"New Mexican Rose" is a song by the American rock band The Four Seasons. The song was composed by producer

Bob Crewe Robert Stanley Crewe (November 12, 1930 – September 11, 2014) was an American songwriter, dancer, singer, manager, and record producer. He was known for producing, and co-writing with Bob Gaudio, a string of Top 10 singles for the Four Season ...

and arranger

Charles Calello Charles Calello (born August 24, 1938) is an American arranger, composer, conductor, record producer, and singer born in Newark, New Jersey. Calello attended Newark Arts High School and the Manhattan School of Music, in New York City. His track r ...

. While sales did not match that of the singles' predecessors, "New Mexican Rose" did make it into the Top 40 of ''Billboard'''s

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

singles chart, reaching a peak position of #36 in November 1963. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' described it as a "cha cha paced" song that is "filled with the vocal and instrumental tricks that the kids love." The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

of the single was "That's the Only Way", written by Crewe and Robert Boulanger. It attracted some airplay on its own, reaching #88 on the Hot 100. The record was released at a time in which a Vee-Jay management shakeup triggered a sequence of events which involved accusations by The Four Seasons involving the label's purporting to withhold royalties from record sales and Vee-Jay's accusing The Four Seasons of breach of contract (as they were starting to stockpile song recordings - such as "

Dawn (Go Away) "Dawn (Go Away)" is a song written by Bob Gaudio and Sandy Linzer and recorded by The Four Seasons in November 1963. The song hit No. 3 in the early part of 1964. According to '' Billboard'', it was the 25th biggest hit single of the year, p ...

" - and withholding them from release by the record company). In the interim, Vee-Jay started repackaging already-released recordings by the group and selling them as "new" albums. While the lawsuit was not to be settled until early 1965, the group officially left Vee-Jay by the end of 1963, and "Dawn" became their first single on

Philips Records Philips Records is a record label founded by the Dutch electronics company Philips. It was founded as Philips Phonographische Industrie in 1950. In 1946, Philips acquired the company which pressed records for British Decca's Dutch outlet in A ...

in January 1964.

References

*Fred Bronson, ''The Billboard Book of Number One Hits'', 3rd edition (Billboard Books, 1992) *Joe Sasfy, Liner notes to ''Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons: 1962-1967'' (Warner Special Products, 1987: Time-Life Music The Rock 'N' Era 2RNR-15) *Jay Warner, ''American Singing Groups: A History from 1940 to Today'' (Hal Leonard Books, 2006) *Label, "New Mexican Rose"/"That's the Only Way", Vee-Jay single VJ 562 {{authority control 1963 singles The Four Seasons (band) songs Songs written by Bob Crewe Song recordings produced by Bob Crewe 1963 songs Vee-Jay Records singles