For Utah's sesquicentennial in 1997, Robert Lund wrote and recorded a "Kokomo" parody, replacing the Beach Boys' Caribbean locations with a bunch of Utah's small towns (and even a few ghost towns). In 2005, Stephen Groo of Wolf Productions took his family on 4,659 miles' worth of road trips to hit all the spots in the song. Their rockumentary (playable above) has suddenly become an Internet mini-meme; it's been played over 100,000 times on YouTube alone and has been featured on KSL-TV News and ABC 4 News.
TRIBUTE TO UTAH Parody of the Beach Boys' "Kokomo"
Lyrics by Robert Lund
La Verkin, Ophir, Goshen and Wendover
Peoa, Erda - names I've never heard of
Like Aneth and Widtsoe
Whoo!
Utah's beautiful towns
Have some names I can't pronounce
I'm gonna try in my birthday song
To "A Pretty, Great State"
I'll probably get some wrong
But who cares? It's just a song
Jump in your cars and come along
On a tour through our state
I know you just can't wait
Koosharem, Washakie, Toquerville and Keetley
Ioka, Neola, Osiris, Paragonah
Shivwits, Ticaboo
Fayette and Gusher too
Oh, we're goin' on a Utah tour
Here in Utah we can offer more
Scenery and fun galore
Climb in and shut the door
We'll take our trucks
And all drive out to Flux
Panoramaland
Color Country, Bridgerland
Golden Spike and Canyonlands
Magna tailings pile
Places you can go
Where Mother Nature puts on a show
From desert valleys to mountaintops
You know the fun never stops
I-70's got the cops
Vermillion and Lyman, Sigurd and Salina
Got Ferron and Elmo, Ivins, Lynndyl, Cisco
Chester and Beaver, Thistle, Spry and Heber
Oh, we're goin' on a Utah tour
Here in Utah we can offer more
Scenery and fun galore
Climb in and shut the door
Chester and Beaver, Thistle, Spry and Heber
Hoytsville, Genola, Virgin, Tabiona
Torrey, Wyuta, Vernon, Fry, Eureka
Moab, Juab, Willard and Kanab
Granger and Panguitch - Time to grab a sandwich
Mercur, Enoch, Bluff - The roads are really rough
Mona, Manila, Hurricane, Tooele
Kanosh, Delle and Leeds - There's nothin' there but weeds
Vernal, Upalco, Ouray; let's go to Provo
Pigeon, Levan - I need to use the can
Elberta and Ogden, Parowan and Logan
Koosharem, Washakie, Toquerville and Keetley
Ioka, Neola, Osiris, Paragonah
Shivwits, Ticaboo, Fayette and Gusher too
Vermillion and Lyman, Sigurd and Salina...
