Friday, March 4, 2011

Spring Break Edition: Way Down in Kokomo

Spring break is a much-cherished high school and college tradition. For some, it is a week surrounded on either side by insane weeks of midterms and essays, for others it is a chance to relax. For most, it is a time for travel. While many undergraduates are heading south to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, or to the classic Mexican destinations, I will not be heading in that direction. However, there is nothing stopping me from breaking out the warm weather music (namely the Beach Boys and the Monkeys- don't judge).

There's a 1988 Beach Boys song that goes "Bermuda, Bahamas, cooome on pretty mama. Key Largo, Montego, baaaby why don't we go... Jamaica off the Florida Keys, there's a place called Kokomo...that's where we wanna go, way down in Kokomo."

Sounds like a nice vacation spot, right? Well, I went to go find out where exactly it is, and get this- there is no Kokomo in the Caribbean! There's one in Indiana and one in Hawaii, but none in the Caribbean (except for the private island bought by Sandals Resorts after the song was made). Sneaky Beach Boys.

In other news, the song apparently was written for the Tom Cruise movie, Cocktail, and almost won a Grammy (they lost to Phil Collins...sorry, but he should always win for movie soundtracks- he did the music for Tarzan and Brother Bear). Even more of a side note: Phil Colllins voiced two characters in the movie Balto- a classic.

Bottom line: you can't go way down to Kokomo, but don't let it put a damper on your spring break- all of the other places mentioned in the song are real!

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