Not until I started looking up information on this song, did I find that the original version was by Wayne Cochran who co-wrote it with Joe Carpenter, Randall Hoyal and Bobby McGlon. According to Wikipedia it was released in 1961. I always thought that the original was by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers. I guess you learn something new everyday. The J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers is the one I heard on oldies radio when I was a kid in the 80's. I loved the song. It was poppy and catchy, kind of a song you might get up and dance too. I don't know when I realized this happy-go-lucky tune was actually about a car crash, wait, a car crash? Not only a car crash, but a crash that ends up with the death of his girlfriend? All this tragedy wrapped up in a bubble gum pop tune. I don't know what it was about the 60's but this isn't the only tragic song set to an upbeat. There are plenty others that I may blog about in the future.
I linked the original and the second version on here as well as my favorite version by Pearl Jam. Now I'm not saying that I'm a huge Pearl Jam fan, actually I'm far from it. I liked some of their songs, but to date I've never owned a Pearl Jam album. When they made a cover of "Last Kiss", in my opinion, they made it a tad more "emotional". The emotions behind the song comes out a little more, when there isn't a poppy beat behind the lyrics. My band, The Restless Kind, even covered the Pearl Jam version. We loved playing it and got a good reaction.
All in all, I guess you have to get through the music to find the meaning of the song. Sometimes we only hear the music, we lose the song. It also works both ways, some great music accompanies some very nonsensical lyrics.
As a kid I would go through the albums and 45s that could be found in the storage part of the cabinet that the stereo sat in. One of the 45s was "Hot Child in the City". Now in June of 1978 I was four, about to turn five in August. I still love hearing the bass and drum intro, it is something that I still enjoy today. It is just a catchy pop tune. I believe it still stands up today, it may sound a little dated, but really not too much. Of course not until I was older did I realize this catchy pop tune is really about child prostitution. Yes, you read it right. Nick Gilder wrote this song after he witness 15 to 16 year old's walking(working?), on Hollywood Boulevard with their pimps. So that innocent, "catchy" pop tune isn't so innocent.
Regardless of the songs subject, I still remember listening to this song a lot as a kid. If I catch it on the radio today, I still listen to it. I mean it is a classic song if you ask me.
