Cochran evidently never asked Gala to change the label, to include the other names to this day Cochran is the only one credited with writing "Last Kiss".Ĭochran would go on to re-record the song for release on Aire Records (1962), in a slightly different tempo, with some changes to the lyrics and for re-release on King Records in 1963. When the labels for the 45s, Gala #117, were printed, the names of co-writers Joe Carpenter, Randall Hoyal and Bobby McGlon were left off. Wayne Cochran (vocals), Joe Carpenter (guitar), Bobby Rakestraw (bass), and Jerry Reppert (drums) recorded the song for the Gala label, a small label based in Vidalia. In the summer of 1961, four friends traveled to the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, to record a song Wayne Cochran had written, with Joe Carpenter, Randall Hoyal and Bobby McGlon, called "Last Kiss". In the song's chorus, the narrator vows to be a good person so that he may reunite with his love when his time comes, believing she has made it into Heaven.īy Wayne Cochran, Joe Carpenter, Randall Hoyal & Bobby McGlon (1961) When he cradles his girlfriend lovingly in his arms, she regains partial consciousness, smiling and asking the narrator to "hold me, darling, for a little while." The narrator then gives her the titular "last kiss" as she fades into death and enters the afterlife. While partially blinded by the blood flowing from his injuries, the narrator is able to find his girlfriend, still lying unconscious. The narrator later regains consciousness in the midst of a rainstorm, and finds several people at the scene of the accident. Unable to stop, the narrator swerves to the right to avoid it, losing control and crashing violently in the process, knocking him and his girlfriend unconscious. The narrator borrows his father's car to take his girlfriend out on a date, and comes upon a stalled car in the road. The music history podcast Uncovering the Cover analyzes all these versions from many sources going deep into the story behind the song. There was an intense emotional response from the community after the tragedy, and Cochran used those feelings to finish the song, which he dedicated to Jeanette Clark. He was working on a song based on all the crashes he saw, and was about halfway done with "Last Kiss" when he heard about the wreck in Barnesville. It was a busy road, and Cochran witnessed many accidents on it. The song was written by Wayne Cochran, who lived on Route 1941 in Georgia, about 15 miles from the crash site. Wayne Cochran's drummer had been dating Jeannette Clark's sister at the time of the wreck. Their two other friends, Jewel Emerson and Ed Shockley, survived with serious injuries. Hancock and Clark's friend Wayne Cooper, who was riding with them, was killed instantly. A local gas station attendant helping with the recovery of the bodies did not recognize his own daughter. Clark and Hancock were on a date a few days before Christmas in 1962. The problem is that the song was recorded more than a year before the accident supposedly happened. Hancock, who were both 16 years old when their car hit a tractor-trailer on a road in rural Barnesville, Georgia. The song was supposedly based on the true story of Jeanette Clark and J.L. The song's opening lyrics mirror the opening lyrics of Septimus Winner's "Der Deitcher's Dog". The song was one of several teen tragedy songs from that period. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers, Pearl Jam and several international artists, including the Canadian group Wednesday, with varying degrees of success. Cochran subsequently re-recorded his song for the King label in 1963.
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" Last Kiss" is a song released by Wayne Cochran in 1961 on the Gala label. UGA Campus ( Athens, Georgia) (original version)
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