What a relief: It’s safe to play “Louie Louie” after all.
Benton Harbor Supt. Paula Dawning reversed her decision Thursday after parents at McCord Middle School came out in support of the song.
“The school district operates in collaboration with the parents and based on them granting permission and the multiple versions of the song, the students will march in the parade and play ‘Louie Louie,’ ” Dawning wrote in a statement.
[…]
Dawning expressed concern that the allegedly racy content of The Kingsmen’s hit made it an inappropriate choice for the band to play at Saturday’s Blossomtime Festival, even though the marching band was not going to sing it.
But band members and parents of McCord students complained to the Board of Education Tuesday that it was too late to learn another song in time for the festival, The Herald-Palladium of St. Joseph reported. In addition, many parents said they doubted the students even know the words to “Louie Louie,” the newspaper reported.
The lyrics are included in the story, so maybe by now Ms. Dawning has read them for herself and learned that they are uncontrovertably non-racy. It’s so much easier to make an informed decision when one has all the relevant information, isn’t it? Thanks to Blake in the comments for the tip.
By the way, just so there’s no confusion: Despite my comment about this story bumping off the anti-cheerleader bill as Dumbest Story Of The Week, this little kerfuffle took place in Michigan. Texas is a big state, but it’s not quite big enough (yet) to hold that much stupidity in it all at once.
It’s so much easier to make an informed decision when one has all the relevant information, isn’t it?
Or, as one of my favorite cartoonists once put it concerning a GOP canard, “facts really take the fun out of anecdotal evidence, don’t they?”