"Can't Take My Eyes Off You" is a

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

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 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 Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

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 CKLW (800 AM) is a commercial radio station in Windsor, Ontario, serving Southwestern Ontario and Metro Detroit. CKLW is owned by Bell Media and has a news/talk radio format. It features local hosts in morning and afternoon drive times, with ...

(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 Metro may refer to: Geography * Metro City (Indonesia), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urban area with high ...

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 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 ...

: "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 "Swearin' to God" is a song written by Bob Crewe and Denny Randell. It was recorded by Frankie Valli and released in May 1975 as a single from his album '' Closeup''. It is a love song whose lyrical hook is a more literal use of the express ...

', 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 Nicholas E. Macioci (September 19, 1927 – December 24, 2000) was an American bass singer, songwriter, and bass guitarist. He is best known for his work as the bassist and bass vocalist for The Four Seasons, for whom he performed under the stag ...

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

. 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 Aram Ilyich Khachaturian (; 1 May 1978) was a Soviet Armenians, Armenian composer and conductor. He is considered one of the leading Music of the Soviet Union#Classical music of the Soviet Union, Soviet composers. Khachaturian was born and rai ...

. 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 Philip Rabinowitz (January 5, 1934March 30, 2013), better known as Phil Ramone, was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer, and co-founder of A & R recording studio. Its success led to expansion ...

engineering.

Reception

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 ...

'' 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 Post-disco is a term and genre to describe an aftermath in popular music history circa 1979–1986, imprecisely beginning with the backlash against disco music in the United States, leading to civil unrest and a riot in Chicago known as the Dis ...

band

Boys Town Gang The Boys Town Gang were a post-disco and hi-NRG band from San Francisco, California. Their popularity peaked in the 1980s when the group reached No. 1 in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, and Japan as well as No. 4 in the UK with their cover ...

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 The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include pro ...

(RIAJ) in 2011. The song is a playable track in the 2012 video game ''

Just Dance 4 ''Just Dance 4'' is a 2012 music rhythm game developed and published by Ubisoft as the fourth main installment of the ''Just Dance'' series. Announced at E3 2012 by Flo Rida and Aisha Tyler, it was released on the Wii, the Wii U, the PlayStati ...

''.

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 Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American musician. She is celebrated as one of the most influential musical artists of her generation. Hill is credited with breaking barriers for female rappers, contributing to the popular music, m ...

'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 KMEL (106.1 FM) is an urban contemporary radio station that is licensed to San Francisco, California, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned and operated by iHeartMedia. KMEL has studios located in the SoMa district, and broadcasts ...

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 The Rhythmic chart (also called Rhythmic Airplay, and previously named Rhythmic Songs, Rhythmic Top 40 and CHR/Rhythmic) is an airplay chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The chart tracks and measures the airplay of songs played on ...

chart, despite Hill's label 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 ''The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill'' is the debut solo studio album by American rapper and singer Lauryn Hill. It was released on August 19, 1998, by Ruffhouse Records and Columbia Records. Recorded after the Fugees embarked on a hiatus, the a ...

''. This version was also nominated for a

Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The awar ...

at the

41st Grammy Awards The 41st Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 24, 1999, at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, recognizing musical achievements from the year 1998. Lauryn Hill led the ceremony with a record-breaking 10 nominations, becoming the first woman ...

in 1999, becoming the first hidden track to ever receive a

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

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 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

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 Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor, filmmaker, and activist. His accolades include an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Best Actor Award at the ...

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 The Lettermen are an American male pop vocal trio whose trademark is close-harmony pop songs with light arrangements. The group started in 1959. They have had two Top 10 singles (both No. 7), 16 Top 10 singles on the Adult Contemporary chart (i ...

recorded the "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" as a medley with "

Goin' Out of My Head "Goin' Out of My Head" is a song written by Teddy Randazzo and Bobby Weinstein, initially recorded by Little Anthony and the Imperials in 1964. Randazzo, a childhood friend of the group, wrote the song especially for them, having also supplied ...

", 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 Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are ...

. 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 Maureen Therese McGovern (born July 27, 1949) is an American singer and Broadway actress, well known for her renditions of the songs " The Morning After" from the 1972 film '' The Poseidon Adventure''; " We May Never Love Like This Again" from ' ...

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 Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

Italo-disco Italo disco (variously capitalized, and sometimes hyphenated as Italo-disco) is a music genre which originated in Italy in the late 1970s and was mainly produced in the 1980s. Italo disco evolved from the then-current underground dance, pop, ...

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 "Where the Streets Have No Name" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the opening track from their 1987 album ''The Joshua Tree'' and was released as the album's third single in August 1987. The song's hook is a repeating guitar arpeggio us ...

", 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 Gerard Jan Joling (born 29 April 1960) is a Dutch singer and television presenter. Known for his high tenor voice, he rose to fame in the late 1980s and released a string of singles including "Ticket to the Tropics" and "Love Is in Your Eyes". H ...

and

Tatjana Šimić Tatjana Šimić (born 9 June 1963), also known by the Mononymous person, mononym Tatjana, is a Croats, Croatian-Dutch people, Dutch model, actress and singer. Biography Šimić was born in Zagreb, PR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia on 9 June ...

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 Morten Harket (; born 14 September 1959) is a Norwegian singer who is the lead vocalist of the synth-pop band A-ha. A-ha has released 11 studio albums as of 2024, and topped the charts internationally after their breakthrough hit "Take On Me" i ...

recorded a cover of the song, produced by

Stephen Hague Stephen Hague (born 1960) is an American record producer most active with various British acts since the 1980s. Early life Hague was born in Portland, Maine, in 1960. Early career Hague started his musical career in the mid-1970s as a session ...

, for the ending of the film ''

Coneheads The Coneheads are a fictional family of extraterrestrials with bald conical heads, created for a series of recurring sketches on ''Saturday Night Live'' (SNL). They first appeared on the January 15, 1977 episode hosted by Ralph Nader (episode ...

''. * In 2002, British rock band

Muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

released a cover of the song in the single release ''"Dead Star/In your world"''. * In 2010, fans of the German football club

1. FC Union Berlin 1. Fußballclub Union Berlin e. V., commonly known as Union Berlin (), is a professional German football club based in Berlin. The club's origins can be traced to 1906, when its predecessor FC Olympia Oberschöneweide was founded. During the Co ...

started using the melody for a chant for their player Torsten Mattuschka, inspired by

Manchester United F.C. Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional football club based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. They compete in the Premier League, t ...

fans who used it for their player

Owen Hargreaves Owen Lee Hargreaves (born 20 January 1981) is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He was known as a hard-working and "solid defensive midfielder who worked tirelessly to win the ball" and provide his teammates with posses ...

. * In 2011,

Stereophonics Stereophonics are a Welsh pop and rock music, Welsh rock band formed in 1992 in the village of Cwmaman in the Cynon Valley. The band consists of Kelly Jones (lead vocals, lead guitar, keyboards), Richard Jones (Stereophonics), Richard Jones (n ...

frontman

Kelly Jones Kelly Jones (born 3 June 1974) is a Welsh musician and a founding member, lead singer, and guitarist of the rock band Stereophonics. Early life and debut Kelly Jones was born the youngest of three boys to Beryl and Arwyn Jones in the small We ...

sang an acoustic version of the song in tribute to former

Wales national football team The Wales national football team () represents Wales in international Association football, football. It is controlled by the Football Association of Wales (FAW), the governing body for football in Wales. They have been a member of FIFA since ...

manager

Gary Speed Gary Andrew Speed (8 September 1969 – 27 November 2011) was a Welsh professional footballer and manager. As manager of Wales, Speed is often credited as being the catalyst for the change in fortunes of the national team and as setting t ...

. 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 The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

qualifying campaign. * In 2019,

Surf Mesa Powell Aguirre (born April 10, 2000), known by the stage name Surf Mesa, is an American electronic musician from Seattle. He gained fame for the single " ILY (I Love You Baby)" (2019), a song which sampled a cover of Frankie Valli's "Can't Take ...

released a

tropical house Tropical house, also known as trop house, is a subgenre of house music, and a derivation of tropical music, with elements of dancehall and Balearic house. Artists of the genre are often featured at various summer festivals such as Tomorrowland. ...

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