Bob Gaudio’s Stories Behind the Hits
October 7th, 2007Dave Hoekstra of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that next year will be the 50th anniversary of Bob Gaudio meeting Frankie Valli and his group the Four Lovers when they were appearing on a New Jersey television show. Gaudio went on to play with the Four Seasons before becoming their songwriter, often collaborating on lyrics with producer Bob Crewe.
Gaudio fills Hoekstra in on the story behind some of the Seasons’ big hits:
“Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” Frankie Valli, No. 2, 1967
“That is essentially three songs,” Gaudio said from his apartment in New York City. “There was melody to the verse, melody to what became the horn solo interlude and the chorus was last to come aboard. The first part of the song was something floating around for a couple of months. The middle section (horn lick) was a nursery rhyme, something I had written for a children’s show I never followed up on. Bob Crewe had the title and that inspired things to get rolling again. It was a means to insert the children’s melody. That was the only way I could figure out how to get from the verse to the chorus without it being so extreme. In a way it made sense. Along comes Lauryn Hill and does it exactly that way, without the horns.” Hill had a 1998 smash with “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” and her version appeared in the film “Conspiracy Theory.”
Great song, great story; I love the way it’s played out in the show.
Comment by Carson S. — October 7, 2007 @ 1:02 pm
Great story! By the way the new cd Romancing the 60s is also out right now (10/2/7) and getting great reviews. Bob is also involved in this I believe.
Comment by Lilli — October 7, 2007 @ 9:39 pm