Jack Ely, the lead singer of the Kingsmen when they recorded their 1963 hit song “Louie Louie,” has passed away at the age of 71. Now we will never know what he was saying in the song.
After the recording of “Louie Louie” in one rough take, the song initially did not sell well. As the song languished in sales, another band member wanted to replace Ely as the frontman, and the confrontation led to Ely leaving the band (thus, most videos of The Kingsman singing “Louie Louie” do not have the real lead singer in the video). In 1966, Ely went on to form a new group, The Courtmen, although neither his new group nor his old group ever matched the mega-hit of “Louie Louie.”
Ely went through some troubled times after a stint in the Vietnam War, but he eventually seemed to find peace with his life, training horses in Oregon. Below, he hit the Las Vegas stage in 2008 with The Courtmen to perform “Louie Louie.”
The famously garbled lyrics in “Louie Louie,” partially caused by Ely having to scream above the instruments while wearing braces on his teeth, have led to a lot of discussions about what was actually said in the song, which is actually about going to sea.
RIP Joe Ely. Although we will never know, I hope he makes it home.
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