defend the indefensible: "kokomo" by the beach boys

(xpost)

...we'll kick some ass and then we'll kick some mo', that's where our bombs will go, way down in kosovo..."

it was stoopid, but i laughed

hated this thing when it was new and stuff, mainly because it was omnipresent and less so for being annoying. now, it's just there -- not even really annoying, but not anything special either. so i am always kind of amused that "kokomo" regularly shows up in "worst songs ever!" polls -- it's not good, but it's far from the worst thing ever recorded!

http://thighswideshut.org/videos/sax.gif

But, as it is, kinda indefensible.

To Martinique, that Montserrat mystique

so 80s, esp. since montserrat is a steaming volcanic ruin now

and as a "wtf?" moment:

Port Au Prince I wanna catch a glimpse

do they REALLY wanna see probably the most run-down city in the islands?!?

i have ALWAYS heard this as "mounds of rotten steak" which you gotta admit is pretty bad ass.

me too -- until i googled the lyrics, i didn't know what they really were.

Not that far.

However, the picture of Mike Love/Disney's California Adventure = classic*(classic

Throughout the '80s, the Beach Boys had placed several songs in films (The Big Chill, Lethal Weapon 2, Troop Beverly Hills, Soul Man). In '87 the amassed brain trust of Melcher, Love, ex-Papa John Phillips, and Scott McKenzie (of “San Francisco” fame) decided to try to write a song for the film Cocktail, derived from the scene where the Tom Cruise character moves from New York to Jamaica. Recalls Melcher, "We went into it to see if anyone could write a major hit for the band besides Brian. I figured a lot their hits had been travelogues like ‘Surfin' USA' and 'California Girls.'

“John Phillips had this idea about a kind of blues song about some place the band would go before they broke up. We changed all the words and chords around and I wrote the chorus. As far as the feel goes, I always loved Jimmy Buffett records, so I got a steel drummer, Van Dyke Parks played the accordion, Ry Cooder played the guitar and the slide, and Jim Keltner was the drummer, going for a 'Margaritaville' kind of thing.

"I just layered it until it all started to shimmer. What really made it was the out-of-tune accordion: it glued everything together, especially with the steel drum. Then we left the falsettos out of the harmonies rather than having somebody copy Brian." The song shot to No. 1 and led the Still Cruisin’ album to gold.

This is a bit of a banger, this one.

Indefensible. With the sole exception of the aforementioned Muppets version.
-- Stephen C (ihope), Friday, December 30, 2005 3:06 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Link

Above posts make it appear that the Muppets covered the Imus version.

watching the muppets version on youtube, i notice that half of the lines are double entendres.

I brought in a tape with "Kokomo" on it to show & tell in 4th grade, when everyone else brought Nirvana, Weird Al and Guns & Roses tapes. Damn you, Beach Boys. I tried to explain to my classmates that it was Van Dyke Parks unorthodox accordion playing that really made the song, but no one would listen...

when I was in 5th grade, I wrote a pornographic version of this song while attending a performance of Jesus Christ Superstar with my grandma.

Cockomo?

prefer it to all other beach boys songs

Mike Love does it good.

prefer it to all other beach boys songs

-- J0hn D., Saturday, 19 April 2008 15:34 (36 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

^^^real talk

insanity

Mike Love does it good.

-- Thus Sang Freud, Saturday, April 19, 2008 3:09 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

love mike love

good tune

In a sense, this horrible makes other songs sound all that much better, so 'kokomo' acts as a palette cleanser of sorts, like the sprig of parsley between salad and entre, or the prune slivovitz between courses.

they are selling "15 Big Ones" for a buck around the corner from me. fuck, i should go pick that up; it's a great record.

crutis if you love it so much, why don't you nom it for 1p3 top 100 songs

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/00/15BigOnesCover.jpg

best album cover artwork, ever, to boot. fuckit, i'm buying this posthaste and gonna slam it up on my walls

I think you get the meaning from my badly worded previous post: kokomo makes other music sound a little bit better.

secretly about this guy:
http://www.afropop.org/img/world_music/african_music/escaping/Kokomo.jpg

Never minded "Kokomo" -- it's exactly how I would have envisioned the BB's sounding in the eighties had I been a littlet deuce coupe in the sixties.

http://www.beachboysband.net/BBBNEWS/MikeLove_Kokomo.gif

quelle douche

The 1p3 Top 100 Songs of All Time

Mike Love died for your sins!

Kevin Love declared early for Mike Love's sins.

I like this song. I'm kind of relieved the see the hate is not universal.

Mike Love died for your sins!

It's true! Wait and see...

let's see, what would I prefer - "teenage symphonies to God" or a pop song that goes well with a rum & coke? no fuckin contest yo, Dom I got the next round

I don't have a problem with the song itself, per se, but hearing it inspires mental images of John Stamos and the rest of the Full House gang, which I'd prefer not to have.

my ding a-ling >>>all other chuck berry songs

mikin' love out of nothin' at all

i just remembered that my family tree includes people with the surname 'love'.. maybe i'm related to mike?????!

i know someone who is related to him and met him in person; no joke. He was every bit as cheesy in the flesh as you'd imagine, from the story my friend related to me.

a pop song that goes well with a rum & coke?

since when did we start using "go well with" to spin "could curdle"

this song is mind torture from start to finish

this song might actually be why i hate the beach boys. my sister used to play it obsessively when we were young.

I guess the divide here is whether or not you had to withstand the song nonstop in 1988? I was 0 yrs old so back then all I ever heard was the Muppets version a couple of times

this song is bullshit~

best beatles song: free as a bird

lol

cue some contrarian asshole saying "b-b-but it is!"

a pop song that goes well with a rum & coke

But to paraphrase what many have sung, some things go better with coke...like approx. 100,000 pop songs (and actually quite a few of those teen symphonies to God).

Actually, I just heard it again and the chorus features a more agreeable chug than I remember. But the rest of the song doesn't. I don't hear how the accordion makes it special at all. And it's still a song abut repressed homosexuality. No gay guys like it. I know - I asked them.

abut = Freudian slip

I give in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckQCvTqswUw

I guess the divide here is whether or not you had to withstand the song nonstop in 1988? I was 0 yrs old so back then all I ever heard was the Muppets version a couple of times

for me the dividing line is I have always found Brian Wilson insufferable and his acolytes more so, so this song has the dual benefits of 1) not being a B.W. song and 2) trolling B.W. fanboys

i find the beach boys pretty annoying in general, but this is like all the worst qualities of typical beach boys shit amped up to 11 with a dose of fresh hell in the mix

oops. sorry for posting it on the 1p3 list.

dude that list is full of all kinds of crap, don't worry about it! haw

mikin' love out of nothin' at all

Tonight I celebrate mike love for you

watching.. waiting.. for you to justify mike love

Terry Melcher

"do it again" (a late '60s BBs hit that i'm pretty sure has minimal BW involvement) is a pop song that goes well with a rum and coke. "kokomo" is a fuckin' piece of shit. raise yr contrarian standards, etc etc.

raise yr contrarian standards
^^this

Agree with whomever lists Carl Wilson as "Kokomo"'s sole saving grace - It's one of the last times he recorded with the band IIRC.

And attn J0hn: there are many non-BW BBs recordings that are enjoyable without the accompanying baggage. Sunflower and Surf's Up alone proved that.

Landylocked
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f185/PappaWheelie/bbbbbbst-62042-main.jpg

I'm not being contrarian when I hate Brian Wilson & most old BBs records, the first time I heard classic Beach Boys I was a young kid living in southern California and I said (paraphrasing here) "ick what the fuck is this garbage that sounds like ass, get this shit out of here" it was only years later I learned some people thought all that horrible squalling sound was somehow good.

"do it again" is ok though I'll give you that one. would still rather listen to "kokomo" though

"This Song Wants To Sleep With You Tonight" - funny title.

i want to kiss them for their wonderful music.
-- ethan, Friday, November 9, 2001 5:00 PM (6 years ago)
: D

I guess there were worse stuff in the charts at the time, but stood beside their classic 63-73 output, this is downright indefensible.

"Kokomo" was sure-as-fuck better than the movie that introduced it.

brian was involved in do it again you know

...and it ain't 'til I die nor sail on sailor.

yeah I'm aware dude it's not like I mindlessly hate him in a "if he's on it, I hate it" style - there are a few exceptions and "do it again" is one of them

it was in response to

"do it again" (a late '60s BBs hit that i'm pretty sure has minimal BW involvement) is a pop song that goes well with a rum and coke.

brian wrote and produced the track, having stated pride in that drum sound eternally since (and sampled by air)

would much rather listen to jimmy buffett than this shit

yeah i totally wouldve figured if j0hn hated the beach boys his except for song would be 'sail on sailor', seems right up his alley. also really really cant figure out how someone could prefer 'kokomo' to 'wipeout'.

not sure what this means, but van dyke parks contributed to both good vibrations and sail on sailor

as for wipeout, i wonder if polydor A&R was like, hey, Run-DMC crossed over with aerosmith -- so we've talked to the beach boys' mike love about something similar...and fatties were like wtf?!

I can't figure out what's particularly exceptional about "Do It Again" that sets it apart from vast swathes of the BBs catalog. Song about girls and surfing and w/dense vocal arrangement over a standard r&b chord structure = over half of all BBs songs (at least!)

I mean sure nice odd drum effect but come on

b-b-b-but it came out in 68!

i'm a friends kinda guy though

well then of course they got chubby checker on 'the twist' and i'm sure at the very least phonecalls were made for 'baby you're a rich man'.

around this time?
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f185/PappaWheelie/mackdaddy.jpg

and by around this time, i mean really AROUND this time

*rimshot*

hey I dig "Let's Do It Again" (and "Friends") a lot - my point is that making an exception of hatred for that one particular song solely because of its drum effect/sample history is a little uhhhhh waht

i think you're combining thoughts of different posters shakey

clearly, i'm too much of a fan to discount nearly anything by them. kokomo is just about the only thing i don't like. hell, i fucking stop my life just to see what carnie is up to.

the other dudes on this thread be hatin' "everything but..."

I'm convinced that Full House killed the Beach Boys' reputation for good. It doesn't matter how much acclaim rock critics pile on Smile or Pet Sounds. It doesn't even matter if Brian's right there onstage performing Smile or Pet Sounds. To generations, the Beach Boys will always be Uncle Jesse's favorite band.

http://www.peterbrown.tv/dukedenver.JPG

^^^argh beaten to the punch

Cockomo?

Believe me, if I could remember the lyrics, I would dutifully transcribe them here.

would much rather listen to jimmy buffett than this shit

bold, but entirely true.

Which one of these sounds more like your weekend?

Squalls out on the gulf stream
Big storm's comin' soon
I passed out in my hammock
And God I slept 'til way past noon
Stood up and tried to focus
I hoped I wouldn't have to look far
I knew I could use a Bloody Mary
So I stumbled next door to the bar

vs.

Bodies in the sand
Tropical drink melting in your hand
Well be falling in love
To the rhythm of a steel drum band
Down in kokomo

hey I dig "Let's Do It Again" (and "Friends") a lot - my point is that making an exception of hatred for that one particular song solely because of its drum effect/sample history is a little uhhhhh waht

yeah it's totally subjective, it's not like I sat down and said "I will make an exception for one song, and that one will be 'do it again'" - most of the other beach boys shit just inspires a visceral ick-ick-get-it-out-of-here response in me whereas that one just seems to chug pleasantly along - if I was hating the Beach Boys on some principle or something, then I'd hate that song, too, but I'm not: I just experience most of their music as an unpleasant sound to be avoided, but that song I can kinda dig. I also have "s'allright" love for "Help Me Rhonda."

Beach Boys songs off their Greatest Hits that sound worse to me that a crying baby on an airplane: "God Only Knows," "In My Room," their massacre of "Sloop John B.," the bridge to "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "I Get Around"

For some reason I want to cut and paste this John Cage thing right now:

When I was growing up in California there were
two things that everyone assumed were good for you.
There were, of course, others
— spinach and oatmeal, for instance —
but right now I’m thinking of
sunshine and orange juice. When we
lived at Ocean Park, I was sent out every
morning to the beach where I spent the day
building rolly-coasters in the sand,
complicated downhill tracks with tunnels and
inclines upon which I rolled a small hard
rubber ball. Every day toward noon
I fainted because the sun was too much
for me. When I fainted I didn’t
fall down, but I couldn’t see;
there were flocks of black spots
wherever I looked. I soon learned
to find my way in that blindness to a
hamburger stand where I’d ask for something
to eat. Sitting in the shade,
I’d come to. It took me
much longer, about thirty-five years
in fact, to learn that orange
juice was not good for me either.

-http://www.lcdf.org/indeterminacy/

Beach Boys songs off their Greatest Hits that sound worse to me that a crying baby on an airplane: "God Only Knows," "In My Room," their massacre of "Sloop John B.," the bridge to "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "I Get Around"

Stop it J0hn, you are shaking the very foundations of my worldview. Srsly.

the bridge to "Wouldn't It Be Nice,"

You have no soul.

Stop it J0hn, you are shaking the very foundations of my worldview. Srsly.

-- St3ve Go1db3rg, Tuesday, April 22, 2008 3:26 AM (28 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

^^ self-parody or... ?

Why would that be self-parody?

P.S. ian, I promise I won't be sad if you stop taking such an intense interest in my comments.

The only really indefensible thing in this song is this lyric,

Everybody knows
a little place like kokomo.

Everybody? A little place? You imagine the singer as a smug 80s asshole so deep in his Reagonomic bubble that he assumes that literally everybody is living his same globe-trotting cocktail-swilling high life. It really ends the song on a shitty note.

But, eh...the chorus is pretty solid (sounds a lot thinner than I remember though) - hooks aside, I think I'd rather take Roger Miller's "England Swings" as far as the narrow genre of songs that give you vacation-planning advice. As for songs on hit Beach Boys comeback extravaganza Still Cruisin' it's all about the title track, "In My Car," and "Somewhere Near Japan."

(I know there's an ILX thread where someone complains about "England Swings" - I have very distinct memories of it - but fucked if I can find it now...)

steve, ian picks on you because you talk about stuff he doesn't understand like how to actually play music.

Really though - I think the objectionable thing about this entire endeavor is the transformation of the "Beach" in the Beach Boys' identity from a sort of plausibly "universal" (ie teenagered) conception of sun, surf, fun, and all that...through the wistful-but-still-adult-reconsideration-of-same ("All Summer Long," "Surf's Up" etc)....to this boomer retiree scenario of "I scored a great deal on a time-share!" Pop doesn't usually track so clearly the disintegration of youthful possibility into crass, compromised consumption. The threat posed by "Kokomo" is that it will ruin all those other, less commodified beaches of yesteryear.

Does this song have any marimbas on it? Gotta have marimbas

Don't think it does.

It's still difficult to credit that, worldwide, this is the Beach Boys' best-selling single. Bloody Tom Cruise!

Jammed Cocktail soundtrack for like 6 months after it came out. It was my official chess club music. Probably wouldn't have reached my 1300 rating w/o "Kokomo."

Just thinking of this song gives me a tropical contact high.

also really really cant figure out how someone could prefer 'kokomo' to 'wipeout'.

kokomo >>>>> wipeout unless yr talking about the muppet versions

the bridge to "Wouldn't It Be Nice,"

You have no soul.

youthe bridge to "Wouldn't It Be Nice havehas no soul

fixed

I should GTFO this thread, every time I come back to it I get that horrible "but let's taaaaaaalllllk about it" stuck in my head and it's just eww eww eww, imo Richard Carpenter did what Brian Wilson was trying to do about a million times better

that's right, a MILLION

eww eww eww, ick ick

to this boomer retiree scenario of "I scored a great deal on a time-share!"

The talk
The sex
Somebody to trust
The Audi TT
The house on the Vineyard
The house on the gulf coast
These are the things I miss the most

jaymc OTM

Co-written by Scott McKenzie and John Phillips, so obviously a pension plan was in place somewhere.

Is this what New York is really like?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=XZsiY9S4WpI

nah its more like Coyote Ugly

to counter the J0hn D hate I would just like to say that the Lei'd in Hawaii boot ref'd upthread by naive teen idol is surprisingly great. hilarious rehearsal of "Heroes and Villains" featuring a nasty voiceover of Mike Love making bitter jokes about the song's failure, how inane it is, etc. the other songs are purty (live show recording basically sucks tho)

Even though I disagree with J0hn D and have no clue why he got snippy with me on that DeBarge thread for doing the same thing he's doing here, think about it, y'all: wouldn't it be more fascinating to have a rum and coke with someone who prefers "Kokomo" to "God Only Knows" than with the one billionth replicant who thinks "God Only Knows" is in the running for Greatest Song Ever?

Doctor Casino, your posts here are brilliant! Now I just have to find a way to link them to heternormativity.

Two things I'm too lazy to look up:

1. Is the Kokomo the BBs are singing about a real place? If so, where?

2. Did the song appear on a non-greatest hits BB album at the time? If so, which?

"fascinating"? I dunno maybe I don't have enough rum n cokes with indie snobs but there are way more people in the general population that know/enjoy Kokoma as opposed to God Only Knows and no most of those people are not fascinating. what kind of contrarian bubble-world bars do you people drink in??

I mean if you are ACTUALLy on a beach drinking a girl drink, you're WAY more likely to meet a Kokomo fan than a God Only Knows fan, is all I'm sayin

But if you are on a MESSAGE board with a bunch of music nerds and rock critics, you're way more likely to ... oh wait.

And yet, practically EVERYONE I've met who's called "God Only Knows" one of their favorite songs or whatnot was most decidedly not an indie snob, i all I'm sayin.

is

really? who are these people?

Paul McCartney?

life isn't so boring as to have that be fascinating imo

(fwiw God Only Knows is not my favorite altho it is the best thing on Pet Sounds and it does have a special resonance. the post-Pet Sounds BB material is actually my favorite period)

^^what omar said^^

shakey mo what part of "visceral reaction" don't you understand? it has nothing to do with "contrarianism." It has to do with how this crap has sounded to me since I was eight.

"If you don't love this music, you're a contrarian!" go vote Republican with those kinds of values why don'tcha

Let's just go ahead and lay it out:

Aruba, jamaica ooo I wanna take you
Bermuda, bahama come on pretty mama
Key largo, montego baby why dont we go
Jamaica

Off the florida keys
Theres a place called kokomo
Thats where you wanna go to get away from it all

Bodies in the sand
Tropical drink melting in your hand
Well be falling in love
To the rhythm of a steel drum band
Down in kokomo

Aruba, jamaica ooo I wanna take you
To bermuda, bahama come on pretty mama
Key largo, montego baby why dont we go

Ooo I wanna take you down to kokomo
Well get there fast
And then well take it slow
Thats where we wanna go
Way down to kokomo

To martinique, that monserrat mystique

Well put out to sea
And well perfect our chemistry
By and by well defy a little bit of gravity

Afternoon delight
Cocktails and moonlit nights
That dreamy look in your eye
Give me a tropical contact high
Way down in kokomo

Aruba, jamaica ooo I wanna take you
To bermuda, bahama come on pretty mama
Key largo, montego baby why dont we go

Ooo I wanna take you down to kokomo
Well get there fast
And then well take it slow
Thats where we wanna go
Way down to kokomo

Port au prince I wanna catch a glimpse

Everybody knows
A little place like kokomo
Now if you wanna go
And get away from it all
Go down to kokomo

Aruba, jamaica ooo I wanna take you
To bermuda, bahama come on pretty mama
Key largo, montego baby why dont we go

Ooo I wanna take you down to kokomo
Well get there fast
And then well take it slow
Thats where we wanna go
Way down to kokomo

Aruba, jamaica ooo I wanna take you
To bermuda, bahama come on pretty mama
Key largo, montego baby why dont we go

Ooo I wanna take you down to kokomo

hey J0hn I understand its no big deal - I don't think you're being deliberately contrarian cuz you have some secret aesthetic agenda a la geir or whatever. If you'll read the post I was actually responding to I was arguing that liking Kokomo is actually NOT that contrarian, because it is the BIGGEST SELLING BEACH BOYS SONG OF ALL TIME. Its only considered "contrarian" to like it in music nerd circles - like this one.

x-post

Port, au prince, I wanna catch a glimpse

cue the sax!
http://lindaryanfineart.com/art/image_105.gif

lol at Geir's "secret" aesthetic agenda

(iow Kevin John Bozelka seems to live in some universe where God Only Knows, and not Kokomo, is THE BIGGEST SELLING BEACH BOYS SONG EVER and I am curious as to what the bars are like there and who drinks in them)

x-post

yeah OK I get you, sorry to snap at you

(btw J0hn, which song of yours should I jokingly refer to as a pastiche of "Sloop John B" in order to generate maximum ire?)

Afternoon delight
Cocktails and moonlit nights
That dreamy look in your eye
Give me a tropical contact high

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
this is def. the best part

really? who are these people?

Well, yes, Sir McCartney and I did discuss this a few weeks ago...

I think you're under the impression that I think "God Only Knows" is more popular than "Kokomo." I never said that. But I've NEVER heard any get all moony about "Kokomo" even if they prefer it to "God Only Knows" (cue J0hn's god-like piece on Warwick). In fact, if pressed, I'd wager that THAt is one of the reasons why J0hn loves it so. And thus, the fascination factor enters.

And come on, dude. It's not like we're talking about Capt. Beefheart and Stereolab here. It's the freakin Beach Boys. You honestly think one needs to be an indie snob to adore "God Only Knows?"

Off the florida keys
Theres a place called kokomo

I'd actually feel stupid about this if it didn't say volumes about pop music (and this song in particular).

Sandals Cay (formerly called Kokomo Island) is part of the privately owned Sandals Royal Caribbean all-inclusive resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica. It became famous as the inspiration for the song "Kokomo," written by John Phillips, Mike Love, Terry Melcher, and Scott McKenzie, and performed by The Beach Boys.
It is a very small island (about an acre), and according to the Sandals Royal Caribbean website, the only amenities on the island are a Thai restaurant, a swimming pool, a jacuzzi, a bar, and a secluded beach. The island caters to couples on tropical getaways.

i think i like "Still Cruisin'" better ... but "Kokomo" is pretty tight. I've never seen "Cocktail". Is "Kokomo" a credits-rolling song or is it used for a montage. Seems like a sweet montage. I can imagine it now. Anyway, "Kokomo." I'm listening to Charlie Parker right now, but in my brain, it's pure "Kokomo." The song has POWERS.

Also, Aretha's "First Snow in Kokomo."

So there you go, Kokomo is an island smaller than my parents front yard in a Sandals resort

xp to self

sloop john d.

I had always thought this was just about the worst song ever (and I am a huge Beach Boys fan) until I had the occasion to re-evaluate it when heard the Adam Green/Ben Kweller version and realized that there is actually a heartfelt song in there. (I do recommend that version).

The chorus is unforgivable but the melody is pure "Big Sur" Mike Love bliss. Some of the verses even scan OK.

Also, I hadn't realized that there was some actual private (?) island called Kokomo that might really be sublime enough to warrant a similar tribute (i.e. to that of "Big Sur"). Taken in that spirit, I can swallow it a whole lot easier.

I had previoulsy thought "Kokomo" was about the god-awful town in Indiana and therefore never understood the song any better than I could understand why Kokomo Arnold was first on about the place, other than it was his "sweet home". (First occurrence of reppin your endz?!)

Good, not great, song. Crappiest production ever, completely rubbish record. I would modestly endeavor to defend the song, as I think I have done, but not the "hit".

I quite prefer it to "Cheeseburger In Paradise" (unless you can track down the Xiu Xiu cover).

(btw J0hn, which song of yours should I jokingly refer to as a pastiche of "Sloop John B" in order to generate maximum ire?)

"Woke Up (and k)New (How Bad the Beach Boys Sucked)"

hahaha

chall-ops are responsible for this. watch out for the yellow helicopters.

"officer smith here. we need to get CSI out here. we've got several bodies in the sand. make it quick. they've got tropical drinks melting in their hands. yep. way down in kokomo. ok. over."

No one ever asked Beach Boys fan Nancy Reagan if she prefers "Kokomo" to "God Only Knows."

chall-ops/EMDs '08

Aww, thanks for the praise, Kevin JB! Just babblin' along here...

2. Did the song appear on a non-greatest hits BB album at the time? If so, which?

The album is called Still Cruisin' and it's extremely obscure (everyone just bought the soundtrack, I guess). Several tracks are re-recorded hits and IIRC there's a version of Wipe Out "featuring the Fat Boys." There's also a decent Al Jardine song called "Island Girl" (nothing to do with the Elton John song), a really good song called "In My Car" (not to be confused with the solo Brian Wilson song of the same title), and a couple other songs namechecked by me upthread.

I'd be hard-pressed to say it's a good, recommendable record, but I have nothing but fond associations with it due to childhood exposure, etc...

Does anyone know where I can get that lei'd in hawaii bootleg? I cant find it on soulseek or a torrent...

HELP

"Woke Up (and k)New (How Bad the Beach Boys Sucked)"

International Beach Boys Contrarian Blues

We'll put out to sea
And we'll perfect our chemistry
By and by we'll defy a little bit of gravity

You can't write worse lyrics than that.

Does anyone know where I can get that lei'd in hawaii bootleg?

http://warnakeysbeachboysblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/hello-all.html

I honestly didn't realize people disliked this song so much. It's fun! Probably like the most fun chorus ever!

2. Did the song appear on a non-greatest hits BB album at the time? If so, which?

The album is called Still Cruisin' and it's extremely obscure

It is pretty much a greatest hits though: two new songs, one Brian offcut credited to Eugene Landy, the Fat Boys song which had been a single, three songs they'd done for recent film soundtracks, one of which had also been a single [ie Kokomo], and three non-re-recorded old hits.

I guess the divide here is whether or not you had to withstand the song nonstop in 1988?

YES ... nonstop, and on "Full House" ... I associate this song with Bon Jovi's "Bad Medicine" because they were both inescapable and always seemed to be played back-to-back on the radio. The difference is that I can imagine a time in the far-off future when I might want to hear "Bad Medicine" again.

It is pretty much a greatest hits though

Well, okay, but a really weird one that has five recent, emphatically non-hit songs. If Magical Mystery Tour counts as an LP surely this does?

I probably get Kokomo in my head inadvertently more often than anything else by The Beach Boys. I don't really get the deal about them. Good Vibrations is OK but I get the idea that Wilson was just a douchebag, creeping into his girlfriend's sister's room in the middle of the night and fucking her. Dirty man.

You can't write worse lyrics than that.

PAGING PAUL WESTERBERG

Huh!? xpost

fucking weirdo

This song was awesome on an 80 degree day walking through soho with a bunch of vice magazine types with it blasting distorted out of a solar powered radio on a banana seat bike

yah that sounds awesome :/

that sounds horrible! but kind of perfect for the song.

calling a woman you are attracted to "mamma" is just fucking weird.

just because people dress like idiots doesn't mean they're not nice.

calling a woman you are attracted to "mamma" is just fucking weird.

-- Tracer Hand, Wednesday, April 23, 2008 11:57 AM (22 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

That's racist

truth bomb-bitty

http://www.kathygarver.com/mlovet.jpg
"step off, mama"

(Q)- You co-wrote "Kokomo" along with the late "Papa" John Phillips. (In 1988, The Beach Boys had their largest sales hit single, titled "Kokomo." The song, "Kokomo" was a featured in the motion picture "Cocktail" and "Kokomo" really put The Beach Boys back into the international spotlight.
Mike Love- I did indeed. John Phillips came up with the concept for the song in the verse and then I came up with the chorus. (Mike Love begins singing "Kokomo".) That was my contribution. I changed two words in the first verse and I rewrote the second verse in a little less, half a verse. So it was a true collaboration between John Phillips, myself and Terry Melcher, who produced the song. "Kokomo" went to Number One in 1988. Now that song, really, we're talking had a multigenerational appeal. It really helped to rejuvenate The Beach Boys career.

I was listening to some tracks from his unreleased "Unleash the Love" recording from several years back. It's actually pretty good in parts. Plenty of the Kokomo-ish vibe, for those who are so inclined.

I really love this song.

Well, okay, but a really weird one that has five recent, emphatically non-hit songs. If Magical Mystery Tour counts as an LP surely this does?

Magical Mystery Tour is a compilation too! (if in LP form)

i'm pleasantly surprised that a thread that i started with at best a half-serious intent has generated this much passionate debate.

carry on ;_;

and everybody's right, it's not like it's a big deal, it's just kind of an infantile thing to do and makes the people doing it look like fuckin morons, so i thought one of 'em might wanna know

that song, really, we're talking had a multigenerational appeal
that song, really, we're talking had a multigenerational appeal
that song, really, we're talking had a multigenerational appeal

so does anybody know where I can score an a cappella of this track

right here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyei99D1Mq8

ilx: solutions

I wouldn't have expected any better from Mike Love, but it was kind of sad to see John Phillips sink this deep musically.

Best Concert Ever.

I think the objectionable thing about this entire endeavor is the transformation of the "Beach" in the Beach Boys' identity from a sort of plausibly "universal" (ie teenagered) conception of sun, surf, fun, and all that...through the wistful-but-still-adult-reconsideration-of-same ("All Summer Long," "Surf's Up" etc)....to this boomer retiree scenario of "I scored a great deal on a time-share!" [...] The threat posed by "Kokomo" is that it will ruin all those other, less commodified beaches of yesteryear.

I would add to the above that it also moves the Beach of the band's name from any beach, your favorite beach, the beach at Lake Lanier Water Park, whatever....to a private resort beach for couples on tropical getaways. Sort of implicit in the above, but the place-d-ness of this bugs me, perhaps even moreso than the decision to firmly re-establish the Beach Boys as a Hawaiian-shirted beach-themed novelty act instead of a band that could, in theory, sing about all manner of things.

And yet I can't bring myself to really hate this:

i can practically set my watch by how this thread revives at opportune moments in my life o_O

This is a bit of a banger, this one.

― Dom Passantino, Saturday, April 19, 2008 11:43 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark

you can't front on that

this song reminds me of my grandparents' garage

http://www.sporcle.com/games/kokomo.php

I know all of you will get the first six but the last three are for KOKOMO PROS only.

i got eight/nine but call foul because it didn't allow the florida keys. smh.

one of the first earworms I ever remember getting

ok, this is playing on oldies radio. i realize it's a band whose popularity peaked 20 years before i was born, but still hearing a song released within your own lifetime on an oldies station for the first time is depressing beyond belief :(

it's really not that bad a song

hot sax

saw this performed by faux-hawaiian girl ukelele duo last week

I don't have a problem with the song itself, per se, but hearing it inspires mental images of John Stamos and the rest of the Full House gang, which I'd prefer not to have.

― Pillbox, Sunday, April 20, 2008 2:57 AM (2 years ago) Bookmark

Yes! And then I want to smash those images in the face with a bat.

Good record for playing at the wrong speed.

I have good memories driving down to Lafayette to see the Beach Boys w/ America at the Cajun Dome with my Dad. We played the Beach Boys Greatest Hits cassette that finished with some Fat Boys track and Kokomo. That was a good road trip.

Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego
baby why don't we go

not surprising John Phillips wrote this

The only piece you'll ever need to read on it

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2012/06/beach_boys_kokomo_worst_song.php

"Kokomo" is not even on a list of the Top 20 Worst Beach Boys Songs. (Anyone who prefers to hear "Salt Lake City" to "Kokomo"? Anyone?)

And when you dare take them out, what you're left with is the far-superior drum pattern from "Just Like Honey," . . .

Uhhhhhhhhhh.

A friend just now on FB:

Kokomo is Jimmy Buffett calling out his hos in different area codes. Ahead of it's time.

"Kokomo" is not even on a list of the Top 20 Worst Beach Boys Songs. (Anyone who prefers to hear "Salt Lake City" to "Kokomo"? Anyone?)

(raises hand)

"Salt Lake City" at least has great production going for it (the overall richness, the understated single bell-like vibe notes that start the instrumental bridge, the a capella closing section), whereas "Kokomo" couldn't be any more anodyne. And unlike any place name-dropped in "Kokomo", I can at least afford to go to SLC if I wanted to.

In 2006, Beach Boys member Mike Love recorded a critically panned Christmas remake of the song, titled "Santa's Going to Kokomo".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6U2ubpBd28

GREAT FUN FROM THE MASTER

SURF5UP 5 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-x_FHj9yLo

^ worst

we'll get there fast and then we'll take it slow

i have no beef with this song

"Kokomo" is awesome, but then i sort of grew up with it alongside the other classics.

I liked this song better when I thought the line was, "we'll get there faster if we take it slow." way too subtle and zen-like for a yacht rock era Beach Boys lyric, but I want to believe that's how it goes.

i think people get too hung up on this being a "beach boys" song. as a random-ass mike love/john phillips '80s soundtrack collabo featuring carl and john stamos it's a shocking success

though, tbf, while i like the beach boys a lot more than i used to, i'm not too reverent about the whole wall-of-thumbsuckers gestalt

Does the new BB album have anything as catchy as this?

To Martinique, that Monserrat mystique

I just realized that I've been mishearing "Monserrat mystique" as "mounds of rotting steak"

if that was the real line, it's about the only thing that could make me like this song more than I already DON'T

This song taught me about places in the Caribbean

I liked this song better when I thought the line was, "we'll get there faster if we take it slow." way too subtle and zen-like for a yacht rock era Beach Boys lyric, but I want to believe that's how it goes.

― starfish succulents (unregistered), Friday, 22 June 2012 19:48 (34 minutes ago) Permalink

wtf is this not the lyric

it makes me wonder what it would be like if Mike Love and Sammy Hagar wrote a song together

ah fuck it isnt

"Mom, how can someone get there faster if they take it slow?"
"I don't know sweetie but that dance you're doing looks really stupid please stop"

xxp
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lq14yhsnlq1qjhphb.jpg

never forget:

Beach Boys songs off their Greatest Hits that sound worse to me that a crying baby on an airplane: "God Only Knows," "In My Room," their massacre of "Sloop John B.," the bridge to "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "I Get Around"

― J0hn D., Tuesday, April 22, 2008 2:39 AM (4 years ago)

I think this was the thread where I realized me and aero have certain irreconcilable differences

oh dear

and here I was thinking aero would forever remain on his pedestal

;_;

also that cartoon is fantastic

there's like a half dozen of those, they're all pretty funny

as a random-ass mike love/john phillips '80s soundtrack collabo featuring carl and john stamos it's a shocking success

this is why I play the game.

That piece on Kokomo reminded me SO MUCH of my own childhood. Wow.

Perfect until it demanded execution, anyway, which happened at Tween Hell, viz., a quilt exhibition. No—a quilt exhibition on a perfect summer day, and to be trapped in such, as a child, feels identical to what being slowly digested by a transparent worm must. Hours of cicada hum, stifling church air, polite yet impenetrable conversation; if I'd known state secrets, or what those were, I'd have begged to trade for clemency.

so otm, quilt shows are a godless void

kokomo as a code word is amazing

How about as a safe word?

ooh I wanna take ya

safeword is always one of the locations listen in the song, so if you forget the safe word just hum a few bars

^^It's all you can do when Mike Love's shoved a ball cap in your mouth.

let's not give Q. Tarantino any free scene ideas.

I am from Kokomo.

(Indiana. USA. Auto town.)

Thus, I have heard this song more than everyone else in this thread. Combined.

Alas. Now it is playing in my head again.

actually WORSE than Kokomo! i don't know how they did it, but they did it. the worst band on the planet just keeps getting worser.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuoIvNFUY7I

huh. dancing baby aside, that's not bad. i always mean to check those guys out more, understand they're considered quite the big deal.

yeah i think they were...in 2007.

wrong thread guys

port au prince
i wanna catch a glimpse

i stand by my earlier "kokomo" comments more or less - it's catchy and harmless despite a really metallic and inorganic choice of sounds for a band whose themes are very material (sun, sand, surf) or very heartfelt, and the real problem is that one must now imagine their "beach" as someplace you reach via cruise ship rather than by thumbing a ride (or turning on in your bedroom).

"wrong thread guys"

soooooooo the right thread. there is no way i'm going on an animal collective thread.

Good god, I've avoided any new Animal Collective this whole album cycle until you advertised that as worse than 'Kokomo' Scott. It did not disappoint.

Here I was thinking that they couldn't possibly name it something as stupid as 'Floridada' and make the mistake of actually saying the word in the song. Spoiler: not only they do it say it, they say it a lot.

Whoo boy, that was bad.

Thanks?

*not only do they say it

Jeez, it seems to have triggered a seizure that it warned me about and caused me to type nonsense.

Good god, I mean are they serious? It sounds like something Weird Al would do to make fun of them.

I mean, I'm astounded. Impressively bad.

port au prince
i wanna catch a glimpse
*epic sax*

i keep on listening to "floridada," at least once every couple days. i guess it's time i bought an animal collective record, huh.

this song is like when the bad guys win in a movie

Hmm, "New Yorkork"

Let's do that..

Compare "We'll get there fast and then we'll take it slow" from "Kokomo"

with

"Imma take it slow just as fast as I can" from "Body Like a Back Road."

(It's kinda like comparing how Whitesnake walked down a road alone, going down the only road they'd ever known, and then Green Day walked a lonely road, which was similarly the only road they'd ever known. Who was on those roads? No one. Because they were being walked alone.)

Everyone else was driving

i was walking down the highway, baby
i'm just a rebel with nothing to lose
you know i hate to leave you lonely, lady
but the hard life is calling and i just can't refuse-ah

this is a cool piece https://www.stereogum.com/2006749/kokomo-beach-boys-story/franchises/sounding-board/

and this is some video https://youtu.be/Z8JqzFg1OGs

Derek Jeter's Taco Hole
― Tape Store (Tape Store), Friday, December 30, 2005 5:02 PM (twelve years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

we'll get there fast and then we'll take it show makes sense

they want to get there (Kokomo) fast (b because they are excited for vacation)

then they'll take it show (chillax on vacation)

fun fact: 'kokomo' is good

not bad

UMS: compare "Body Like a Back Road," specifically the line "I'ma take it slow just as fast as I can."

I get more requests to write about this song than any other, and I have to say, "But it's not bad."

^ this guy fuckin' gets it

it's bad

I don't dislike it.

I was born in 1986 and it wasn't until like 2003 that I found out that the Beach Boys had more songs than "Kokomo"

Best thing Stamos was ever involved in.

UMS: compare "Body Like a Back Road," specifically the line "I'ma take it slow just as fast as I can."

― nonsensei (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, July 24, 2018 8:23 AM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i think it makes a lot more sense than this line

though "I'ma take it slow just as fast as I can." def has some "galaxy brain" appeal

song/verse is so so and just kind of there but the catchy chorus alone def makes it. if nothing else then Mike Love hit a homerun there. this is a fast food jingle level earworm.

Yeah I have always liked this song while knowing (even as a kid) it was trash.
And the verses are nice but indeed the most catchy part is Love’s.
Actually I’m pretty sure if you ask 100 persons to sing « Good Vibrations », I’m pretty sure 60% will sing Mike’s chorus part.

60% of people are pretty dumb tbh

I think of the bit where Mark says "c'mon, feel it feel it!"

aruba jamaica oh I want to take you to
bermuda bahama let’s leave it up to fema
key largo montego baby my state’s a frozen igloo
oh I want to take you down to
cancun-o we'll get there fast and then I’ll shitpost slow
that's where mr. trump would go way down in cancun-o

— kilgore trout, back in some form (@KT_So_It_Goes) February 18, 2021