Louie Louie's NW connection: Did You Know?

In the 1980s, there was a small movement to make “Louie Louie” Washington's official state song (I previously wrote about Washington’s actual state song). The effort didn’t get far, but it showed how connected the region feels to this song.

The fervent support for “Louie Louie” around here is part of a bigger story about Richard Berry. Berry was a songwriter out of Los Angeles. As far as I can tell, he didn’t have any connections with the Northwest. But his work took root around here. His 1957 song “Louie Louie” (which itself was based on “El Loco Cha Cha”) was covered by Tacoma's Rockin Robin Roberts in 1961. That popular version inspired recordings by Portland's Paul Revere and the Raiders and The Kingsmen in 1963. Both bands actually recorded their separate versions in the same studio, a day apart. You most likely know The Kingsmens’ version with the keyboard intro. Despite this song being one of the most recorded in history, Berry received little credit and compensation for writing it until a court settlement in the 1980s.

That’s not the only Berry song that flourished in the Northwest. He also wrote and recorded “Have Love, Will Travel” in 1959. You may know it by the version that The Sonics (of Tacoma) recorded in 1965.

This post originally appeared KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for May 23, 2022.