Doo Wop
Who can forget the harmony and the falsetto singing in “Big Girls Don’t Cry” by one of the great doo wop groups The Four Seasons? This golden oldie was written by the very talented singer/songwriter/musician/group member Bob Gaudio and their producer Bob Crewe. Gaudio was dozing off while watching the John Payne/Rhonda Fleming movie 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.
The Four Seasons recorded the song as the follow-up to their huge hit, “Sherry.” The group kept the same strong beat and Frankie Valli’s falsetto style that helped make “Sherry” so successful. Nick Massi’s bass vocals repeating the phrase “silly boy” help as well. Right around this time in November 1962, “Big Girls Don’t Cry” went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for five weeks. It also went to #1 on the Billboard Rhythm & Blues chart.
As an additional piece of trivia, the song was sung by Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance in 1963 on the first season of The Lucy Show. The episode was called “Lucy Is a Chaperone.”
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