Black Flag’s cover of Louie, Louie is one of the tightest, most energetic versions of this song ever recorded. At 1:17, it is brief, free of filler, and to the point – the quintessential punk rock song. The song starts out fast, furious, and tight. It keeps this evenness for about the first 40 seconds. After that, it becomes a bit more haphazard, ending with a wailing guitar. Far scarier and better than the original version.
It is available on the compilation cd The First Four Years, a wonderful collection of the best songs recorded during the first four years of Black Flag’s existence.
For some reason, I always liked the song, and was fascinated by the quantity of different versions that had been recorded. Perhaps most interesting to me is the way, though so many people have recorded it, in most recordings, the lyrics remain incomprehensible. In that respect, it's somewhat like It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine). Strangely, in the version by the punk band Black Flag, often associated with loud, screaming lyrics, the words of the song are for once, underderstandable. I'm still not sure what the means, but I like it.
Though Black Flag's version of Louie, Louie is short, as mentioned above, it doesn't seem rushed or excessively fast. The recording, as featured on the First Four Years compilation, is simply devoid of filler and needless sound. As William Strunk said, "Omit needless words". When playing the album, it does seem to go by too fast - blink, almost, and the song is over, on to the next one. So often, I find myself hitting the back button, so that I can hear this song.
This is what music is supposed to be.
The following version of the lyrics is from Black Flag's recording of it on the album The First Four Years. A lyric sheet is not included with the recording - the following are how I hear the lyrics, having played them many times.
Lyrics by Richard Berry. Additional lyrics by D. Cadenza.
Louie, Louie,
We gotta go.
I said now Louie, Louie,
We gotta go.
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.
I said now Louie, Louie,
We gotta go.
Said now screwy Louie,
We gotta go.
Louie, Louie,
We gotta go.
I said now Louie, Louie,
We gotta go.