Frankie Valli – "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" (1967)

 

The sight of you leaves me weak

There are no words left to speak

The official title of today’s featured song is “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.”

I always thought Frankie Valli was singing “Can’t take my eyes off OF you.”  But upon further review, I’m not sure that’s correct.  

(He got the words wrong, too!)

I am sure that Lauryn Hill is singing “Can’t take my eyes off OF you” on her very popular 1997 cover of the song.  But the official title of that recording leaves the “of” out.  (Hill’s cover was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, which I find astonishing.  It’s HORRIBLE!)

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Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio aren’t responsible for all of the Four Seasons’ many hit singles, but they co-wrote most of the best ones – including “Big Girls Don’t Cry” (a #1 hit in 1962), “Walk Like a Man” (which went to #1 the next year), and “Rag Doll” (a #1 hit in 1964).

I’m not sure why it was decided that “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” would be released as a Frankie Valli record rather than as a Four Seasons record, but I suspect that it had something to do with (1) ego or (2) $$$$$ or (3) both.

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I love it when a recording artist walks right up to the edge of chaos and the loss of control.  Think “Helter Skelter,” where the usually very chill Paul McCartney lets it all hang out.  (Arthur Brown’s “Fire” is another example of this.)

On the other hand, I also love records where every note is carefully planned and executed – where skill and craft come to the forefront.  (Those two statements may seem contradictory, but I am a Gemini, after all – in fact, I’ve been one all my life.)

Artie Schroeck

“Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” was arranged by a veteran musician named Artie Schroeck, who began playing piano and drums when he was three years old.  Legendary drummer Gene Krupa noticed him when he was an eight-year-old performing with his three older brothers in Atlantic City.

Schroeck worked with everyone from Lionel Hampton to Liza Minnelli to Laura Nyro to Neil Diamond to the Lovin’ Spoonful to Barry Manilow, and he won several Clio Awards for his work on TV commercials.  Listen to his arrangement of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” and you’ll see why he was in demand as an arranger – it’s a three-minute, 24-second master class in how to arrange a popular song for maximum effect.

Having Phil Ramone engineer the recording didn’t hurt, and the anonymous studio musicians who backed up Valli’s inimitable singing with horns and strings and percussion don’t miss a note.  

But Schroeck’s flawless arrangement is why this record is going in the 2 OR 3 LINES “GOLDEN DECADE’ HIT SINGLES HALL OF FAME.

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Click here to listen to “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.”

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