Songfacts®:

• One of the lesser-known songs on Aretha Franklin's 1972 Young, Gifted and Black album, "First Snow In Kokomo" is a nostalgic, piano-driven song she wrote about a trip to Kokomo, Indiana, to visit the mother of her boyfriend, Ken Cunningham. Aretha was a huge star, recognized everywhere she went, but in the pastoral city of Kokomo she was able to enjoy good company without the weight of stardom. In the song, she sings about all the life events they talked about: kids learning to play instruments, a friend falling in the snow, a new baby. For her, it recalled a time before she was the Queen Of Soul.
  
  As for Cunningham, he and Franklin had a son together named Kecalf but never married.
• Franklin wrote the song a poem, free-verse style, so it doesn't have a chorus, or even drums. The song is mostly just her voice and piano, making it one of the most stripped-back tracks in her catalogue. It's a great example of her talents as a storytelling songwriter and as a piano player.
• Donny Hathaway played the Hammond organ on this track. The trumpet lick was played by Neal Rosengarden. Her sisters Carolyn and Erma are among the backup singers.
• This is the first song we know of that mentions Kokomo in reference to the city. Other used it previously as just a fun made-up word, notably Chuck Berry in "No Particular Place To Go" when he sings, "We parked way out on the Kokomo."
  
  John Prine released a song called "Kokomo" in 1986 that's about the city, and in 1988 the Beach Boys had a huge hit with their "Kokomo," which is about a fictional island in the tropics.