Last Kiss is that disturbing song about the teenage boy and his girlfriend who are driving down the road until they slam into another car and she poof dies. So the guy has to wail about how he’s going to have to be good so he can get into heaven and blah blah etc. lyrics and history here: http://www.tsimon.com/lastkiss.htm
I’ve got why he wrote it. No problem there. But why in God’s name did it go to #2 in the charts, and why does it still show up on oldies radio station playlists. Pearl Jam even covered it. Somehow I’m missing something. Please someone tell me I’m totally missing something.
-Lil
There seems to have been a spate of teen death songs in the 60s. Last Kiss, Tell Laura I Love Her, Leader of the Pack, Teen Angel, Ode to Billy Joe, Running Bear (admittedly a novelty song more than a straight hit), Dead Man’s Curve…it’s a weird phenomenon…
In the case of Pearl Jam’s cover (which I detest), I suspect that the song’s popularity stems from the fact that many people would pay good money to hear Eddie Vedder warble in the shower, or recite “Mary Had a Little Lamb”.
“Last Kiss” was one of a series of nauseating “teen death” songs like “Teen Angel”, “Patches”, and “Tell Laura, I Love Her” that came out in the late 50’s and early 60’s. As for why these maudlin lumps of glop were popular, I can’t say. (I also can’t account for why Pearl Jam chose to cover “Last Kiss” although a little bit of me hopes they did it with tongue-slightly-in-cheek.) I do know that songs of this type were successful enough to spawn a parody called “I Want My Baby Back” which took the tear-jerking excesses of “Last Kiss” and “Teen Angel” to their logical conclusion.
Amazing. I just heard that song this morning while wandering through Kmart, and I was thinking about the sweet innocence of even death and destruction songs like this as compared to the truly horrible, nasty rap my son was listening to a few minutes before.
Songs like these have a catchy melody…I know it was stuck in my head for a few hours…and lyrics that profess true love that lasts beyond death. Everyone wants to believe that somone will love them forever, and everyone wants people to suffer for causing a tragedy. Maybe you’ll think twice the next time you go out driving and be more careful. The best songs are always about love and loss.
I’m pretty sure that in a past thread I read about Pearl Jam’s cover of Last Kiss. I did a quick search, and saw some threads that would be candidates, but didn’t have any desire to dig through the posts. Anyway, from what I remember, Pearl Jam covered it at a concert for some fans, kind of joking around, a radio station got its mitts on a copy, started playing it, diggy-doo … it got popular and Pearl Jam released it as a single or on a CD (can’t remember).
Oh Goodie! Another “bad music” thread! (I live for these!)
How about:
Running Bear
Endless Sleep
Tell Laura I Love Her
Rocky
Run Joey Run
Indiana Wants Me
I’ve Gotta Get A Message To You
Patches
Last Kiss
Black Denim Trousers
Leader Of The Pack
Laurie (Strange Things Happen)
Ebony Eyes
Moody River
The Ballad Of Thunder Road
Tell Laura I Love Her
Teen Angel
Goodbye Baby
I Want My Baby Back
Leader Of The Laundromat
There Is Something On Your Mind
Dead Man’s Curve
As a single. Though, to defend Pearl Jam’s honour, it was a charity single. It wasn’t like they covered a lame '60s teen pop song to get rich.
I’m a Pearl Jam fan, and I think I’m the only one who doesn’t mind this song. But, then, I like modern covers of songs from that period. The lyrics are all so cute and innocent.
I thought the teenage tragedy craze was fun. A lot of the songs were ironic–the scenarios got more and more bizarre as time went on, but they had an emotional impact as well. I know people who used to cry when they heard “Teen Angel.” You could enjoy them on many different levels.
There is a long folk tradition of maudlin story songs and death ballads, and I see the teen tragedy songs as a modern manifestation of that. Remember, the teen tragedy fad coincided with the commercial folk boom. During the same period there were a number of popular adult-oriented story songs that culminated in death, like the Kingston Trio’s “Tom Dooley” and Jimmy Dean’s “Big Bad John.”
BTW, “Teen Angel” was written to parody the death rock crazy (if sung properly, it will have everyone ROFL*). A record producer heard the parody, bought it, then recorded it straight.
*The key is in the last verse. Drag out the first few lines dramatically, and pause for a moment, then sing “They buried you today” in an uptempo. Works every time.
There are two “Patches”. The one that Dave Barry listed in his Bad Songs book is by someone named Dickey Lee and in that one a teen dies, I believe.
The Patches where the Dad dies is by Clarence Carter and is the one I’m familiar with. Terrible, terrible song. Kinda reminds me of the old man joke-- “When I was your age, we had to walk to school barefoot in 5 feet of snow uphill. . .”
