SANDY KOZEL

Based on outcry from parents who bought into what may
have started as an idle rumor, the FBI launched a formal
investigation in 1964 into the supposedly pornographic
lyrics of the song “Louie, Louie.”

That investigation finally neared its conclusion on this
day in 1965, when the FBI Laboratory declared the lyrics
of “Louie Louie” to be officially unintelligible.

No one will ever know who started the rumor that “Louie
Louie” was dirty. As written by Richard Berry in 1955, the
lyrics revolve around a sailor from the Caribbean lamenting
to a bartender named Louie about missing his far-away love.

Diana Ross the former lead singer of the vocal group the
Supremes, became Motown‘s most successful act during
the 1960s and one of the world’s best-selling girl groups
of all time.

They remain the best-charting female group in history,
with a total of 12 number-one pop singles on the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100.

On July 9, 1962, folk singer Bob Dylan walked into a studio and
recorded the song that would make him a star: “Blowin’ In The
Wind.”

“This here ain’t no protest song or anything like that, ’cause I
don’t write no protest songs.” That was how Dylan introduced
one of the most eloquent protest songs ever written when he
first performed it
publicly. It was the spring of his first full year in New York City,
and he was onstage at Gerde’s Folk City in Greenwich Village,
talking about “Blowin’ In The Wind,” a song he claims to have
written in just 10 minutes.

Dylan’s recording of “Blowin’ In The Wind” would first be released
nearly a full year later, on his breakthrough album, The Freewheelin’
Bob Dylan.

Bob Dylan (84)

"Rock Around the Clock" was a Last-Minute Addition to
the recording session. 

On April 12, 1954, Bill Haley and His Comets recorded
“(We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock” at a Decca
recording session in New York City.

If rock and roll was a social and cultural revolution,
then “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock” was
its Declaration of Independence. And if Bill Haley
was not exactly the revolution’s Thomas Jefferson,
it may be fair to call him its John Hancock.

The song was chosen to play over the opening
credits of the film Blackboard Jungle, which is
how it became a pop sensation, selling a million
copies in a single month in the spring of 1955.

William (Bill) John Clifton Haley
(July 6, 1925 – February 9, 1981)