Today’s classic song of the day is the kinda sorta disco-like track, “Who Loves You” by the Four Seasons. The single was released in August of 1975 and the song peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Who Loves You” was written by Four Season Bob Gaudio and (supposedly) his then-girlfriend Judy Parker. I say “supposedly” because Ms. Parker actually didn’t start writing lyrics until the group’s next big hit, “December, 1963 (Oh What a Night),” so take her songwriting credit on this one with a grain of salt.
The track was set to feature lead vocals from new Season Don Ciccone, not Frankie Valli—or at least that’s the way it was originally recorded. During the initial recording sessions Mr. Valli was overseas, so Mr. Ciccone (former lead singer of the Critters, who had just joined the Four Seasons) took over lead vocal duties. Mr. Valli wasn’t too thrilled with that, having been the group’s lead singer since its inception, so when he got back to the States he wiped Mr. Ciccone’s vocals from the verses and added his instead, so that the two of them would share co-lead credits on this track.
Bob Gaudio, by the way, wrote or co-wrote a slew of hits for the Four Seasons over the years, including “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like a Man,” “Dawn (Go Away),” “Ronnie,” “Rag Doll,” “Save It for Me,” “Big Man in Town,” “Bye Bye Baby,” “Girl Come Running,” “Beggin’,” and “December, 1963 (Oh What a Night).” He also wrote hits for other artists, including “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” for Frankie Valli solo, “Silence Is Golden” for the Tremeloes, and “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore” for the Walker Brothers. Gaudio was also the driving force behind one of my favorite Frank Sinatra albums, 1970’s concept album Watertown. (If haven’t heard this one, you need to.)
And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, the official music video (then called a promo video) for “Who Loves You” from 1975. Yeah, that’s exactly how they recorded things in the studio back then…
