"Big Girls Don't Cry" is a song written by

Bob Crewe Robert Stanley Crewe (November 12, 1930 – September 11, 2014) was an American songwriter, dancer, singer, manager, and record producer. Crewe co-wrote and produced a string of Top 10 singles with Bob Gaudio for the Four Seasons. As a songw ...

and

Bob Gaudio Robert John Gaudio (born November 17, 1942) is an American songwriter, singer, musician, and record producer, and the keyboardist and backing vocalist of the pop/rock band the Four Seasons. Gaudio wrote or co-wrote the vast majority of the ban ...

and originally recorded by the Four Seasons. It hit number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on November 17, 1962, and, like its predecessor "

Sherry Sherry ( ) is a fortified wine produced from white grapes grown around the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain. Sherry is a drink produced in a variety of styles made primarily from the Palomino grape, ranging from light versio ...

", spent five weeks in the top position but never ranked in the ''Billboard'' year-end charts of 1962 or 1963. The song also made it to number one, for three weeks, on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'''s

Rhythm and Blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

survey. It was also the quartet's second single to make it to number one on the US R&B charts.

Background

According to Gaudio, he was dozing off while watching the John Payne/ Rhonda Fleming/

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

movie '' Tennessee's Partner'' when he heard Payne's character slap Fleming in the face. After the slap, Fleming's character replied, "Big girls don't cry." Gaudio wrote the line on a scrap of paper, fell asleep, and wrote the song the next morning. However, the line does not appear in that film. According to Bob Crewe, he was dozing off in his Manhattan home with the television on when he awoke to see Payne manhandling Fleming in '' Slightly Scarlet,'' a 1956 film noir based on a James M. Cain story. The line is heard in that film. Like "Sherry", the lead in "Big Girls Don't Cry" is sung mostly in

falsetto Falsetto ( , ; Italian language, Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ...

. With this song, the Four Seasons became the first rock-era act to hit the number one spot on the Hot 100 with their first two chart entries (their first single, "Bermuda"/"Spanish Lace", did not appear on any ''

'' chart in 1961). In 2015, "Big Girls Don't Cry" by The Four Seasons was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Personnel

Partial credits. ;The Four Seasons *

Frankie Valli Francesco Stephen Castelluccio (born May 3, 1934), better known by his stage name Frankie Valli, is an American singer and occasional actor, best known as the frontman (lead singer) of The Four Seasons (band), the Four Seasons. He is known for ...

– lead vocals, handclaps * Tommy DeVito – harmony and backing vocals, guitar, handclaps * Nick Massi – counterpoint, harmony and backing vocals, bass, handclaps *

– harmony and backing vocals, piano, handclaps ;Additional musician and production staff *

Panama Francis David Albert "Panama" Francis (December 21, 1918 – November 13, 2001) was an American swing jazz drummer who played on numerous hit recordings in the 1950s. Early life Francis was born in Miami, Florida, on December 21, 1918. His father was ...

– drums *

– producer * Bruce Swedien – engineer The father of co-arranger Charles Calello provides the song's trumpet solo.

Charts

Weekly charts

All-time charts

References

External links

Lyrics of this song
{{authority control 1962 songs 1962 singles Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles The Four Seasons (band) songs Songs written by Bob Crewe Songs written by Bob Gaudio Vee-Jay Records singles Song recordings produced by Bob Crewe Doo-wop songs