The Who — “Lubie (Come Back Home)” from My Generation (1965, Decca)
Look, I like the Who. Can’t shuffle to bands I don’t like, after all. And I wasn’t alive in 1965, and that’s a clever rhyme, but it means I can only speculate that this moment, this moment right here, is the height of the anglification of Black music, particularly R&B and rock and roll.
The way this shakes down is that, to the uninitiated, this might as well be the Beatles, or the Stones, or Paul Revere & the Raiders.
And if we’re really getting into it (and, shit, we’re already here, right?), “Lubie (Come Back Home)” is a cover of the Paul Revere & the Raiders song “Louie, Go Home.” The original was a sort of sequel to “Louie, Louie,” the breakaway hit by Black doo-wopper Richard Berry, and one recording has a guitar line that is very similar to the Beatles’ “Day Tripper,” though in fact predated that record by a couple years. That same version has quarter notes being played on the organ that to my ear sort of predict the Who’s mod trajectory. The other version has more of a jump blues feel and the kind of loud drumming that I imagine really appealed to a young Keith Moon.
But wait, there’s more — thanks to the Crypt Records for this synopsis (links added by me):
“So here’s the story of the supposed origins of the classic R’n’B song ‘Louie Louie’. Richard Berry had been working with a Latin band, Ricky Rillera and the Rhythm Rockers, every Saturday night in 1955. The Rhythm Rockers were a twelve-piece orchestra that did a tune called “El Loco Cha Cha,” a local hit by Rene Touzet. Richard Berry borrowed “El Loco”‘s “duh duh duh” opening riff. At around the same time, Chuck Berry, to whom Richard Berry is related only spiritually, had released “Havana Moon,” the story of a Cuban guy waiting for an American girl to arrive on a boat at the dock. So Richard Berry decided to mix the two up and tell the story of a guy yearning to get back to his home and his girl in Jamaica and called it ‘Louie, Louie’.”
I hear it much more in “El Loco Cha Cha” than I do in “Havana Moon.” In fact, the former’s intro sounds like what might happen if my beloved Pérez Prado covered “Louie, Louie,” so there you go.
Ultimately, if I’m being honest, this isn’t a song by The Who that I will return to with any intentionality, but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy digging around in the musical histories of it all. Lots of YouTubes below; please enjoy.
The Shuffler 