“Louie Louie” is perhaps the most famous garage rock song ever. People have claimed it is the world’s “most recorded rock song” however Second Hand Songs lists it as only the 25th most covered song from 1957, when it was originally released. Regardless, it’s been a staple of bar bands and some professional bands for 60+ years. Though originally released by Richard Berry and the Pharaohs, most people know it from The Kingsmen‘s infamous version, or one of the innumerable famous covers released before or after it. It is indeed The Kingsmen’s version, with its unintelligible lyrics and numerous hallmarks of ’60s garage rock that most people think of when they think of “Louie Louie.”
The Limiñanas are a French rock duo who have been releasing music for about 15 years. Their latest album, their 13th, mostly contains performances with some famous guest vocalists, such as Bobby Gillespie and Jon Spencer. But it also contains some covers. And their cover of “Louie Louie” is one of the songs that does not feature a guest vocalist; instead it is sung by drummer/singer Marie Limiñana.
If you’re going to cover such a popular cover, you might as well make your version distinct, right? And that’s what The Limiñanas do. They slow the song down to a ballad with gently plucked electric guitar and strummed acoustic. Marie whispers her vocals that classic French chanteuse way and there’s dream pop/neo-psychedelic droning keyboards in the background.
Though the drums and bass are fairly propulsive, and though there’s an extremely noisy guitar solo that absolutely overwhelms the mix, the “ballad” feel of the beginning never quite dissipates. In fact, the end of the song is quite noisy – a dense collage of neo-psychedelic guitars and keyboards, with Marie’s voice barely peeking through. It’s a little as if Stereolab decided to become the ’80s Flaming Lips or ’80s Mercury Rev partway through a song.
The result is an extremely distinct cover that you won’t mistake for The Kingsmen’s version or anybody else’s. Don’t speak French? Well, who knows what the words are anyway.
