C/D: "December 1963 (Oh What A Night)"

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my father hates this song, and says that i am pussy for liking Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, especially in their 'comeback' phase. I say he's a dumbo.

― the table is the table (treesessplode), Friday, 9 February 2007 23:25 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.stjohnsmercy.org/images/Oh-What-a-Night.gif

― the table is the table (treesessplode), Friday, 9 February 2007 23:26 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah this is actually my official least favorite song ever! There are very few songs that I actively dislike, like on an urgent gut level, but this is one of them: I seriously can't bear to hear it, and I'll do pretty much anything within reason to avoid it if it comes on.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 9 February 2007 23:35 (nineteen years ago)

It's in my 100 least favorites of all time, and I like a lot of Four Seasons songs. Don't write off their entire "comeback" phase, though; "Who Loves You" has some unexpectedly tough drumming (and who doesn't love Kojak?).

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Friday, 9 February 2007 23:37 (nineteen years ago)

huh. maybe i'm the only one who likes it?

― the table is the table (treesessplode), Friday, 9 February 2007 23:42 (nineteen years ago)

OTOH, the pic you posted is very similar to my senior prom program (theme: "Wonderful Tonight").

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Friday, 9 February 2007 23:44 (nineteen years ago)

i think that the image is from a prom page, actually.

― the table is the table (treesessplode), Friday, 9 February 2007 23:46 (nineteen years ago)

I think it's brilliant.

― Dee Xtrovert (dee dee), Friday, 9 February 2007 23:57 (nineteen years ago)

A: "December 1963 (Oh What A Night)"

Q: What song do I hate worse than "Grease (Is The Word)"?

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Saturday, 10 February 2007 00:13 (nineteen years ago)

I like the rhymes: "three/me"; "name/same"; "thunder/under"; "light/right"

― max (maxreax), Saturday, 10 February 2007 00:43 (nineteen years ago)

I don't think it's bad.

― Sundar (sundar), Saturday, 10 February 2007 01:10 (nineteen years ago)

About fifty gazillion times better than any of their other hits.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Saturday, 10 February 2007 01:16 (nineteen years ago)

When I was a kid this was my favorite song in history, for about 1 1/2 years. I know because every week I made a new top 100 list, color-coded and everything. I was in what, second or third grade? Fourth? GEE I WONDER WHY I ENDED UP HERE>

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Saturday, 10 February 2007 01:49 (nineteen years ago)

Heh heh.

Snrub is wrong -- I'll put my money on "Tell It to the Rain" or "Rag Doll" -- but it's a fine record.

― without me, it was tie! (Rrrickey), Saturday, 10 February 2007 03:25 (nineteen years ago)

GEE I WONDER WHY I ENDED UP HERE

You had to be among your kind.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 10 February 2007 03:26 (nineteen years ago)

better yet -- I OWNED NOTHING. it was all 100% off the radio, combination of top 40 and 1970s AOR mad hits.

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Saturday, 10 February 2007 03:29 (nineteen years ago)

classic, but mostly cuz it was a childhood AM staple

― timmy tannin (pompous), Saturday, 10 February 2007 03:43 (nineteen years ago)

I'll put my money on "Tell It to the Rain" or "Rag Doll" -- but it's a fine record.

Oh god, is "Tell It to the Rain" a great record. That and "C'mon Marianne" are my favorite Four Seasons productions.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Saturday, 10 February 2007 04:00 (nineteen years ago)

i love this song! i was actually introduced by kid creole & the coconuts version, but the four seasons is fantastic. it often enters my head with little or no provocation, and i treasure the event.

― sublime frequency (sublime frequency), Saturday, 10 February 2007 05:02 (nineteen years ago)

... and if you don't like "sherry", what tragic event occurred in your upbringing that enabled you to not love it?

― sublime frequency (sublime frequency), Saturday, 10 February 2007 05:04 (nineteen years ago)

How old were you when you did that, Haikunym? I'm impressed.

BTW, this song suchs axx.

― Twenty Special Offer Stickers (Bimble...), Saturday, 10 February 2007 05:07 (nineteen years ago)

i hear kate bush did a cover of it

― bobby bedelia (van dover), Saturday, 10 February 2007 05:09 (nineteen years ago)

I am completely perplexed as to why people don't like this song. I think it's absolutely fantastic. And the bridge is one of my all-time favorites.

Could anyone be more specific about why they dislike this song so much?

― Matt Armstrong (gensu3k1), Saturday, 10 February 2007 05:12 (nineteen years ago)

jESUS Fackin christ bobby, I don't think so! I mean I know she's a goddess and everything, but I daresay even she couldn't help this song. Knowing her, though she'd likely prove me wrong. Darn. *snaps fingers*

― Twenty Special Offer Stickers (Bimble...), Saturday, 10 February 2007 05:18 (nineteen years ago)

Anyway what bugs me most about this song is the vocals. They have a very cheesy attitude and tone.

― Twenty Special Offer Stickers (Bimble...), Saturday, 10 February 2007 05:20 (nineteen years ago)

a very cheesy attitude and tone

i think you are misunderstanding.

i am convinced that this song is fucking awesome, if only because of the vocals and lyrics:
"oh what a night
you know i didn't even know her name
but i was never gonna be the same
what a lady, what a night.

(the awesome bridge which can beat the shit out of many othr bridges)

hypnotizing mesmorizing me
she was everything i'd dream she'd be
sweet surrender, what a night!"

to have the balls to sing 'sweet surrender, what a night' = classic. but i also fucking love this song.

― the table is the table (treesessplode), Saturday, 10 February 2007 06:10 (nineteen years ago)

i forgot the chorus after that bridge. or were you talking about about this part:
"...rolling ball o thunder
straight round my head
and takin my body under"

cuz yeah.

― the table is the table (treesessplode), Saturday, 10 February 2007 06:14 (nineteen years ago)

... and if you don't like "sherry", what tragic event occurred in your upbringing that enabled you to not love it?

I am being 100% honest about this, but the tragic event involves balloons popping, a clown that read horse racing picks, and extreme camera close-ups of crying children. I do not lie.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Saturday, 10 February 2007 06:46 (nineteen years ago)

I think it's okay. Kinda generic tho, not as distinctive as the classic '60s hits. (And not as specific timewise as Blue Öyster Cult's "Dominance & Submission", which narrows it down to December 31st, 1963.) Generally, when I listen to the Four Seasons, I wanna hear that icepick-in-the-ear FALSETTO! But I guess Valli couldn't keep that up forever.

― Monty Von Byonga (Monty Von Byonga), Saturday, 10 February 2007 07:36 (nineteen years ago)

am being 100% honest about this, but the tragic event involves balloons popping, a clown that read horse racing picks, and extreme camera close-ups of crying children. I do not lie.

Hahaha. I think actually "Sherry" is a song much worse than even December 1963, so there.

― MY NAME IS FREEZER BURN (Bimble...), Saturday, 10 February 2007 07:42 (nineteen years ago)

Valli only sang that one "got a funny feelin'" part of "December 1963"; their drummer sang the rest.
xpost

― without me, it was tie! (Rrrickey), Saturday, 10 February 2007 08:26 (nineteen years ago)

Well that explains it then. THAT GUY'S VOICE SUCKS!!!

― MY NAME IS FREEZER BURN (Bimble...), Saturday, 10 February 2007 08:39 (nineteen years ago)

Everybody who hates this song is a mentalist. COME ON, PEOPLE.

― I Tried to Use My Cock as a Bong (noodle vague), Saturday, 10 February 2007 12:36 (nineteen years ago)

smarmy sexx rapp + faux doo/wop nostalgia = 1974 zeitgeist in 1 song

in other words, classic in its skin-crawling dudliness

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Saturday, 10 February 2007 12:48 (nineteen years ago)

Don't write off their entire "comeback" phase

"The Night" folks. If you don't like "The Night" you deserve to die. "December 1963 (Oh What A Night)" is great too.

― Tom D. (Dada), Saturday, 10 February 2007 13:02 (nineteen years ago)

I like this song. It's from 1974? I had filed it into the late 70's, imagining it as their "disco comeback" song, but this was a long time ago.

I also love: "Walk Like A Man", "Dawn" (used to great effect on "The Sopranos") and most of all I love "Let's Hang On", with that fuzz guitar and quintessential 60's ez listening bridge!

I don't like "Sherry" - I suppose I'm not *that* wild about the dude's falsetto, and it's not as melodramatic as my fav Four Seasons.

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Saturday, 10 February 2007 13:42 (nineteen years ago)

1975, actually. also the year I had a (coughs) vaguely parallel coming-of-age exp but let's leave that for my upcoming memoir.

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Saturday, 10 February 2007 14:32 (nineteen years ago)

The 1993 remix is great and so is the Justus Kohncke track that samples it.

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Saturday, 10 February 2007 15:20 (nineteen years ago)

smarmy sexx rapp + faux doo/wop nostalgia = 1974 zeitgeist in 1 song
in other words, classic in its skin-crawling dudliness

this hits it on the head.

― the table is the table (treesessplode), Saturday, 10 February 2007 22:02 (nineteen years ago)

i like it in the same way i like the doors "touch me."

― the table is the table (treesessplode), Saturday, 10 February 2007 22:02 (nineteen years ago)

Noodle Vague has outdone me again on screen names. What a surprise.

― MY NAME IS FREEZER BURN (Bimble...), Sunday, 11 February 2007 03:31 (nineteen years ago)

The 1993 remix is great and so is the Justus Kohncke track that samples it.

woah, what?

This song is great.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Sunday, 11 February 2007 05:30 (nineteen years ago)

LOVE LOVE LOVE this song and especially love what the French (Claude Francois and Yannick) have done with it.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Sunday, 11 February 2007 05:35 (nineteen years ago)

This vs. Paul Davis's "'65 Love Affair."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 11 February 2007 05:45 (nineteen years ago)

three years pass...

This song is such a jam

― i am giving you the viking of compliments (The Reverend), Thursday, 13 May 2010 03:18 (sixteen years ago)

"Who Loves You" has some unexpectedly tough drumming

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ who loves you >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> december 1963

― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 13 May 2010 03:47 (sixteen years ago)

Would be a total jam if the dj at my college's free-beer Thursday hadn't played the damn remix every...single...week for three years. And if my friend hadn't made up a shonky Macarena dance to go along with it that we did every...single...week for 3 years. I just can't listen to it for fun anymore. But I love love love the 4 seasons & probably do love this song somewhere deep in my subconscious.

― VegemiteGrrrl, Thursday, 13 May 2010 03:51 (sixteen years ago)

heard this at the barber shop a couple weeks ago.

liked the bass

― mookieproof, Thursday, 13 May 2010 03:55 (sixteen years ago)

This is a jam, and all that talk upthread badmouthing this is WRONGGGGGG.

Or just based on some sort of bad experience during childhood context, which is understandable.

― Cunga, Thursday, 13 May 2010 03:59 (sixteen years ago)

man, what the hell is wrong with people who don't love this jam

have always loved it - the construction is classic 4 Seasons w/the shared vocals, the beat is always fresh, the synth is bright and charming, the bridge is lush and gorgeous

― in which we apologize for sobering up (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Thursday, 13 May 2010 04:02 (sixteen years ago)

Do I get a pass for mandatory-macarena-dancing?

― VegemiteGrrrl, Thursday, 13 May 2010 04:02 (sixteen years ago)

Yeah this is actually my official least favorite song ever! There are very few songs that I actively dislike, like on an urgent gut level, but this is one of them: I seriously can't bear to hear it, and I'll do pretty much anything within reason to avoid it if it comes on.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, February 9, 2007 11:35 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark

Wha? Nabisco not OTM?

― righteousmaelstrom, Thursday, 13 May 2010 05:35 (sixteen years ago)

eleven years pass...

great song. the "official video" is also great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTUhnIY3oRM

here's some other versions:

some kinda 80s euro thing, rules https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcPYwsvctZw

a french version with an impressive video i gather is well-known: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oei7OKqadS8

fatback band, sounds good on paper but screws up the bassline: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwdYlwRra7I

change, not as good as you'd expect from these guys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onKskzHSbks

finnish version with an interesting tempo and terrific vocals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzWgvBR9cAE

― adam, Sunday, 13 February 2022 15:40 (four years ago)

oh i almost forgot captain jack sparrow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmJWmGocuUs

― adam, Sunday, 13 February 2022 15:43 (four years ago)

sorry harkness thats not jonny depp at all

― adam, Sunday, 13 February 2022 15:43 (four years ago)

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