1961
Wayne Cochran was initially inspired to write "Last Kiss" after having lived near a dangerous highway where several accidents had occurred yearly. Knowing that "Tragedy Songs" were big hits and selling lots of records, he got together with some of his friends at the time from Thomaston, Georgia, United States, to help him come up with a "teen tragedy" type song. Wayne's good friend Joe Carpenter, a guitar player that had played with Cochran, Randall Hoyal known locally for his song writing ability and Bobby McGlon a good friend of Randall's all got together and over time came up with the lyrics and the music to "Last Kiss". In the summer of 1961 Wayne singing vocals with Joe Carpenter on the guitar, Bobby Rakestraw on bass and Jerry Reppert playing the drums traveled to the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia where they recorded the original version on the Gala Label. Unfortunately when the Gala label went to print, the names of Joe Carpenter, Randall Hoyal and Bobby McGlon were accidentally left off as co-writers. Wayne never had Gala change the label to include Joe, Randall and Bobby and to this day Wayne Cochran is the only one of the four to have ever received credit for writing the song "Last Kiss".
It has been long rumored that the song was supposedly based on an auto accident that killed sixteen-year-old Jeanette Clark, who 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 1954 Chevrolet. J. L. Hancock, also sixteen, was driving the car in heavy traffic and while traveling on Highway 341, they collided with a log truck. Clark, Hancock, and another teenager were killed, and two other teens in the car were seriously injured. This could not be true, since the song was written and recorded in the summer of 1961.
On September 18, 1961 Billboard Music Week printed a review of the song "Last Kiss" and gave it 3 stars but said nothing about the song itself in the review.
However, when the same publication reviewed the B-side of "Last Kiss" — a song called "Funny Feeling" written by Joe Carpenter and Milt (Pete) Skelton — they gave it 4 stars and said, "Blues, chanted in relaxed style, with a funky guitar backing. Derivative but a good job."
Read more about this topic: Last Kiss, "Original Version" By Wayne Cochran, Joe Carpenter, Randall Hoyal & Bobby McGlon