Soon after we came up with the idea for The Strawberry Explosion, Carrie wrote the lyrics to "Kissy, Kissy." Carrie sung a little of what it should sound like to Rusty, and when he started strumming the music on the guitar, Carrie wasn't too happy--mostly because Rusty's usual guitar-playing tone is sort of melancholy, and because you can't hear Phil Spector music on just one instrument. For this reason, and because "Then He Kissed Me" was a better single to start with for the Strawberries, "Kissy, Kissy" was shelved for a while.
When it came time to do the second single, we brought this one out again and it worked better almost immediately. Rusty took Carrie's lyrics (the original version of which is shown at the bottom of this page) and rearranged them to fit into a typical pop song structure and played the music again, and Carrie was happy. The Acoustic Version is essentially what they recorded (Rusty's vocals were added later, a first take that was redone for the Single Version), Rusty adding other instruments later. Unlike the first single, which consisted of various remixes, this single features actual different recordings, done on the same day as the original. They seem to speak for themselves.
Carrie designed the front cover as well as the two alternate designs shown below. The inside and back cover were created by Rusty, based around the page from "The Jappy Dolly" that Carrie found for the art.
Hey,
boy
Kissy, kissy.
Why don’t you kissy, kissy with me?
I give you all my love for free
Kissy, Kissy
Hey,
boy
Kissy, kissy
Why don’t you put your arms around me?
All you have to do is squeeze
Kissy, kissy
Hey,
boy with your arms so tight
I don’t know it feels so right
Why don’t you just...
Kissy, kissy
Why don’t you kissy with me?
Kissy, kissy, you and me.
Hey,
boy
Do you remember
when we kissed under the tree?
You put your lips on me
And you kissy kissied with me.
Kissy, kissy
Hey,
boy,
Stop pretending.
Our kisses are never ending.
We’ll kissy kissy all day
We’ll kissy kissy till we’re gray.
Kissy,
kissy
Kissy, kissy
Aww, kissy.
Copyright (c) Aug 2004 by The Strawberry Explosion and Love and Letters Music