Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons – December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)

“December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)” – Single by the Four Seasons from the album Who Loves You
B-side “Slip Away”
Released December 1975
Label Warner Bros, Curb
Songwriters Bob Gaudio and Judy Parker
Producer Bob Gaudio
Charted No.1 in US, UK, Canada
Charted No.2 in Australia; No.3 in Netherlands; No. 16 in West Germany; No.11 in Sweden

The song features drummer Gerry Polci on lead vocals, with Frankie Valli, the group’s usual lead vocalist, singing the bridge sections and backing vocals and bassist Don Ciccone singing the falsetto part.

According to the co-writer and longtime group member Bob Gaudio, the song was originally set in 1933 with the title “December 5th, 1933,” and celebrated the repeal of Prohibition. Neither lead singer Frankie Valli nor co-writer (and later, Gaudio’s wife) Judy Parker were thrilled about the lyrics (and Valli objected to parts of the melody) so Gaudio redid the words and Parker redid the melody until all were content with the finished product. It ended up being a nostalgic love song, or as Valli put it more bluntly, “it was a song about losin’ your cherry.”

The single was released in December 1975 and hit number one on the UK Singles Chart on February 21, 1976. It repeated the feat on the US Billboard Hot 100 on March 13, 1976, remaining in the top spot for three weeks and one week on Cash Box. Billboard ranked it as the No. 4 song for 1976. On April 10 the same year, it topped the RPM National Top Singles Chart in Canada. It was the final Four Seasons’ song to reach number one, although Valli would have one final chart-topper as a solo act in 1978 with theme song to the film Grease.

Billboard said that it has “the flavor and fun of ’60s rock with a disco feel,” and praised the production and the lead and harmony vocals as well.” Cash Box said it has “one of the sweetest melody lines you’ll have heard throughout 1975” and that the song is “easy enough to sing along to, combined with an unforgettable bass line.”[ Record World called it a “disco flavored item in [the Four Seasons’] timeless harmony mold.”

Their fifth and final #1 hit in the US, this was the only Four Seasons recording to top the UK charts.

Gerry Polci – drums, lead vocals (verses)
Frankie Valli – backing vocals, lead vocals (first bridge)
Don Ciccone – backing vocals, bass, lead vocals (second bridge)
John Paiva – electric guitar
Lee Shapiro – keyboards, synthesizers, horn and string arrangements
Bob Gaudio – keyboards, producer