Kokomo by The Beach Boys

The plan this week was to comment on songs that were about places I wanted to visit. One of the first songs that came to mind was “Africa” by Toto. I’ve never been to Africa, but one of these days I’d love to visit to experience that continent. I researched “Africa,” and did some analysis and sat down a couple days ago to begin writing about this song. This is what I came up with:

“There is nothing African about “Africa.” The words don’t really talk about the continent so much as the idea of the continent. There isn’t anything authentically African about the music elements in this song (and no, even though it looks like he’s playing on African drums in the video, he is clearly playing a standard drum set in the recording). Toto, the band doesn’t even have any African-American band members and seriously, the lead singer mispronounces, Kilimanjaro. It’s ‘Kiliman- jar-ro’ like a jar of honey, not ‘Kiliman-jair-ro’ like a chair of honey. . geez.’”

After writing this paragraph, I stopped and kind of shocked at the negativity in my introduction. The mission on this blog is to celebrate what is great about music, not bash music. Concerned that I had missed something about “Africa,” I called up my brother Ed, who introduced me to this song in high school.

Me: Dude, so what’s good about “Africa” by Toto
Ed: Nothing man. That song isn’t very good, it’s recorded by a bunch of studio musicians who never made it. [Laura, Ed’s wife starts signing “Africa” in the background.”]
Me: didn’t you arrange this piece and perform it when you were in the high school jazz choir?
Ed: No, I didn’t arrange it, but we didn’t perform it and it was awful.
Me: I guess, I’ll bag that idea, I’m doing songs about places I want to visit for my next week of posts, any ideas?
Ed: Yes, Kokomo.

Seeing how my brother has rarely steered me wrong, let’s talk about “Kokomo”!!

The common joke about the Beach Boy’s song “Kokomo,” it takes its name from Kokomo, Indiana, which is about 50 miles north of Indianapolis. As funny as this is, the truth is the Beach Boys got the name from a poolside bar in the Holiday Isle resort in Islamorada, one of the islands of the Florida Keys (third bar listed on this page).

It’s understandable that people would think that the Beach Boys were talking more about an island rather than a bar because all of the other places listed in the opening of the song and during the chorus are islands, not bars (for a song that’s about relaxing, that’s a lot of islands to travel to). Though the song is misleading, thinking of Kokomo as a poolside bar makes sense and even though it doesn’t seem as appealing as a Caribbean island, it’s a lot more appealing than a city in Indiana which according to my wife who went there for a journalism convention, isn’t exactly paradise.

Now that we’ve cleared up one of the common misconceptions of the song, let’s start up some news ones: “Kokomo” is not only a tribute to the magical paradise in the Florida Keys and the Caribbean but it’s also a glorification of marijuana smoking.

The first verse is straightforward describing a beach scene, people sunbathing, tropical drinks, and falling in love with the assistance of a steel drum band. Fantastic, beautiful imagery, a place I definitely want to visit, especially after this miserable winter we just finished here in Chicago.

The Beach Boys start the second verse continuing the perfect Caribbean day that takes a slightly different turn than you expect.

Well put out to sea
And well perfect our chemistry
By and by we’ll defy a little bit of gravity

Going out on boats great and perfecting our “chemistry.”? That’s a little cheesy but clever and I appreciate the tongue in cheek way of describing a developing relationship, but then there’s the next line, “defy a little bit a gravity”? Ok this doesn’t necessarily read as “getting high” but it seems to imply it. I’ll give the song the benefit of the doubt and assume for a moment it’s about the feeling of freedom you get from love.

If you don’t know what “afternoon delight” means, I’ll let the Starland Vocal Band, help you out with this on. Some drinks and a “Dreamy look” ah, they are in love . . . wait a sec, “contact high”?!? I’m not the most savvy person about drug-lingo, so I consulted the urban dictionary.

contact high: Getting high by being around someone who is currently smoking some sort of drug such as weed. From inhaling the smoke, you also get high without actually smoking anything.

Wait a sec, my bad, it’s a ”tropical contact high” so maybe it’s about feeling good just being in the Caribbean. The thing is even if the second verse is not about smoking marijuana, they are at least comparing the Kokomo experience to getting high. Maybe they really were inspired by an experience Kokomo, Indiana in which they had to get high in order to enjoy their time in Indiana (now, I’m not Indiana bashing, just thinking up theories).

I love the Beach Boys. They are one of the greatest American rock bands of all time. Their music in the 1960s captured teenage love and idealism better than any other popular artist I can think of. Their musical invention driven by Brian Wilson challenged what was though of as popular music setting a precedent for groups like the Beatles and later Radiohead to explore the possibilities of popular music.

Does “Kokomo” speak from the teenage soul” No, does it stretch the conception of what is pop music? Well, no, though the use of steel drums in pop music is unusual. However, this song is fun, infectious, a little silly, and completely joyful. It’s about the fantasy of the being on a beach, similar to Margaritaville, but without the sobering up in the end of that song (link to post).

Sometimes, we all want to get away from it all. “Kokomo” reminds us of not only that but the feeling of paradise. The Beach Boys beautiful put together different musical elements that bring out the feeling of a warm ocean breeze under a beautiful blue sky.

The great thing about “Kokomo” is that it works on multiple levels. If this song does not do that for you on tropical paradise level, you can always laugh about the town in Indiana, the Beach Boys wanting to get high and chemistry, ah yeah. . . chemistry.