The Beach Boys, Kokomo | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 58^th edition of Throwback Vibez (2023), we recollect and reflect on “Kokomo” by iconic pop/rock collective, The Beach Boys. 

“Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take you to / Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama.” The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 58^th edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2023), we recollect and reflect on 🎵 “Kokomo”, performed by 🎙 The Beach Boys. 

In 1988, iconic pop/rock collective 🎙 The Beach Boys earned their final no. 1 hit: 🎵 “Kokomo” (💿 Still Cruisin’).  “Kokomo” arrived years after the band’s heyday, which makes the ascent to the top of the pop charts such a big deal. Also, notably, 🎙 Brian Wilson is NOT on “Kokomo” 🤯! The infectious, love-oriented gem was also written by 🎼 ✍ John Phillips, Mike Love, Scott McKenzie, and Terry Melcher (Melcher also produced the track).  From a first listen – even if, somehow, your first time hearing the records is in the 2020s – “Kokomo” is tuneful to the n^th degree.  The chorus, indisputably, is the centerpiece, continuing as follows: “Key Largo, Montego / Baby, why don’t we go / Ooh, I wanna take you down to Kokomo / We’ll get there fast / And then we’ll take it slow / That’s where we wanna go / Way down in Kokomo.”

As alluring as the instrumental backdrop is, and as memorable as the chorus is lyrically and tunefully, the verses are interesting too.  The Beach Boys construct an idyllic aesthetic: “Bodies in the sand / Tropical drink melting in your hand.” Of course, more important is “We’ll be falling in love,” with bonus points going for lyrics like, “To the rhythm of a steel drum band / Down in Kokomo.”  The love is high, and honesty, just listening to 🎵 “Kokomo”, you’ll get that “Tropical contact high” that the collective references.  Are the lyrics genuinely clever? No.  This song has received its fair share of critical disdain.  It does sound, in all honesty, sound different than vintage Beach Boys songs.  Still, this innocent 80s pop record is inescapable.

🎙 The Beach Boys • 💿 The Very Best of The Beach Boys: Sounds of Summer • 🏷 Capitol • 🗓 2003

The Beach Boys, “Kokomo”: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 58 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Capitol; John Alan Sperry, PIRO via  Pixabay]