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“Last Kiss” is a 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.

Wayne Cochran was initially inspired to write “Last Kiss” after having lived near a dangerous stretch of two-lane rural highway where several collisions occurred yearly.  He began writing the song in 1956 or 1957, coming up with the chord progression, first verse, and chorus, but became stuck and abandoned the song for several years.

Cochran has claimed he was inspired to finish the song when he heard that a friend of a friend, 16-year-old Vera Janette “Jennie” Clark, had died in an automobile collision while on her first date. However, Clark’s death occurred in December 1962, over a year after Cochran recorded the song, and five years after he says he finished writing it.