30 AUGUST 1966
The Sonics had recorded their own blistering version of the Garage Rock standard 'Louie, Louie' earlier in the year, but the Sandpipers' version was at the other end of the scale completely. This acoustic, lilting, Spanish-language single went to #30 on the US Billboard Hot 100 charts during this month in 1966.
This was in some ways a piece of cultural re-appropriation, as the song had originated as 'Amarren Al Loco' ('Tie up the crazy guy') by the Cuban bandleader Rosendo Ruiz Jr., and became popular in the 1950s as the 'El Loco Cha Cha' by René Touzet. It was Richard Berry who turned this into the English-language 'Louie Louie' in 1955.
This was in some ways a piece of cultural re-appropriation, as the song had originated as 'Amarren Al Loco' ('Tie up the crazy guy') by the Cuban bandleader Rosendo Ruiz Jr., and became popular in the 1950s as the 'El Loco Cha Cha' by René Touzet. It was Richard Berry who turned this into the English-language 'Louie Louie' in 1955.
