"Can't Take My Eyes Off You" is a 1967 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, and first recorded and released as a single by Gaudio's Four Seasons bandmate

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 ...

. The song was among his biggest hits, earning a gold record and reaching No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for a week, making it Valli's biggest solo hit until he hit No. 1 in 1975 with "

My Eyes Adored You "My Eyes Adored You" is a 1974 song written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan. It was originally recorded by The Four Seasons (band), The Four Seasons in early 1974. After the Motown label balked at the idea of releasing it, the recording was sold to l ...

". Gaudio describes the song as "the one that almost got away" until

Windsor, Ontario Windsor ( ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from the U.S city of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Esse ...

, radio station CKLW (a station also serving the

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

metro on the American side of the border) intervened. In 1967, the record's producers urged Paul Drew, program director at the station, to consider the tune for

rotation Rotation or rotational/rotary motion is the circular movement of an object around a central line, known as an ''axis of rotation''. A plane figure can rotate in either a clockwise or counterclockwise sense around a perpendicular axis intersect ...

. For much of the 1960s and 1970s, CKLW was credited with launching hit records via its powerful signal, blanketing the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

region. Drew did not warm to the song at first, but accepted an invitation to hear it live at the Roostertail, where Valli was performing a weeklong stint with the Four Seasons. Drew liked what he heard and added the song to his station's playlist. "The switchboards lit up, and the rest, as they say, is history", Gaudio recalled. Valli recalled in 2014 that "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" was the first step in the fulfillment of his goal to sing music that did not require him to use falsetto: "I didn't want to sing like that my whole life. Once we established the sound, the plan was that eventually I would do solo ecordsand some things I really wanted to do. I was very lucky to make the transition to 'My Eyes Adored You' and ' Swearin' to God', which had none of that." Valli also recalled that the record had been mothballed by The Four Seasons' record company for a year because of their fear that The Four Seasons (who had already lost Nick Massi in 1965) were breaking up, to which Valli insisted that he had no intentions of ever leaving The Four Seasons. "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" has been recorded in many other arrangements, many of which have charted in different countries.

Credits

The song was written by

and Bob Gaudio. Melodic elements bear a similarity to passages from the "Adagio of

Spartacus Spartacus (; ) was a Thracians, Thracian gladiator (Thraex) who was one of the Slavery in ancient Rome, escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major Slave rebellion, slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Historical accounts o ...

and Phrygia" section of the 1956 ballet ''

'' (Suite No. 2) by Aram Khachaturian. The original recording, from an arrangement by Gaudio and Artie Schroeck, was made at A & R Studio 2 (formerly Columbia Studio A), at 799 7th Avenue in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, with Crewe producing and Phil Ramone engineering.

Reception

'' Billboard'' described the single as "strong rhythm ballad material from the pen of Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio with an exceptional Valli vocal combined with an exciting Artie Schroeck arrangement." ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is 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 ...

'' called the single a "smooth, gentle, softly spoken romancer".

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Boys Town Gang version

In 1982, San Francisco-based post-disco band Boys Town Gang released a

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

version of the song which reached the top spot in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain and number four on the United Kingdom singles chart. This version was also successful in Japan, receiving a gold digital certification by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) in 2011. The song is a playable track in the 2012 video game '' Just Dance 4''.

Track listings

7-inch single # "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" – 3:28 # "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" (reprise) – 4:42 7-inch single # "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" – 3:40 # "Disco Kicks" – 4:04

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Lauryn Hill version

Lauryn Hill's version of the song was recorded in 1997, while she was eight months pregnant with her first child. It was first featured in the movie ''Conspiracy Theory'' (1997), as was the Frankie Valli version. While the song was not featured on the soundtrack, a radio jockey at KMEL in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

put the song on a CD and began playing it; more radio stations followed suit, causing a

domino effect A domino effect is the cumulative effect produced when one event sets off a series of similar or related events, a form of chain reaction. The term is an analogy to a falling row of dominoes. It typically refers to a linked sequence of events ...

around the U.S., ultimately leading the song to peak at number two on the Rhythmic Top 40 chart, despite Hill's label's not releasing the song as a single. Due to the popularity of the song it was added as a

hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...

on '' The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill''. This version was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 41st Grammy Awards in 1999, becoming the first hidden track to ever receive a Grammy nomination. ''

Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. History ''Consequence of Sound'' was founded in Septem ...

'' named it the best hidden track of all time. In 2014, VH1 also named it the best hidden track of all time.

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

–winning actor Forest Whitaker was inspired to name his daughter True, after hearing Hill's version of the song.

Charts

Certifications

Other cover versions

The song has been recorded by many artists. Among the most notable examples are the following: * In late 1967, the Lettermen recorded the "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" as a medley with " Goin' Out of My Head", which was featured on their album ''The Lettermen!! ...And Live!'' that same year. Their rendition reached number 7 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 2

Easy Listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...

. * In 1968,

Andy Williams Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...

' version from his 1967 album '' Love, Andy'' made it to number 5 on the UK singles chart and number 8 on the Irish Singles Chart. The arranger and producer was Nick DeCaro and the conductor was Eddie Karam. In 2002 he recorded a new version of the song for his compilation album '' The Essential Andy Williams'', as a duet with British actress and singer Denise van Outen, which reached number 23 in the UK singles charts. *In 1968, Engelbert Humperdinck included a cover of the song on his album '' A Man Without Love'', which stayed on the UK official albums chart for 45 weeks, peaking at number 3. * Maureen McGovern released her cover for her self-titled album as a single in 1979 (number 27 on the US Adult Contemporary chart in 1979; number 5 Canadian AC in 1980). * In 1986, Electronic Italo-disco singer Ross recorded "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" with some success on radio stations in Mexico. * In 1991, the

Pet Shop Boys Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 100 million records worldwide and were listed as the most successful duo in UK music h ...

recorded " Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)", a medley of the song with U2's " Where the Streets Have No Name", which reached number 4 in the U.K. and number 72 in the U.S. and was featured on their compilation album '' Discography: The Complete Singles Collection''. * In 1992, Dutch singers Gerard Joling and Tatjana Šimić recorded a duet version of the song (including a rap segment by Darrell Bell) for Joling's album ''Eye to Eye'', which peaked at number 5 in the Dutch Top 40 charts. * In 1993, Morten Harket recorded a cover of the song, produced by Stephen Hague, for the ending of the film '' Coneheads''. * In 2010, fans of the German football club 1. FC Union Berlin started using the melody for a chant for their player Torsten Mattuschka, inspired by Manchester United F.C. fans who used it for their player Owen Hargreaves. * In 2011, Stereophonics frontman Kelly Jones sang an acoustic version of the song in tribute to former Wales national football team manager Gary Speed. The song was adopted as an anthem for Welsh football fans during Speed's playing career with Wales after being used in a

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, ...

promo for the 1994 World Cup qualifying campaign. * In 2019, Surf Mesa released a tropical house cover of the song called " ILY (I Love You Baby)", featuring vocals by Emilee Flood for the EP ''Another Life''. Upon being re-released in 2020, it became a top 40 hit in many countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. Unlike other cover versions, this cover is based solely around the chorus of the original Frankie Valli composition, and was renamed to reflect that.

References

External links

Lyrics of this song
* {{authority control 1967 songs 1967 singles 1968 singles 1969 singles 1982 singles Songs written by Bob Crewe Songs written by Bob Gaudio Frankie Valli songs The Four Seasons (band) songs Jay and the Americans songs Andy Williams songs Boys Town Gang songs Lauryn Hill songs Barry Manilow songs The Lettermen songs Nancy Wilson (jazz singer) songs Maureen McGovern songs Tatjana Šimić songs Oricon International Singles Chart number-one singles Song recordings produced by Bob Crewe Philips Records singles Cashbox number-one singles Dutch Top 40 number-one singles