THE HIT HAMMER: Stories' "Brother Louie"

(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)

Stories - "Brother Louie"

Hit Number 1: August 25, 1973

Stay at Number 1: 2 Weeks

"Brother Louie" is the kind of song where the meaning of it can fly right over your head. Though it's a collected funk rock song, it touches on what was once a very serious topic in the early '70s: interracial love. Before finding its way to #1 in America by a band called Stories, "Brother Louie" was by a group called Hot Chocolate. Hot Chocolate themselves were an interracial band, with front man and lead singer Errol Brown being a black man from Jamaica. Brown has said that he got the idea to write the song after seeing first hand that black people and white people hardly had anything to do with each other, which he saw after moving to England from Jamaica. But the Hot Chocolate version of "Brother Louie" was a lot different from the Stories version. It had spoken dialogue between Louie's parents. Louie himself and the black girl he's dating. In the end, Louie's parents disown him.

Likely because of the graphic dialogue between the characters of the song, Hot Chocolate's version of "Brother Louie" failed to chart on the American charts, but that didn't mean Hot Chocolate never had success in America. (Their highest-charting single in America was 1976's "You Sexy Thing" which made it to #3. It's a 6) However, Stories didn't even hear of Hot Chocolate's existence. Stories' lead singer, Ian Lloyd, said that it was completely by chance that they ever heard "Brother Louie" in any form. Lloyd said that one day he was hanging out in a producer's office at Buddah Records, and was listening to a bunch of demo tapes. He happened to come across Hot Chocolate's record, and while he was listening to the chorus, he was impressed. He told the producer that he thought that song would be a #1 record in the U.S. if his band, Stories, could record it. Reportedly, Lloyd thought the recording was a demo, and didn't even know what he was listening to was a hit in England. (Hot Chocolate's version made it to #7 in the UK)

At the time of recording, Stories themselves were an obscure group, never achieving any Hot 100 success before "Brother Louie". It's unclear whether Lloyd thought a song relating to non-musical issues would easily become Stories' first hit, or if he just flat out liked the way the song sounded, but either way the talking parts of the song are absent on Stories' version, and instead it's just a sturdy, funk rock jam. Lloyd sings the song with a brazen growl, very similar to the way Rod Stewart sang. So much so, that after "Brother Louie" became an American hit, Lloyd would get fan mail from people thinking it was Stewart singing the song. I'm sure Lloyd was happy anyway. He got himself a #1 hit, and people thought he sounded like Rod Stewart. Personally, I don't think that's a bad guy to sound like.

"Brother Louie" is a very unique song in its Stories form. Lloyd's own unique voice is teamed up with a galloping string section and funky bluesy rhythms, and those things together would make you think it would be a song about warm love or a good time. But the story of "Brother Louie" is an eye opener, a song that tries to tell you something important. Interracial love affairs were an important topic back then, and one that was viewed with high controversy at the time of "Brother Louie's" popularity. What we hear in the story is a white guy (Louie) and a black girl meeting each other's parents. Louie's parents in particular are harsh, and they have a fight with him, causing Louie to break down. The chorus is as earwormy as it gets, with Lloyd repeating "Louie, Louie, Louie, Louie", before becoming "Louie, Louie you're gonna cryyyy!"

Even though the song touches on an important topic, it's easy in the Stories version to find yourself listening to the song rather than the lyrics. Lloyd's voice, the strings/guitar's call and response game they play and the overall feel of the song is strangely relaxing. It's the kind of song you play with the lights dimmed low on a cold, dark night. Stories don't sound to me like a band who only had one hit, I almost feel like they should have many with how everything sounds on "Brother Louie". Everything sounds so clean. It sounds cool. Stories, unfortunately, never had success anywhere near what they had on "Brother Louie", but it still remains on oldies/'70s playlists. I'm not gonna cry about that.

GRADE: 8/10