I was going to post this new piece with a personal rant about capitalism and how it has corrupted nearly every part of modern society and I was going to match this theme with three songs including Todd Snider’s ‘New York Banker’ from his latest album ‘Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables’. This led me to listening extensively to some more tracks by Todd, a great, great songwriter who always hits the mark with his acerbic lyrics and extensive subject matter which is obviously based on his wry observations of modern America and so of course I came across his song ‘The Ballad Of The Kingsmen’ from his 2004 album, East Nashville Skyline and all of a sudden a totally new theme emerged.
Both Todd and the Kingsmen originate from Portland, Oregon and although Todd wasn’t born until 1966 the Kingsmen had already reached #2 in the Billboard charts three years earlier with their mighty garage rock rendition of Richard Berry’s ‘Louie Louie’. Now I have heard a lot a lot of music over the years but hearing any version of Louie Louie just brightens my day and makes everything seem a little better for those two minutes or so. There have been whole albums released and books written on the subject of Louie Louie but who really cares as it’s just a classic song and if it fails to move you then sorry but you obviously don’t have any rock & roll in your soul!
Following my Portland trail even further this then led me on to my third track from Don & The Goodtimes. Yet another band hailing from the North West Coast of America. Don is actually Don Gallucci and he was an original member of the Kingsmen back in the early sixties, now this longer version is a absolute stunner it sounds to me like three songs melted into one and is on my best ever list if I ever decided to make one.
Enjoy
Todd Snider - The Ballad Of The Kingsmen
The Kingsmen - Louie Louie
Don And The Goodtimes - Louie Louie
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