=The Who - Los Angeles Sports Arena, June 28, 1980|type=CD|date=1980|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6Bebx_p6ZM}} In his 1993 book, Dave Marsh compared Keith Moon's drumming style to Lynn Easton of the Kingsmen.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=104-105}}

In 1967 French composers Michel Colombier and Pierre Henry, collaborating as Les Yper-Sound, produced a synthesizer and musique concrète work based on the "Louie Louie" riff titled "Psyché Rock".{{cite book|last=Taylor|first=Timothy Dean|title=Strange Sounds: Music, Technology and Culture|date=2001|publisher=Routledge|chapter=Postwar Music and the Technoscientific Imaginary|location=London|page=63|isbn=0-425-17045-4}} They subsequently worked with choreographer Maurice Béjart on a "Psyché Rock"-based score for the ballet Messe pour le temps présent. The full score with multiple mixes of "Psyché Rock" was released the same year on the album Métamorphose. The album was reissued in 1997 with additional remixes including one by Ken Abyss titled "Psyché Rock (Metal Time Machine Mix)" which, along with the original, "... Christopher Tyng reworked into the theme song for the animated television comedy series Futurama."{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2017/07/07/arts/music/whirs-beeps-and-mating-calls-the-music-of-pierre-henry.html|first1=Daniel E.|last1=Slotnik|first2=Amisha|last2=Padnani|author2-link=Amy Padnani|date=July 27, 2017 |access-date=August 5, 2021|title=Whirs, Beeps and Mating Calls: The Music of Pierre Henry}}{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|title=Pierre Henry, Composer Who Found the Music in Sounds, Dies at 89|first=William|last=Grimes|author-link=William Grimes (journalist)|date=July 7, 2017|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2017/07/07/arts/music/whirs-beeps-and-mating-calls-the-music-of-pierre-henry.html|access-date=January 5, 2024}}{{cite AV media|first=David X.|last=Cohen|author-link=David X. Cohen|date=2001|title=Futurama, Season 1 DVD|type=commentary track|publisher=20th Century Home Entertainment|location=Los Angeles}}

In the early 1980s, KPFK DJs Art Damage and Chuck Steak began hosting a weekly "Battle of the Louie Louie" contest featuring multiple renditions and listener voting. In 1981, KFJC DJ Jeff "Stretch" Riedle broadcast a full hour of various versions. Soon after, KALX in Berkeley responded and the two stations engaged in a "Louie Louie" marathon battle with each increasing the number of versions played. KFJC's Maximum Louie Louie Marathon topped the competition in August 1983 with 823 versions played over 63 hours, plus in studio performances by Richard Berry and Jack Ely.{{cite web|url=https://kfjc.org/about/history|title=History - Over 60 years of Radio Activity|website=KFJC.org|access-date=October 6, 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://www.kalx.berkeley.edu/full-and-unabridged-history-kalx|title=The Full and Unabridged History of KALX|website=Kalx.berkeley.edu|access-date=October 6, 2021}}

During a change in format from adult-contemporary to all-oldies in 1997, WXMP in Peoria became "all Louie, all the time," playing nothing but covers of "Louie Louie" for six straight days.{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-03-18-9703180009-story.html|title=Too Much Of A Good Thing? Not When It's 'Louie'|first=Bob|last=Greene|author-link=Bob Greene|date=March 18, 1997|newspaper=The Chicago Tribune|access-date=August 1, 2019}} Other stations used the same idea to introduce format changes including WWSW (Pittsburgh), KROX (Dallas), WNOR (Norfolk), and WRQN (Toledo).{{sfn|Marsh|1993|page=186}}{{cite AV media notes|date=1989|type=liner notes|publisher=Rhino Records|first=Doc|last=Pelzell|title=The Best of Louie Louie, Vol. 2 - Various Artists}}

In 2011, KFJC celebrated International Louie Louie Day with a reprise of its 1983 event, featuring multiple "Louie Louie" versions, new music by Richard Berry and appearances by musicians, DJs, and celebrities with "Louie Louie" connections.{{cite web |title=The Return Of The Return Of The Invasion Of Maximum Louie Louie |url=https://kfjc.org/listen/program-event-info?eventId=4107 |website=KFJC.org |access-date=May 13, 2013}} In April 2015, Orme Radio broadcast the First Italian Louie Louie Marathon, playing 279 versions in 24 hours.{{cite web|url=https://www.ormeradio.it/about/llm/|title=The First Italian Louie Louie Marathon|website=Ormeradio|first=Riccardo|last=Lancioni|date=2015|access-date=October 6, 2021}} In 2023, the city of Portland hosted a 24-hour live marathon to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Kingsmen version.{{cite web|website=louielouiemarathon.com|title=Louie Louie 24 Hour Marathon|url=https://louielouiemarathon.com/|access-date=October 24, 2023}}

Various versions of "Louie Louie" have appeared in the films listed below.{{cite web|first=Theo|last=de Grood|url=https://tdg.home.xs4all.nl/louie1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417225751/https://tdg.home.xs4all.nl/louie1.html |archive-date=2021-04-17 |title="Louie Louie" Movie List|publisher=The Louie Louie Pages|access-date= November 6, 2022}}

The Kingsmen version was used in television commercials for Spaced Invaders (1990), but did not appear in the movie.{{efn|YouTube: Spaced Invaders TV Spot 1990{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hAKdkU2WAU|title=Spaced Invaders TV Spot 1990|author=The W/O/C/ Archive|access-date=January 13, 2022|website=YouTube|date=April 3, 2019 }}}} The Kingsmen version also appeared on More American Graffiti (1975) and Good Morning Vietnam (1987) compilations, but was not used in either film.

;Movie table notes

{{notelist}}

Early video games with chiptune versions of "Louie Louie" included California Games{{cite web|website=The Atari Times|url=http://www.ataritimes.com/index.php?ArticleIDX=487|date=August 29, 2005|first=Dan|last=Loosen|title=California Games - Fun in the Sun|access-date=November 19, 2023}} and Donkey Konga.{{cite news|work=The Chicago Maroon|title=Donkey Konga appeals to kids and slackers alike|url=https://chicagomaroon.com/2031/arts/donkey-konga-appeals-to-kids-and-slackers-alike/|date=November 9, 2004|first=Sean|last=Ahmed|access-date=November 19, 2023}} Since its introduction in 1987, California Games has been ported to more than a dozen gaming platforms, resulting in multiple unique "Louie Louie" versions based on different or improved programmable sound generator (PSG) chips. "Back 2 Back", composed by Hideki Naganuma for Sonic Rush, borrows the "Louie Louie" riff for its main section.

More recent rhythm action games featured individual artist versions including Rocksmith (Joan Jett), Just Dance (Iggy Pop),{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnKKGzRJR_o |title=Just Dance - Louie Louie by Iggy Pop Gameplay |author=justdancebr |date=August 11, 2011 |access-date=January 27, 2025 |via=YouTube}} and Rocksmith 2014 (Motörhead).

"Louie Louie" has long been a popular downloadable ringtone, starting with early MIDI versions, then audio track excerpts, and then full audio tracks. Tom Cruise in Knight and Day (2010) used the Kingsmen version as a ringtone/movement reminder.{{cite news|newspaper=The Olympian|date=July 16, 2013|first=Ernest|last=Jasmin|title=Me gotta go now? Never|access-date=October 12, 2023|url=https://www.theolympian.com/entertainment/article25281232.html}}

In 2015 Microsoft Messenger introduced the Zya Ditty app which allowed users to create short text-to-autotune music videos using a library of pre-licensed songs including "Louie Louie" and others.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2015/03/new-app-facebook-messenger-turns-text-pop-song/|magazine=Wired|title=Sweet New Facebook Messenger App Turns Texts Into Pop Songs|first=Tim|last=Moynihan|date=March 25, 2015|access-date=August 17, 2021}}

The earliest known sampling of "Louie Louie" (Kingsmen version) was "Flying Saucer" by Ed Solomon in 1964 (Diamond 160), one of many "break-in" records popular in the 1960s.

Beginning in 1988, multiple rap and hip hop artists used audio samples of the keyboard intro and chorus of the Kingsmen version.

• 1988: Ultramagnetic MCs, "Travelling at the Speed of Thought" (12" single, initial release only); described by Melody Maker columnist Simon Reynolds as "a sublimely teasing edit ... [of] the sixties punk tearaway reincarnated in the eighties B-boy motormouth!"{{cite book|title=Bring the Noise: 20 Years of Writing About Hip Rock and Hip Hop|date=2011|first=Simon|last=Reynolds|author-link=Simon Reynolds|isbn=978-1593764609|publisher=Soft Skull Publishing|chapter=Hip Hop and House Singles Reviews|location=Berkeley}}
• 1988: JVC Force, "Doin' Damage" (from album Doin' Damage)
• 1988: Fat Boys, "Louie Louie" (from album Coming Back Hard Again; also released as a single)
• 1990: Young and Restless, "Louie Louie" (from album Something To Get You Hyped)
• 1990: Young MC and Maestro Fresh Wes, "Louie Louie" (from Coupe de Ville soundtrack album; samples Richard Berry, Kingsmen and other versions)
• 1999: The Three Amigos, "Louie Louie (Original Mix)" and "Wiseguys Remix" (12" EP, UK release)
• 1999: Mutha Funkin, "Say It Again" (12" single, UK release)
• 2004: T.O.K. feat. Shaggy, "Déja Vu" (from album Unknown Language){{cite magazine|first=Ann Marie|last=Nicholson|date=August 2004|title=T.O.K. Unknown Language (review)|page=144|magazine=Vibe Magazine}}

In the 1980s, due to the widespread availability of sheet music arrangements, "Louie Louie" became a staple of concert, marching, and pep bands for middle schools, high schools, and colleges and universities in the U.S. To promote its sheet music offerings, the Hal Leonard Corporation released two albums with "Louie Louie" versions, Hal Leonard Marching Band 1987 and Hall Leonard Jazz Ensemble – Jazz! 1987-1988.

The earliest known high school band albums with a song version were the Evanston Township High School's Hi-Lights 1965 and the Franklin High School Choir, Orchestra, and Stage Band's 1966 Bel Cantos Concert. The first college band album with a version was the USC Trojan Marching Band's Let The Games Begin in 1984.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pp=208-238}} Early orchestra and big band releases included Dick Crest (Would You Believe – The Dick Crest Orchestra) and Neil Chotem (Neil Chotem and his Orchestra), both in 1968.

Although not commercially released, an example of the song's influence was the 2000 performance by the Dover High School Band joined on saxophone by Bill Clinton (who played in a jazz trio named the Kingsmen at Hot Springs High School, and at whose 1964 graduation dance the actual Kingsmen performed).{{cite news|first=Peter|last=Baker|newspaper=The Washington Post|location=Washington, DC|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1997/09/28/president-enjoys-reunion-like-everybody-else/ade54e03-6c10-40f2-8fc1-6499747562c8/|title=President Enjoys Reunion 'Like Everybody Else'|date=September 28, 1997|access-date=September 23, 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://louielouie.org/tips-tricks/|publisher=The Kingsmen Official Site|title=Things You Probably Don't Know|first=Dick|last=Peterson|access-date=September 23, 2021}}

In 1985, Ross Shafer, host and a writer-performer of the late-night comedy series Almost Live! on the Seattle TV station KING, spearheaded an effort to have "Louie Louie" replace "Washington, My Home" by Helen Davis as Washington's official state song.{{cite magazine|magazine=Seattle Weekly|date=October 27, 1999|first=Kurt B.|last=Reighley|access-date=October 9, 2023|url=https://www.seattleweekly.com/music/the-state-im-in/|title=Music: The State I'm In}} A "groundswell of public support" followed including support from the Kingsmen, Paul Revere and the Raiders, and the Wailers, an appearance by Shafer on Dick Clark's TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes, and a Dubious Achievement Award from Esquire.{{cite book|first=Ross|last=Shafer|author-link=Ross Shafer|title=Nobody Moved Your Cheese!|chapter=Stop Taking Credit for Your Phenomenal Success|pages=98–99|date=2003|isbn=978-1553956587|publisher=Trafford Publishing|location=Victoria, BC}}

Picking up on this initially prankish effort, Whatcom County Councilman Craig Cole introduced Resolution No. 85-12 in March 1985 to endorse Louie Louie as the state song, citing the need for a "contemporary theme song that can be used to engender a sense of pride and community, and in the enhancement of tourism and economic development". His resolution also called for the creation of a new "Louie Louie County".{{cite web |date=March 7, 1985 |title=Whatcom County Council Resolution No. 85-12 |url=https://documents.whatcomcounty.us/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=3277507&dbid=0&repo=WC |publisher=Whatcom County Clerk |accessdate=March 21, 2025}}{{cite news |last=Fernando |first=Andy |date=March 8, 1985 |title=Council rocks 'n' rolls |page=1A |work=The Bellingham Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-bellingham-herald-council-rocks-n/168548639/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=March 21, 2025}} While the state legislature did not designate Louie Louie as the state song, it did declare "Louie Louie Day" for April 12.{{cite news |last=McDaniel |first=Robert |date=March 16, 1985 |title=Senate OKs 'Louie, Louie' resolution |page=C4 |work=The Oregonian |agency=United Press International |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-oregonian-senate-oks-louie-louie/168548867/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=March 21, 2025}} A crowd of 3,000, estimated by press reports, convened at the state capitol in Olympia that day for speeches, singalongs, and performances by the Wailers, the Kingsmen, and Paul Revere & the Raiders.{{cite news |last=Burt |first=Lyle |date=April 13, 1985 |title=Boogie for 'Louie': 3,000 cheer support for song |page=A1 |work=The Seattle Times}}{{cite news |last=Horne |first=Vance |date=April 12, 1985 |title=Capitol Dome rocks to 'Louie Louie' beat |page=1A |work=The Olympian |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-olympian-capitol-dome-rocks-to-loui/168548937/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=March 21, 2025}} Two days later, a Seattle event commemorated the occasion with the premiere performance of a new, Washington-centric version of the song co-written by composer Berry.{{cite AV media notes |title=The Best Of Louie Louie Volume 2 |date=1992 |first=Doc |last=Pelzel |type=CD sleeve notes |publisher=Rhino Records}} After a spirited debate, the legislature ultimately preserved "Washington, My Home" as the state song while also adopting Woody Guthrie's "Roll On, Columbia, Roll On" as the official folk song. "Louie Louie" remains the "unofficial state rock song".{{cite web|url=https://mynorthwest.com/2100161/when-louie-louie-almost-became-washingtons-state-song/|title=When 'Louie, Louie' almost became Washington's state song|website=mynorthwest.com|first=Feliks|last=Banel|date=August 19, 2020|access-date=November 7, 2021}}

Although the effort failed in the end, a cover of Berry's rewritten version was released in 1986 by Jr. Cadillac and included on the 1994 compilation The Louie Louie Collection. The "state rock song" was played following "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh-inning stretch at all Seattle Mariners home games from 1990 through 2021,{{cite news|newspaper=The Seattle Times|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/heres-why-the-mariners-arent-playing-louie-louie-during-the-seventh-inning-stretch/|title=Here's why the Mariners aren't playing 'Louie Louie' during the seventh-inning stretch|date=April 19, 2022|url-access=subscription|access-date=April 19, 2022|first=Larry|last=Stone}} then reinstated in 2025.{{refn|The original Kingsmen version plays during day games and a faster, "juiced up" remix plays during evening games.{{cite news|newspaper=The Seattle Times|first=Kai|last=Uyehara|title=How 'Louie Louie' returned to T-Mobile Park for 2025 Mariners season|date=May 9, 2025|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/how-louie-louie-returned-to-t-mobile-park-for-2025-mariners-season/|access-date=May 11, 2025}}}}

April 11 (Richard Berry's birthday) is celebrated as International Louie Louie Day{{cite news|newspaper=United Press International|date=April 8, 2022|first=Ben|last=Hooper|title=International 'Louie Louie' Day celebrates birthday of songwriter Richard Berry|url=https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2022/04/08/International-Louie-Louie-Day-started-2003/4921649451584/|access-date=June 24, 2022}}{{cite web|website=The Daily Kos|url=https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/4/11/2089137/-04-11-International-Louie-Louie-Day|date=April 11, 2022|access-date=June 24, 2022|title=04/11 - International Louie Louie Day}} and is listed by Chase's Calendar of Events, the National Special Events Registry, and other sources.

Support for International Louie Louie Day and other "Louie Louie"–related observances is provided by the Louie Louie Advocacy and Music Appreciation Society (LLAMAS){{cite web|website=Acronym Attic|url=https://www.acronymattic.com/LOUIE-LOUIE-Advocacy-and-Music-Appreciation-Society-(LLAMAS).html|title=LLAMAS stands for LOUIE LOUIE Advocacy and Music Appreciation Society|access-date=October 24, 2023}} and "Louie Louie" fans worldwide.

The City of Tacoma held a summer music and arts festival from 2003 to 2012 in July named LouieFest. The event began in 2003 as the "1000 Guitars Festival" and featured a group performance of "Louie Louie" open to anyone with a guitar. The event was renamed LouieFest in 2004. Members of the Wailers, Kingsmen, Raiders, Sonics and other groups with "Louie Louie" associations regularly made appearances. The grand finale each year was the "Celebration of 1000 Guitars" mass performance of "Louie Louie" on the main stage.{{cite news|last=Ko|first=Michael|newspaper=The Seattle Times|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=20030825&slug=louie25m|title=754 guitars rock into the record book with 'Louie Louie'|date=August 25, 2003|access-date=November 10, 2022}}

The largest "Louie Louie" parade, organized by WMMR deejay John DeBella, was held in Philadelphia from 1985 to 1989 with proceeds going to leukemia victims.{{sfn|Marsh|1993|pages=186-190}} DeBella described it as "a parade for no reason ... and the no reason would be 'Louie Louie'."{{cite magazine|magazine=People|date=May 25, 1987|title=When Springtime Comes to Philadelphia Even the Robins Sing 'Louie Louie'|pages=34}} It regularly drew crowds in excess of 50,000, but was ultimately cancelled due to excessive rowdiness.{{cite news|title=City Cancels 'Louie Parade;' Cites Rowdies |url=http://articles.philly.com/1989-05-20/news/26111465_1_parade-today-louie-parade-city-and-police-officials|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150529065348/http://articles.philly.com/1989-05-20/news/26111465_1_parade-today-louie-parade-city-and-police-officials|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 29, 2015|access-date=May 5, 2013|newspaper=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date=May 20, 1989}}

Peoria, Illinois claims the longest running "Louie Louie" event, holding an annual "Louie Louie" street party, parade, and festival every year since 1988.{{cite web|url=http://louielouiepeoria.com/|publisher=louielouiepeoria.com|date=2019|title=St. Jude Louie Louie Street Party|access-date=October 14, 2019}}

A sculpture titled Louie Louie, 2013 by Las Vegas-based artist Tim Bavington was displayed on the lobby wall of the Edith Green - Wendell Wyatt Federal Building in Portland, Oregon from 2013 to 2024. The work is constructed of 80 colored glass and acrylic panels representing the waveforms of the song using Bavington's concept of sculpting sound waves.

{{cite news|title=The Kingsmen's famously innocent "Louie Louie" now back in front of the feds at downtown Federal Building|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2013/07/the_kingsmens_infamously_innoc.html|access-date=July 30, 2013|newspaper=The Portland Oregonian|date=July 25, 2013}}{{cite news|title=Editorial: Me gotta go now: 'Louie' sculpture is fitting tribute|url=http://democratherald.com/news/opinion/editorial/editorial-me-gotta-go-now-louie-scupture-is-fitting-tribute/article_5d280dbe-f61a-11e2-ab08-001a4bcf887a.html|access-date=July 30, 2013|newspaper=The Albany Democrat-Herald|date=July 27, 2013}} In 2024, it was sold for $250,000 to a private party.{{cite web|url=https://www.artsy.net/artwork/tim-bavington-louie-louie-2|title=Tim Bavington: Louie Louie, 2012-2013|website=Artsy.net|date=2024|access-date=February 16, 2024}}

The Seattle Times bestows its Louie Awards upon "those who - through conscious act, rotten luck or slip of the tongue - stretch the limits of imagination or tolerance or taste in the Great Northwest."{{cite news|newspaper=Seattle Times|title=The 1992 Louie Awards -- Sex, Sewage And Mr. Lifto Win Our Louies|date=December 27, 1992|first=Marla|last=Williams|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19921227&slug=1532120|access-date=May 13, 2022}}

Summary of "Louie Louie" rankings and recognition in major publications and surveys.

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last=Blecha |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Blecha|title=Sonic Boom! The History of Northwest Rock: From "Louie Louie" to Smells Like Teen Spirit |date=2009 |publisher=Backbeat Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8793-0946-6}}
• {{cite book|title=Hearing Harmony: Toward a Tonal Theory for the Rock Era|publisher=University of Michigan Press|location=Ann Arbor|date=2017|last=Doll|first=Christopher|isbn=978-0472122882}}
• {{cite book |last=Marsh |first=Dave |author-link=Dave Marsh |title=Louie Louie: The History and Mythology of the World's Most Famous Rock 'n' Roll Song |url=https://archive.org/details/louielouiehistor00mars |url-access=registration |date=1993 |publisher=Hyperion Books |location=New York City |isbn=1-5628-2865-7}}
• {{cite book |title=The Heart of Rock & Soul |first=Dave |last=Marsh |author-link=Dave Marsh |date=1999 |publisher=Da Capo Press |location=Boston |isbn=0-306-80901-X}}
• {{cite book |last=Peterson |first=Dick |title=Louie Louie Me Gotta Go Now |date=2005 |publisher=Thalian Press |location=Sherwood, Oregon |isbn=1-4208-5610-3}}

• {{cite news|newspaper=Miami Herald|url=http://www.miamiherald.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/dave-barry/article1927936.html|date=February 18, 2013|title=The Birth of Wail|first=Dave|last=Barry|author-link=Dave Barry}}
• {{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/2137366|title=A Tale of Two Louies: Interpreting an "Archetypal American Musical Icon"|first=Christopher|last=Doll|journal=Indiana Theory Review 29/2|date=2011}}
• {{cite web|url=http://vault.fbi.gov/louie-louie-the-song|title=FBI File – Louie Louie (The Song)|website=FBI.gov}}
• {{snopes|link=http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/louie.htm|title=Are the lyrics to 'Louie Louie' obscene?}}
• {{snopes|link=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/louie-louie-fuck/|title=Did ‘Louie Louie’ Drummer Yell ‘F*ck’ During Recording?}}
• {{cite AV media|type=album sleeve notes|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-best-of-louie-louie-vol-1-mw0000652173t|title=The Best of Louie, Louie|first=Reagan|last=Rhino|publisher=Rhino R2 70605|date=1988}}
• {{cite AV media|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-best-of-louie-louie-vol-2-mw0000654515|title=The Best of Louie Louie, Volume 2|type=album sleeve notes|first=Doc|last=Pelzell|publisher=Rhino R2 70515|date=1992}}
• {{cite AV media|type=album sleeve notes|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/love-that-louie-the-louie-louie-files-mw0000225973|title=Love That Louie: The Louie Louie Files|first=Alec|last=Palao|author-link=Alec Palao|publisher=Ace CDCHD 844|date=2002}}
• {{cite AV media|type=album sleeve notes|title=The First Louie Louie Spanish Compilation|first=Louie Mario|last=Quintana|publisher=Louie Records|date=1997}}
• {{cite web|website=louielouie.net|title=The Louie Report|url=http://www.louielouie.net/blog|first=Eric|last=Predoehl}}
• {{cite web|website=libsyn.com |url=https://rareandscratchyrocknroll.libsyn.com/|title=Rare & Scratchy Rock 'N' Roll Episode 143 – "Louie Louie"|first1=Dave|last1=Milberg|first2=Ken|last2=Deutsch}}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/funny/lascivious-louie-louie|title=Excerpts from the FBI files|website=The Smoking Gun|date=August 25, 1998}}
• {{cite web|url=https://500songs.com/podcast/episode-106-louie-louie-by-the-kingsmen/|title=A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs – Episode 106: "Louie Louie" by the Kingsmen|website=500songs.com|date=December 2, 2020|first=Andrew|last=Hickey}}
• {{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx-8_GI4d2c|title=Lyrics transcription with comments from Jack Ely|first=Len|last=Sarfati|website=YouTube.com|date=2008}}
• {{cite news|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/louie-louie-through-the-ages/|title=Louie Louie through the ages|newspaper=The Seattle Times|author=Seattle Times staff|date=April 1, 2007}}
• {{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc4YLdsgsIM|website=YouTube|title=MTV video: Louie Louie - The Kingsmen at Delta House|date=1983}}
• [http://www.louielouie.net/blog/?page_id=235 The Louie Louie Advocacy and Music Appreciation Society (LLAMAS)]
• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32520921 BBC Magazine article "Smashed Hits: Louie Louie", April 30, 2015]
• [https://www.mojo4music.com/articles/20118/10-great-versions-louie-louie Mojo Magazine - 10 Great Versions of Louie Louie]
• [https://www.vh1.com/news/etio66/best-louie-louie-covers VH1 - Louie-Palooza: 11 Killer Covers for International "Louie Louie" Day]
• [https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/five-best-covers-louie-louie/ Far Out - The five best covers of 'Louie, Louie']
• [https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/louie-louie-in-20-takes/ uDiscoverMusic - ‘Louie Louie’ In 20 Takes]
• [https://www.digitalspy.com/music/a644707/17-classic-versions-of-louie-louie-okay-lets-give-it-to-em-right-now/ Digital Spy - 17 classic versions of 'Louie Louie']
• [http://www.offbeat.com/articles/louie-louie-playlist/ Offbeat - The All "Louie Louie" Playlist]
• [http://www.louielouie.net/fmp-database/all_louies.pdf?source=post_page--------------------------- The Almost-Complete Louie Louie Discography] by Eric Predoehl
• [http://www.louielouie.net/kfjc-louie/iTunes-MaxLouie.pdf KFJC 1983 Maximum Louie Louie playlist] by Eric Predoehl
• [http://www.reverbcentral.com/louie/louieframe.html Reverb Central: Louie Louie] by Phil Dirt
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20210417225751/https://tdg.home.xs4all.nl/louie1.html The Louie Louie Pages] by Theo de Grood
• [http://louielouieweb.tripod.com/default.htm The Louie Louie Web] by Mike Hintze
• [https://www.ormeradio.it/llm/ Orme Radio 2015 Louie Louie Marathon playlist] by Riccardo Lancioni
• [http://andymartello.com/andyland/louie.htm Andy Land - Louie Louie] by Andy Martello
• [http://louielouieweb.tripod.com/lists.htm Reported 7" Vinyl Singles & EPs for ‘Louie, Louie’ & Related Songs] by Clay Stabler
• [https://www.culturesonar.com/louie-louie-why-is-this-song-so-awesome/ CultureSonar - “Louie Louie”: Why Is This Song So Awesome?]
• [https://laut.fm/louielouie 24/7 Louie Louie Radio - Maximum Louie Louie-Marathon]

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