DAVID BOWIE vs. PAUL REVERE & THE RAIDERS (1964)

WITH THE RECENT PASSING of British rock icon, David Bowie (on January 10, 2016), comes another moment to reflect on the significant impact that early Northwest rock ‘n’ roll had around the world. Just consider: back in 1964 – when Bowie’s teen band, Davie Jones and the King Bees, got their first opportunity to cut a record, they did “Liza Jane” (Decca F 13807). And for that single’s B-side selection they could have opted to do just about any other song around. But, what they chose was to cover "Louie - Go Home," the B-side of a fresh 45 by Portland, Oregon’s Paul Revere and the Raiders. Recently signed to the mega-label, Columbia Records, the Raiders had followed up their “Louie Louie” single with a second Columbia disc – also penned by the Los Angeles-based musician, Richard Berry – titled “Have Love, Will Travel.”

And, as a flipside for that disc, they included a new tune written by their singer, Mark Lindsay. Its backstory is that the band had tracked Berry down at some nightclub in order to introduce themselves and ask if he had any other songs they might be able to successfully cover. Berry was busy – and perhaps even a bit dismissive of the young rockers – and their feelings were hurt. Frustrated, Lindsay dashed off the lyrics to “Louie - Go Home,” and on March 17, 1964, that single (Columbia 4-43008) was released. 

A mere three months later – on June 5, 1964 – the King Bees’ “Louie, Louie Go Home” was released. It caught the ears of the British press with one reviewer noting it had a “Pounding beat...It’s a good slice of R&B and could make the charts,” while another pegged it as a “Hard-hitting R&B follow-up to the Kingsmen’s ‘Louie, Louie’ hit...surprisingly good for a homegrown group.” Then another up-&-coming young "homegrown" band also took the tune into a studio – although, when the Who cut it in 1965, the song morphed a bit into something called “Lubie (Come Back Home).”