Brother Louie (1973)
Brother Louie is a song written and performed by Errol Brown and Tony Wilson of the group Hot Chocolate. Brother Louie produced by Mickie Most, and was released as a single. The song itself narrated an interracial love affair between a white man and a black woman, and the subsequent disowning of the man by his parents because of it, and reached 7th position hit in the UK Singles Chart for the band in 1973.[1] Alexis Korner contributes in spoken word part of the song, while Phil Dennys arrangement of the string section.[2]
Key Lyrics
’All right, what's all this about?’
’I love her, man’
'Oh yeah, man, let me tell you
I don't want no honky in my family, you dig?'
’No honky in my family’
See what I mean?
Louie really caused a scene
He did, I tell you
Ain't no diff'rence 'tween black or white
Brothers, you know what I mean
Other Versions
An instrumental vibraphone cover by Roy Ayers was released in 1973 on his album Virgo Red. It has since been covered by many other artists including The Undisputed Truth, The Quireboys, Peter Beckett, Louie Louie, Matumbi, The Oppressed and Scarecrow. Vandenberg singer Bert Heerink had a top 10 hit in 1995 in the Netherlands with a Dutch version titled "Julie July". More recently, the song has been covered by Bon Jovi and the hip hop group Code Red.[3]
Australian hip hop group 1200 Techniques sampled the riff heavily for their single "Karma" in 2002.</ref>"1200 Techniques's Karma sample of Hot Chocolate's Brother Louie". whosampled.com. Retrieved January 31, 2021.</ref>
References
- ↑ David Roberts. British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). 2006. London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 259. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. Retrieved from Wikipedia, January 31, 2021.
- ↑ "Brother Louie by Hot Chocolate". Songfacts.com. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
- ↑ Brother Louie (Hot Chocolate song). Wikipedia. Retrieved January 31, 2021.