Brother Louie (Hot Chocolate song)
| "Brother Louie" | ||||
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| Single by Hot Chocolate | ||||
| B-side | "I Want to Be Free" | |||
| Released | 1973 | |||
| Length | 4:23 | |||
| Label | RAK 149 | |||
| Writer(s) | Errol Brown, Tony Wilson | |||
| Producer(s) | Mickie Most | |||
| Hot Chocolate singles chronology | ||||
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"Brother Louie" is a song about an interracial love affair. The title was written and sung by Errol Brown and Tony Wilson of the group Hot Chocolate, and was a Top 10 hit in the UK Singles Chart for the band in 1973, produced by Mickie Most.[1] Alexis Korner has a spoken word part in this version of the song.
Covers
| "Brother Louie" | ||||
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| File:Stories - Brother Louie single scan.jpg | ||||
| Single by Stories | ||||
| B-side | "What Comes After" | |||
| Released | 1973 | |||
| Length | 3:55 | |||
| Label | Kama Sutra 577 | |||
| Writer(s) | Errol Brown, Tony Wilson | |||
| Producer(s) | Kenny Kerner, Richie Wise | |||
| Stories singles chronology | ||||
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The song was covered by the American band Stories (featuring singer Ian Lloyd) about six months after Hot Chocolate's UK hit, and the Stories version made number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.[2] Another cover was released in 1973 by Roy Ayers on his album Virgo Red, playing vibes instead of singing.
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.
Australian hip hop group 1200 Techniques sampled the riff heavily for their single "Karma" in 2002.[3]
The 1986 hit "Brother Louie" by Modern Talking is a different song.
In popular culture
The recording by Stories was featured in the film A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006). The same version also appeared in an episode of the series Nip/Tuck. An alternative rendition of the Stories version of the song was included in the soundtrack of the 2007 film Zodiac. It was also on the soundtrack to the 1999 film Dick and in the 2005 French-Canadian film C.R.A.Z.Y, but the song's first movie appearance was in Wim Wenders' 1974 film Alice in the Cities (7:15 into the movie).
The song, with slightly different wording, is used as the theme song to the television series Louie, a sitcom loosely based on the life of American comedian Louis C.K. The word "cry" was changed to "die" in the second repetition of the chorus. This version was produced by Reggie Watts, with the intro emulating the Hot Chocolate version, and with Stories' singer Ian Lloyd reprising his vocals.
References
External links
- "Hot Chocolate: Brother Louie" at Discogs (list of releases)
- Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
| Preceded by | US Billboard Hot 100 number-one single (Stories cover) August 25, 1973 (two weeks) |
Succeeded by "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye |
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