THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE: Walk Like A Man

This was prepared as a chapter for my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), but is not in that book's current blueprint. That could change, but for now, here 'tis.

An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!

THE FOUR SEASONS: Walk Like A Man

Written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio

Produced by Bob Crewe

Single, Vee-Jay Records, 1963

I'm just old enough to remember hearing the Four Seasons on pre-Beatles radio in the early '60s. That high voice of Frankie Valli calling dogs to dinner on "Sherry" and "Big Girls Don't Cry" was distinctive, but I never had much interest in the group. In my senior year of college, one of my suitemates was a Four Seasons fan, and he couldn't understand why I thought they were so uncool.

But that's what I thought. Clunky. Uncool. In later years, I developed an awareness of the sheer craft of those records, but at the time of my late '70s immersion in the righteously rockin' noise of punk, new wave, power pop, and rock 'n' roll, when my heightened affection for the '60s meant an adoration of British Invasion, garage, and the Monkees, the Four Seasons simply were not part of my preferred soundscape. They were, to me, too obviously old school, more Frank Sinatra than Rolling Stones. I didn't hate them. 

But I didn't like them, either.

You wanna hear a weird turning point? There was this 1993 movie called Heart And Souls, an inconsequential trifle starring Robert Downey Jr., Charles Grodin, Alfre Woodard, and a cast of dozens. I barely remember seeing the movie, but I remember its use of the Four Seasons' "Walk Like A Man," and I remember digging the song for the first time...ever? Could be. I can't explain what or why, but I've been into the song since that evening at the cinema.

I'm probably not ever going to be the world's biggest Four Seasons fan. I don't care about cool or uncool--I dig what I dig--but I also can't pretend that I like something more than I do. And I have no affinity whatsoever for Valli and/or the Seasons' work in the '70s and beyond; I'd be perfectly okay with never hearing "Who Loves You," "Swearin' To God," "My Eyes Adored You," "December, 1963 (Oh What A Night)," or "Grease" again. 

But.

I can appreciate some of the '60s stuff now. "Workin' My Way Back To You." "Let's Hang On!" "Big Man In Town." "Rag Doll." A relative obscurity called "Let's Ride Again." Valli's original version of "Silence Is Golden," though I do still prefer the Tremeloes' hit cover. These are terrific records, a statement of the obvious that I would not have conceded when I was in my teens or twenties. "Walk Like A Man" is freakin' superb. Hell, I might even consider seeing Jersey Boys. No rush. We're walkin' here.

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