Kokomo

Label

Elektra Records

Genre

Film Soundtrack

Media Type

45s

Duration

3:35

Composer(s)

Mike Love;Scott MacKenzie;John Phillips

Entered Chart

Sep 3, 1988

Peak Date

Nov 5, 1988

Released

July 8, 1988

Recorded

March 22, April 5–6, 1988

Catalog #

Elektra 69385

B-Side

Tutti Frutti (Little Richard)

"Kokomo" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from the 1988 film Cocktail and album Still Cruisin'. Written by John Phillips, Scott McKenzie, Mike Love and Terry Melcher, the song was released as a single in July 1988 by Elektra Records and became a number-one hit in the US and Australia. It was the band's first original top-20 single in 20 years, their first number-one hit in 22 years and their final top-40 hit. The lyrics describe two lovers taking a trip to a fictional place called Kokomo. Not much about it is described except for its location off the Florida Keys and comparisons to other real destinations in the Caribbean islands such as Aruba, Jamaica, Bahamas, Martinique and Montserrat, as well as Key Largo, Florida, and the North Atlantic island of Bermuda. Besides Kokomo, Indiana, USA, the only real-world places that used the name "Kokomo" were inspired by the song; these include a Kokomo Beach at the Casa Marina Resort in Key West, which is no longer called Kokomo Beach, and a Kokomo Beach on the island of Curaçao, which still bears the name.

Aruba, Jamaica, ooh, I wanna take ya
Bermuda, Bahama, come on, pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego, baby, why don't we go? Jamaica

Off the Florida Keys, there's a place called Kokomo
That's where you wanna go to get away from it all
Bodies in the sand, tropical drink melting in your hand
We'll be falling in love to the rhythm of a steel drum band
Down in Kokomo

Aruba, Jamaica, ooh, I wanna take you to
Bermuda, Bahama, come on, pretty mama
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

La Martinique, that Montserrat mystique

We'll put out to sea and we'll perfect our chemistry
And by and by we'll defy a little bit of gravity
Afternoon delight, cocktails, and moonlit nights
That dreamy look in your eye gave me a tropical contact high
Way down in Kokomo

Aruba, Jamaica, ooh, I wanna take you to
Bermuda, Bahama, come on, pretty mama
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

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, ooh, I wanna take you to
Bermuda, Bahama, come on, pretty mama
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

Aruba, Jamaica, ooh, I wanna take you to
Bermuda, Bahama, come on, pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego, baby, why don't we go?