Last Kiss (Wayne Cochran cover)

One of the saddest songs i have ever heard. Makes you think about your loved one and how you would feel if you were in this man's position. Got to be thankful for what you still have.

I love this song,but it is sad! makes u thinks dosn't it? Remember to cherish the ones you love, because you never know when your going to lose them!!!!! Remember that!!!!!!!!

eddie heard this song and cried, therefore he covered it...played way too much on the radio, it used to be a good song until kids heard it on their pop stations and added it to their collection of britany spears and n'sync

This song is just so incredibley sad...

I am listening to this song again and I just can't help but to cry. This song is one of the most emotional, true an amazing song/composition I've known in my entire life.

Eddie Vedder's voice is just so perfect for this cover.

Please do listen to his album into the wild...thanks for all the comments.

love it! so sad. the first time i heard this was coincidentally a few days after a really close friend had died in a car accident on the way to my house. we were all sitting around listening to the radio, and this came on. It's beautiful.

well i lost a couple of friends last year and it really makes me stop and think about it and this song reminds me of them

What really makes this song that dark is the fact that the guy feels responsible for the accident, as well as missing her completely. Just the thought of killing the one you love is a horrible thought, which makes this song so great.

i thought it was about the girl's death but it was actually the guy who really died.

Last Kiss Written by Wayne Cochran in 1962

     The story behind this song: 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sixteen-year-old Jeanette Clark was out on a date in Barnesville, Georgia on December 22, 1962, the Saturday before Christmas. She was with a group of friends in a '54 Chevrolet. J. L. Hancock, also sixteen, was driving the car in heavy traffic and while traveling on Highway 341, collided with a trailer truck. Jeanette, the driver and another teenager were killed, and two other teens in the car were seriously injured. Most had been students at Gordon Military College. It was a terribly gory accident and provoked an intense reaction in Barnesville.

Living about fifteen miles away in an old shack for which he was paying $20 a month rent was Wayne Cochran, a white R&B singer and composer. Wayne saw accident after accident on the busy stretch of highway on which he lived. He had written a song about all the accidents and left it unfinished, until he heard about the tragedy in Barnesville. He completed the song and dedicated it to the memory of Jeanette Clark. He called it "Last Kiss".

Wayne sang the song locally, and when people liked it, he recorded it for the small Gala Records label. It caught on in Georgia, and Wayne tried to promote sales of the record the only way he knew how. He loaded a bunch of 45's in the trunk of his car and went around selling them. It was not very effective. He later recorded the song for another record label, but the owner wouldn't promote it. A recording executive in Fort Worth, Texas, Major Bill Smith (who had produced Bruce Channel's Hey! Baby and Paul and Paula's Hey Paula) heard it and liked the song. Major Bill Smith had a group in Fort Worth who were with his Josie label. This group, called the Cavaliers, had formed in San Angelo, Texas and consisted of Phil Trunzo, Bobby Woods, Jerry Graham, and George Croyle. Major Bill paired them with a twenty-two-year-old singer from Lufkin, Texas named John Frank Wilson. The record was released as Last Kiss, by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers, on the Josie label. It entered the charts in September, 1964 and was a huge success, reaching #2 on the Billboard Top 40 charts. J. Frank Wilson was born in 1941 in Lufkin, Texas and had worked as a hospital orderly. He was in a terrible automobile accident himself in Ohio some time after Last Kiss became a hit. Wilson died in Lufkin in 1991. Major Bill Smith also died in the 90's. Wayne Cochran, who performed on Jackie Gleason's television show in Miami in the 60's, is now a preacher.

Pearl Jam ROCKED this song better than anyone ever!

Sly