ODE TO LOUIE LOUIE
“Ah, Louie Lou-ii oh no….”
Maybe 1964 or 1965
I don’t remember those days to good these days, but I was in the Boy Scouts of America
Trying to get a merit badge for swimming.
Camp Adams Pond
New Hampshire
The counselor shouted
“20 laps, one underwater.”
“The counselors were strange.
I was twelve.
I knew nothing.
About front seats of cars
Steamy showers
Dark woods
The counselor didn’t know my name
I didn’t know his,
I knew LOUIE LOUIE
Everyone in America knew that song.
We listened for someone shouting a mute ‘fuck’.
I didn’t know what fuck was.
Playing with Barbie Dolls held no answers.
Ken dancing with Barbie to the Kingsmen.
At the camp was a boy with one leg
Cancer got the other one
John was strong.
Not a good swimmer
He swam singing LOUIE LOUIE
We sang with him
He said ‘fuck’ at the right part
We laughed
He swam underwater and came up saying ‘fuck’.
Radio stations across America played the song.
50,000 watts.
It was a big hit
From coast to coast
LOUIE LOUIE was a teenage secret
The counselor knew nothing.
Adults knew nothing
We kept a secret from Block Island to Monterrey
John knew the secret
He told me what ‘fuck’ meant
He told all of us
So now as then
“Louie Loui-ii
I gotta go
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
In the midnight hour
‘Fuck’