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1961 song by Wayne Cochran

"Last Kiss" is a teenage tragedy song written by Wayne Cochran and first recorded by Cochran in 1961 for the Gala label. Cochran's version failed to do well on the charts. Cochran re recorded his song for the King label in 1963. It was revived by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers, who took it to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. Wednesday, Pearl Jam, and several international artists also covered the song, with varying degrees of success.

The singer borrows his father's car to take his girlfriend out on a date, and comes upon a stalled car in the road. Unable to stop, the singer swerves to the right to avoid it, loses control, and crashes violently, knocking his girlfriend and himself unconscious. The singer regains consciousness in the midst of a rainstorm, and finds several people at the scene of the accident. While partially blinded by the blood flowing from his injuries, the singer finds his girlfriend, still lying unconscious. When he cradles his girlfriend lovingly in his arms, she regains partial consciousness, smiles, and asks the singer to "hold me, darling, for a little while." The singer then gives her a last kiss as she dies. In the song's chorus, the singer vows to be a good person so that he may reunite with his love when he dies, believing she has made it into Heaven.

Wayne Cochran was initially inspired to write "Last Kiss" after having lived near a dangerous stretch of two lane rural highway where several accidents occurred yearly. Cochran re recorded 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. In all, Cochran recorded four versions of the song: the original, Gala #117, Boblo Records #101, King Records #5856, and Aire Records #150, released as "Last Kiss" b/w "Edge of the Sea", with Cochran sharing vocals with an unnamed male vocalist. The Aire disc has heavy reverb and a staccato drumbeat. Aire Records, located in Dublin, Georgia, credited the song to Perry Music, as did the Gala recording. The Boblo disc credited "Last Kiss" to Macon Music, while the King record cited Boblo BMI. The Boblo record featured "Last Kiss II" b/w "Hey! Baby" (Boblo 101 A), produced by Bobby Smith, offering another take on the song, with different lyrics, a faster tempo, and different instrumentation. A fifth version of the song was cobbled from the Boblo recording, rechanneled for stereo, on Radical Musik Records, probably around 1973. On September 18, 1961, Billboard Music Week printed a review of the song "Last Kiss" and gave it three stars. Billboard gave four stars to the B side, "Funny Feeling", which was written by Joe Carpenter and Milt "Pete" Skelton. The reviewer said, "Blues, chanted in relaxed style, with a funky guitar backing. Derivative but a good job." Released on September 5, 1964, Josie 923 spent 15 weeks on the charts, reaching number two on November 7, right behind "Baby Love" by The Supremes. "Last Kiss" spent eight weeks in the top 10; the record sold over one million copies, earning the band a gold record. The Le Cam #722 A disc running time is 2:14, while both the Tamara Records #761 release and the Josie Records #923 platter have a time of 2:25. On a concert trip to Ohio, the band had just left Parkersburg, West Virginia, heading to Lima, Ohio, for a performance at the Candy Cane Club. At about 5:15 am, the band's manager Sonley Roush fell asleep at the wheel. The car drifted across the centerline and rammed head on into a trailer truck. Roush was killed, but Wilson, sitting in the front seat, and Bobby Wood (vocalist/piano) from Memphis, sitting in the back, survived with serious injuries, including broken ribs and a broken ankle. Wilson went on with the tour, though, taking only a week off. He came out on the stage on crutches to sing "Last Kiss" and "Hey, Little One". The accident had a curious effect on record sales, nevertheless, pushing the song to number two (it had previously stalled at number three) on the national charts. The Last Kiss album cover shows Wilson kneeling over a young woman portraying the dying girl. Supposedly, first printings of the cover showed blood trickling down the girl's face, but it was air brushed out by the record company for fear that alienating parents would limit sales of the album. Wilson, with or without the Cavaliers, continued to record until 1978. He died on October 4, 1991, due to alcoholism. He was 49 years old.

In 1973, "Last Kiss" was covered by the Canadian group Wednesday. Their version reached number two in Canada and number 34 in the United States. It is ranked as the 27th biggest Canadian hit of 1973. Their version climbed up the charts very slowly, and spent three weeks longer on the American charts than the Cavaliers' much bigger hit. As a result of the popularity of Wednesday's rendition, the Cavaliers' version was re released (Virgo 506) at the end of 1973. It reached number 92 in January 1974, spending five weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. The original hit version recharted five weeks after the version by Wednesday entered the charts.

"Last Kiss" was also covered by American rock band Pearl Jam for the 1999 charity album No Boundaries: A Benefit for the Kosovar Refugees. It would later appear on the group's 2003 rarities album Lost Dogs. This version was successful, especially in Australia, where it topped the ARIA Singles Chart for seven weeks. It also reached number one in Iceland for six weeks and peaked at number two in the United States and Canada, making it the band's highest charting single in either country.

The idea to cover "Last Kiss" came about after vocalist Eddie Vedder found an old record of the song at the Fremont Antique Mall in Seattle, Washington. He convinced the rest of the band to try out the song, and it was performed a few times on the band's 1998 tour. The band eventually recorded the song at a soundcheck at Constitution Hall in Washington, D. C., and released it as a 1998 fan club Christmas single. The band spent only a few thousand dollars mixing the song. Bassist Jeff Ament said, "It was the most minimalist recording we've ever done."

In 1998, the cover of "Last Kiss" began to be played by radio stations and was ultimately put into heavy rotation across the US. By popular demand, the cover was released to the public as a single on June 8, 1999. The proceeds went to the aid of refugees of the Kosovo War. The song helped earn about $10 million for Kosovo relief. Pearl Jam included "Last Kiss" on the 2003 B sides and rarities album, Lost Dogs, and on the 2004 greatest hits album, rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991–2003).

Pearl Jam first performed its cover of "Last Kiss" live at the band's May 7, 1998, concert in Seattle, at ARO. space. Live performances by Pearl Jam of "Last Kiss" can be found on various official bootlegs and the Live at the Gorge 05/06 box set.

RegionDateFormat(s)Label(s)Ref(s). (Reference(s))United StatesDecember 1998Fan club 7 inch vinylEpicJune 8, 1999Contemporary hit radioCD, cassetteUnited KingdomAugust 2, 19997 inch vinyl, CDEpic

The song has a long tradition in Latin American popular music. The most popular version was recorded in 1965 by Mexican singer Polo (ex member of Los Apson) with the title of "El Último Beso" in Spanish, translated by Mexican TV director and tennis teacher Omero Gonzalez, this Spanish version has been covered by several bands, notably by singer Alci Acosta who had a hit in 1967 in Colombia, as well as José "Joseíto" Martínez in 1990, the song with which he won a Congo de Oro in the Barranquilla Carnival. Mexican singer songwriter Gloria Trevi released her version of the song in 1989, peaking at number 36 on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart.