TS: Kokomo vs. Margaritaville

Kokomo, the beach boys best selling single and greatest song

i don't hate kokomo as much as i did a few years back but it has so much less to recommend it than "margaritaville," especially lyrically.

I have a hard time accepting that Jimmy Buffett was ever young

i was in one of my favorite restaurants last week and they started playing "kokomo" and i walked out

i'd probably do the same if they played margaritaville, which at some point they might

i still like that restaurant better than the place that plays nothing but the absolutely most painfully obvious "classic rock" hits, like stairway to heaven followed by back in black followed by, i don't know, my memory starts blocking out the actual names of these songs at some point because it's too fucking painful

Have always liked “Kokomo”; and have suffered thru too many painful “where’s the motherfuckin’ salt” karaoke versions of the Buffett song.

I voted Margaritaville. I once had a long weekend from a gig and tried to drive to Key West on a whim. We got to the end of Key Largo and I turned the car around and just bitched about how the Beach Boys had lied. They totally lied. And Brian Wilson wasn't part of it so of course they lied.

I'm voting for the one that isn't the ur-text for bro-country.

lol Yerac. that is a quality anecdote

also apologies to jimmy buffett, it's NIBBLIN' on sponge cake

wastin' away in spongecakeville would be intersting though

i don't hate kokomo and it's fun to effusively praise around certain types of people but this isn't close. margaritaville does that thing where the chorus is repeatedly modified to flip/expand its meaning and that is my fave gimmick in songwriting.

The thought of “nibblin’ on sponge cake” in the tropical heat makes me queasy, for some reason.

Like it’s way too heavy for that setting. And add in the “smell” of boiling shrimp? Gross

haha well that's why he's only nibblin

as a hawaii kid i enjoy "i blew out my flip-flop" as plan-altering crisis, despite the haole nomenclature

(not just finding a paper clip is another tell)

I actually don't even know what margaritaville sounds like and I like the gelatinous-ness of Kokomo and like Elizabeth Shue in Cocktail but... John Stamos. And as above. Fuck. Key. Largo. whiney. trash. non-surfing. non. beach. ass. planted statues in the water. -ps. I do like setting cocktails on fire.

how do u feel about bodies in the sand tho

margaritaville is immensely affecting, it's like a nauseous drunk update of "sitting on the dock of the bay". A real American touchstone of art about American alcoholism and bad feelings

Kokomo used to horrify me, creepy vibes of imperialist revelry, bad cologne, disgustingly catchy... it still sounds like pure evil to me but I no longer "hate" it or whatever

some of that post was not serious!!

Cocktail absolutely rules, btw

Voted Margaritaville. I play the melodica, which makes me the hero whenever someone starts up that song at a song circle.

i used to hate both of these tunes but i really love them now

margaritaville is the better one though

Margaritaville which sort of pains me as my sister and her husband are legit hardcore parrotheads.

It's pretty timeless feeling, and the only Buffett song that you ever need to as it sums up his entire shtick in 3:20. Kokomo just makes me think of the Beach Boys songs that I actually like that are not Kokomo.

In high school I once put $5 in a jukebox at a Pizza Hut and played Kokomo 20 times in a row and walked out. I voted Kokomo.

Ahah

Musical terrorism !

the most genial Wyatting ever

margaritaville is immensely affecting, it's like a nauseous drunk update of "sitting on the dock of the bay". A real American touchstone of art about American alcoholism and bad feelings

Kokomo used to horrify me, creepy vibes of imperialist revelry, bad cologne, disgustingly catchy... it still sounds like pure evil to me but I no longer "hate" it or whatever

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Margaritaville because it has some perspective

lol otm

John Prine could have ghostwritten “Margaritaville.”

Ogilvy & Mather could have ghostwritten “Kokomo.”

we'll get there fast and then we'll take it slow

Kokomo sounds like hell on earth.

that's where we wanna go

i love it in kokomo when they hit that single low note and sound like robe flashers: "erotic uh heat a monserrat sheet" or whatever

lmao @ "erotic heat"

does the word 'erotic' appear in kokomo? it really should have been in there tbh

it's the perfect word for 80s beach boys

imagine being kept in drugged incarceration by your abusive therapist and then your old band releases "Kokomo"

https://i.imgur.com/8ZmZEkz.png

xp I have an issue of Rolling Stones from the ‘80s (Tom Cruise on cover) in which Brian complains about how the boys “didn’t include him on that one”...

'kokomo' had extra allure in northern IN bc Kokomo, IN had the nearest White Castle

Ahah I think erotic is the word I would associate the LEAST with the Beach Boys in general !

oo baby i love your way
every day

perhaps ub40's version of 'baby i love your way' tracks more closely to the word erotic for you

will to power version, my friend

team kokomo

i salute you sir

"I weirdly admire the abject poverty of imperialist imagination that is encompassed by 'Kokomo.' It's like the Star spangled banner."- my partner

I voted Margaritaville because a friend placed it next to 'Holiday in Cambodia' on a mix for me once, and I can never get the association out of my head.

Also hi, everyone.

This is definitely "Margaritaville" for me.

"I weirdly admire the abject poverty of imperialist imagination that is encompassed by 'Kokomo.' It's like the Star spangled banner."- my partner

― blue light or electric light (the table is the table)

i know it came from "cocktail", but i just can't imagine kokomo as a drinking song

xp I have an issue of Rolling Stones from the ‘80s (Tom Cruise on cover) in which Brian complains about how the boys “didn’t include him on that one”...

― get your hand outta my pocket universe (morrisp)

he's on the spanish-language version!

Tropical drink melting in your hand... (ew)

xp to table for a time in the 80s it pretty much was the national anthem of beach cities all over the usa

Oh, for sure. I remember the video with the Muppets from my childhood. Always hated it, tbh.

Kokomo is the soundtrack to an evening of seducing a friend’s daughter while on vacation.

Margaritaville is the hellscape soundtrack of waking up the next morning and realizing what happened.

i voted kokomo because as soon as i started thinking abt it it got stuck in my head to the point that i couldn’t even remember how margaritaville went

xp ew

when i try to think of how kokomo goes there's like a 40% chance i'll get the theme from my neighbor totoro instead

my neighbor to to rooooo
we'll take it fast, and then we'll take it slooooooow

I feel like the “creep factor” of Kokomo is being slightly overstated ITT

yKokomo is the soundtrack to an evening of seducing a friend’s daughter while on vacation.

Kokomo may be worse than that terrible movie Blame it on Rio.

There is no way anyone is getting anywhere fast in the Florida Keys. Goddamn liars.

xxp yeah kokomo is like an old couple getting excited about their vacation

off the florida keys
there's a place called dry tortugas
that's where you wanna go to see an abandoned naval base

Kokomo - I have had lots of fun trolling friends by claiming this is my favourite Beach Boys song.
Margaritaville - only heard this for the first time recently via the McElroys, and I kind of enjoyed it? Might have different feelings if I'd been subjected to it loads throughout my life, though.

Still, Kokomo wins this for the lol factor.

I long for the moment Mike Love serenades 45 with Kokomo.

Kokomo is not creepy per se; it’s more treacly bordering on queasy.

I go back and forth on "Margaritaville" — it's a great song! But the lyrics of the first verse are so viscerally repellant to me. Plus in its cultural context, Margaritaville sounds to me like rich white retirees who own beach houses trying to slum it. Whereas Kokomo sounds like rich white retirees who own beach houses in their element.

I ended up voting Margaritaville FWIW.

nothing wrong with owning a beach house

also sunscreen smells good

i read the lyrics to remind myself what you were reacting to and now i remember how it goes

havjng grown up in a beach town i feel like my youth was saturated in these two songs so its hard to pick but i come back to kokomo on grounds of pure hookiness

To me, « kokomo » is so much more in your face and effective in whatever it tries to do. It’s an epic... (evil) something !
Whereas « Margaritaville » is just a bit boring.
Also for years, during parties, we would have limbo dance contests on « kokomo » with my friends.
Obvious winner (like Mile Love).

best alt kokomo lyric is still "ah, martinique / the mounds of rotting steak"

best alt kokomo lyric is still "ah, martinique / the mounds of rotting steak"

― |Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino)

i think you've misheard it, the lyric actually goes "your mom's a rotten steak"

growing up on the Florida coast, in a beach town, Margaritaville was onminpresent like roaches and retirees. it made kid me sad for the tourists covered in oil. now I can’t separate it from nostalgia for a place and people i mostly hated.

later I’d end up driving through Kokomo IN once a year, always singing the song as we took it slow through interminable red lights.

voted Margaritaville with extreme prejudice

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I didn't expect it to be this close!

imagine being kept in drugged incarceration by your abusive therapist and then your old band releases "Kokomo"

lol that’s waaay too good not to steal

important follow-up q: where would you rather go? tbh i'd rather go to kokomo.

Kokomo - I have had lots of fun trolling friends by claiming this is my favourite Beach Boys song.

prefer it to all other beach boys songs

― J0hn D., Saturday, April 19, 2008 7:34 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

a segment/ of quince/the moist folds in my blimps

https://www.npr.org/2019/05/04/720062310/the-birthplace-of-country-musics-first-hit-is-being-threatened-by-modern-constru

At 152 Nassau Street in Downtown Atlanta, an unmarked two-story rose brick storefront houses a piece of Atlanta's music history. This was the site of a pop-up recording studio in 1923.

"Recording executives from New York came down to the South to record jazz, gospel, blues and country music," architect Kyle Kessler says as he stands outside the building.

Kessler is part of Historic Atlanta, a preservation group trying to stop the planned demolition of this building to make way for a Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville high-rise hotel restaurant.

listening to 'everyone's gone to the movies' makes me think that jimmy was inspired by it when recording 'margaritaville.' which is the superior song, for sure -- it's not at the same level but it's sort of a 'deacon blues' for key west.

I hope everyone here is aware of the terrible movie "Club Dread," which features a washed-up singer whose song "Pina Coladaburg" was written and released slightly before "Margaritaville," and was eclipsed by its fame, and it's a very sore point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPn33kAtdLU

want to be clear that I was responding to the thread premise and garbled my sentence. margaritaville is better than kokomo for sure, not everyone’s gone to the movies.

Kokomo is obviously the superior song.

I hope everyone here is aware of the terrible movie "Club Dread," which features a washed-up singer whose song "Pina Coladaburg" was written and released slightly before "Margaritaville," and was eclipsed by its fame, and it's a very sore point.

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