Covered: Bob Crewe & Bob Gaudio, Volume 2: 1974-2024

Here's the second of two "Covered" volumes highlighting the songwriting of Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio.

In Volume 1, the vast majority of the songs were written by Crewe and Gaudio together. In this volume, all or nearly all of the new songs (meaning new at the time) were written by either Crewe with others or Gaudio with others. However, as far as I can tell, it doesn't seem that they had a falling out, or even stopped writing songs together. For instance, as late as 1983 they co-wrote a couple of minor hit songs for the duo of Roberta Flack and Peabo Bryson. It's just that it seemed both of them had better success with other songwriters when it came to big hits in this era.

As I mentioned in my write-up for Volume 1, by the start of 1974, it seemed as if the songwriting success of both Crewe and Gaudio had petered out. Also around 1971, Gaudio phased himself out of being a member of Franki Valli and the Four Seasons, apparently due to stage fright and introversion. However, he retained a key financial stake, and continued to write songs for the group. So their musical futures were looking bleak. But both of them had a series of stunning songwriting successes, especially in 1974 and 1975.

For instance, I consider the first song here, "Lady Marmalade" by Labelle, one of the greatest dance songs of all time. It was a Number One hit in the U.S. in 1974, and then a cover of it was an even bigger Number One hit by Christina Aguiliera, Pink, and others in 2001. It was co-written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan, another professional songwriter Crewe started working with around this time. Crewe also wrote "My Eyes Adored You" and "Get Dancin'" with Nolan, as well as "Swearin' to God" with another songwriter.

Crewe's "My Eyes Adored You" totally turned out the fortunes of Franki Valli and the Four Seasons, as it was a Number One hit in the U.S. in early 1975. (As with Volume 1, I've tried to avoid having lots of songs by that act, so I chose a duet version by Isaac Hayes and Dionne Warwick instead.) But then Gaudio also rose to the occasion in 1975, writing "Who Loves You" and "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" with Judy Parker, who would later become his wife. "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" in particular was a massive hit, not only reaching Number One in both the U.S. and Britain, but was the fourth best selling song of the year. (Again not wanting to include too many Franki Valli and the Four Seasons performances, I chose an interesting mostly acappella version from 2024.)

Unfortunately, the revived successes of Crewe and Gaudio didn't last that long. Gaudio co-wrote "Silver Star," which was a big hit in 1976. But after that, the new hits for both of them became smaller and fewer, and petered out altogether in the early 1980s. However, they still had more big successes with earlier songs that eventually became hits with cover versions. For instance, "Bye Bye Baby," a minor Franki Valli and the Four Seasons hit in the 1960s, was a Number One hit in Britain for the Bay City Rollers in 1975. 

Some songs kept coming around again and again. For instance, "Let's Hang On," a Four Seasons hit in 1965, was a big hit by the Darts in Britain in 1980, then again by Barry Manilow in 1981. And "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," a hit first for Franki Valli in 1967, has been hits by other musical acts so many times that it's hard to keep track, including making Number Four in Britain in 1982 by the Boys Town Gang.

Crewe, who was 13 years older than Gaudio, died in 2014 at the age of 84. Gaudio is still alive at the age of 82 years old as I write this in 2025.

As I said in Volume 1, I think these two are very underrated songwriters. I could have included many more hits, enough for another volume or two, but I wanted to give this a stronger appeal by including only their biggest hits. It seems some of their songs are going to be hits forever, periodically revived with new cover versions. For instance, "Beggin'," a minor hit when first released by Franki Valli and the Four Seasons in 1967, is another one that keeps getting covered to big success, with Madcon having a Number Five hit in Britain with it in 2008, and then Maneskin having a Number Six hit with it there in 2020.

This album is 54 minutes long.

01 Lady Marmalade (Labelle)
02 Get Dancin' (Disco Tex & the Sex-O-Lettes)
03 Swearin' to God (Frankie Valli)
04 Sherry (Adrian Baker)
05 Bye Bye Baby [Baby Goodbye] (Bay City Rollers)
06 My Eyes Adored You (Isaac Hayes & Dionne Warwick)
07 Silver Star (Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons)
08 Rag Doll (Steeleye Span)
09 Buzz Buzz a Diddle It (Matchbox)
10 The Night (Lene Lovich)
11 Let's Hang On (Barry Manilow)
12 Walk like a Man (Mary Jane Girls)
13 Barbarella (Wondermints)
14 Who Loves You (Murray Head)
15 December, 1963 [Oh, What a Night] (Jared Halle)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/8irSCEPX

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/Ia2z6pVWw86bXGm/file

As with Volume 1, I couldn't find good photos of the two of them together. So I found individual photos and put them on the cover. The Bob Crewe one (with red hair) is from 1976. I don't know the date of the Bob Gaudio one, but I'd guess it's from the 1970s. Both were in black and white, but I colorized them using the Kolorize program. Then I improved the quality with the Krea AI program.

Covered: Bob Crewe & Bob Gaudio, Volume 1: 1957-1974

The songwriting team of Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio is another one that doesn't get as much respect as it deserves. So they're a good subject for this next installment in my "Covered" series. They were responsible for writing most of the big hits by Franki Valli and the Four Seasons. But they had many songwriting successes for other musical acts as well.

Note that since many of the songs here were first hits by Franki Valli and the Four Seasons, I wanted to avoid turning this into mostly a "best of" by the band. So I tried hard to select versions of those songs by other musical acts. I've made two volumes, and many of the hit songs in this time period (1957 to 1974) aren't included until cover versions that happened in the time of the second volume. Examples that were 1960s hits but don't show up until later covers include "Sherry," "Rag Doll," "Walk like a Man," "Bye Bye Baby," and "Barbarella." Also keep in mind that these two wrote most Franki Valli and the Four Seasons hits, but not all of them.

Bob Crewe was thirteen years older than Bob Gaudio, so his music career started first. In 1953, he partnered with another songwriter, Frank Slay, Jr. Four years later, in 1957, they had their first hit with "Silhouettes" by the Rays. I haven't included that, because I chose another version of the song by Herman's Hermits, which was a big hit in 1965. The B-side was another song they wrote together, "Daddy Cool." The Diamonds had a hit with it in 1957, so I included that version here. They also had a big hit in 1957 with "Tallahassee Lassie" for Freddy Cannon in 1959.

Meanwhile, Bob Gaudio was starting his music career. In 1958, at only the age of 15 years old, he wrote the hit "Short Shorts" for the band he was in at the time, the Royal Teens. Not long after that, he came across a band led by Franki Valli, and joined them as a piano player and songwriter. They soon were renamed "Franki Valli and the Four Seasons." From the very start, they were produced by Bob Crewe, which is how Crewe and Gaudio met each other. It probably helped that both of them were from New Jersey.

The very first hit by the Four Seasons in 1962, "Sherry," was written by Gaudio alone. But soon, Crewe and Gaudio were generally writing the hits together. From 1962 to about 1968, they wrote dozens of hits together, just for the Four Seasons. 

Meanwhile, with Gaudio busy a lot of the time as a member of the Four Seasons, Crewe had a whole other career going on as a producer, which often also included more songwriting with others. He even formed his own record label, Dyno Voice Records, and had over 20 hits with artists on that label other than the Four Seasons. One hit was actually in his own name - the "Bob Crewe Generation" - an instrumental called "Music to Watch Girls By," in 1967. However, that's not here because although he produced it and performed it, he didn't write it. In 1968, his group the Bob Crewe Generation wrote and performed all the songs for the soundtrack to the hit movie "Barbarella." I put a cover of the theme song on Volume 2.

So the 1960s were an extremely successful time for both Bobs. Generally speaking, songs Gaudio helped write ended up first being performed by the Four Seasons, though sometimes other groups ultimately had the big hit. For instance, the Four Seasons version of "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)" didn't even make the Top 100 singles chart in 1965. But the Walker Brothers did a version in 1966 using the same arrangement and hit Number One in the singles chart in Britain with it. Meanwhile, Crewe had his fingers in other pies, and sometimes wrote songs with other songwriters.

However, in the late 1960s, the style of music favored by the Four Seasons fell out of favor, with musical trends changing rapidly and drastically. Gaudio teamed up with another songwriter, Jake Holmes (best known for writing "Dazed and Confused"), and made the 1969 Four Seasons album "The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette." It was their attempt to stay relevant with a quasi-psychedelic album. (Crewe wasn't involved with the songwriting, but he produced the album.) It was too strange to sell well, but it's reputation has grown over time, and it's actually a pretty good, interesting album, in my opinion. John Lennon reportedly considered it one of his favorite albums.

Overall though, the time from 1968 to 1973 was rough for both Crewe and Gaudio. It looked like both of their music careers were petering out. However, both would have great successes starting in 1974. But that will be saved for Volume 2. (The one song here from 1974, "You're Ready Now," is actually a cover of a song they first wrote and released in 1966.)

Here's links to their Wikipedia pages:

Bob Crewe - Wikipedia

Bob Gaudio - Wikipedia

This album is 49 minutes long.

01 Daddy Cool (Diamonds)
02 Short Shorts (Royal Teens)
03 Tallahassee Lassie (Freddy Cannon)
04 Big Girls Don't Cry (Orlons)
05 Navy Blue (Diane Renay)
06 Big Man in Town (Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons)
07 Silhouettes (Herman's Hermits)
08 The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine [Anymore] (Walker Brothers)
09 Dawn [Go Away] (Rockin' Berries)
10 I'm Going Out [The Same Way I Came In] (Kiki Dee)
11 Sock It to Me Baby (Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels)
12 Silence Is Golden (Tremeloes)
13 [You're Gonna] Hurt Yourself (Bystanders)
14 Beggin' (Timebox)
15 Can't Take My Eyes Off You (Nancy Wilson)
16 Mrs. Stately's Garden (Four Seasons)
17 Stone Liberty (Diana Ross)
18 You're Ready Now (Guy Darrell)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/do5dtFze

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/6uSrZKGp9dqYhGe/file

There are very, very few photos of Crewe and Gaudio together, and those didn't show their faces well. So I found individual photos and put them together for the cover. The one of Gaudio (with black hair) is from 1966 while the one of Crewe (with reddish hair) is from 1959.