This, That, and the Other

For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday theme, Jim Adams has given us “disco” music. According to Wikipedia, disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States’ urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric piano, synthesizers, and electric rhythm guitars.

Sure, I thought of picking almost any song from the movie “Saturday Night Fever,” or focusing on well known disco artists like The Bee Gees, Donna Summer, KC and the Sunshine Band, Kool and the Gang, and a whole host of others.

Instead I’m going with a group that was my favorite back in the early sixties. A group not known for its disco music. Except for this one song in particular: “December 1963 (Oh What a Night)” from Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

“December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)” was recorded by the Four Seasons. It was written by original Four Seasons keyboard player Bob Gaudio and his future wife Judy Parker, produced by Gaudio, and included on the group’s 1975 album, Who Loves You.

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 bass player Don Ciccone singing the falsetto part. It was a huge worldwide hit, reaching number 1 in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and a number of other countries.

Co-writer Bob Gaudio said that the song was originally set in 1933 with the title “December 5th, 1933,” and it 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.

The group had to play down the sexual overtones in this song to appease conservative radio stations, and kept referring to it as a nostalgic love song. But Frankie Valli admitted that, “it was a song about losin’ your cherry” — about a guy having sex for the first time.

As I said earlier, The Four Seasons were not considered a disco group, but this song definitely fit into the disco genre, which is why I chose it. Billboard magazine said that it had “the flavor and fun of ’60s rock with a disco feel.” Record World called it a “disco flavored item in [the Four Seasons’] timeless harmony mold.”

Here are the lyrics to “December 1963 (Oh What a Night).”

Oh, what a night
Late December back in sixty-three
What a very special time for me
As I remember what a night.

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.

Oh I, I got a funny feelin' when she walked in the room
Yeah my, as I recall it ended much too soon.

Oh, what a night
Hypnotizin', mesmerizing me
She was ev'rything I dreamed she'd be
Sweet surrender, what a night.

I felt a rush like a rollin' ball of thunder
Spinnin' my head around 'n' takin' my body under
Oh what a night.

Oh I, I got a funny feelin' when she walked in the room
Yeah my, as I recall it ended much too soon.

Oh what a night, why'd it take so long to see the light
Seemed so wrong, but now it seems so right
What a lady, what a night.

Oh, I felt a rush like a rollin' ball of thunder
Spinnin' my head around 'n' takin' my body under
Oh what a night (do do do do do, do do do do do)

Oh what a night (do do do do do, do do do do do)
Oh what a night (do do do do do, do do do do do)
Oh what a night (do do do do do, do do do do do).