About The Song
The song “December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)” was originally performed by the Four Seasons, written by Bob Gaudio, the original Four Seasons keyboard player, and his future wife Judy Parker. Gaudio, also the producer, included it in the group’s album “Who Loves You” in 1975, with drummer Gerry Polci taking the lead vocals. Frankie Valli, the usual lead vocalist, sang the bridge sections and provided backing vocals, while bass player Don Ciccone handled the falsetto part.
According to Bob Gaudio, the co-writer and long-time group member, the song’s lyrics were initially set in 1933 under the title “December 5th, 1933,” celebrating the repeal of Prohibition. However, at the urging of Frankie Valli and lyricist Parker, the lyrics were changed to position the song as a nostalgic remembrance of a young man’s first affair with a woman. More specifically, it reflected Gaudio’s courtship with his wife, Judy Parker.
The single was released in December 1975 and achieved number one on the UK Singles Chart on February 21, 1976. It repeated this success on the US Billboard Hot 100 on March 13, 1976, holding the top spot for three weeks and one week on Cash Box. Billboard ranked it as the No. 4 song for 1976, and on April 10 of the same year, it topped the RPM National Top Singles Chart in Canada. Although it was the final Four Seasons’ song to reach number one, Frankie Valli would later have a solo chart-topper in 1978 with the theme song to the film “Grease.”
Billboard described it as having “the flavor and fun of ’60s rock with a disco feel,” praising the production, lead vocals, and harmony vocals. Cash Box complimented its “sweet melody lines” and considered it “easy enough to sing along to, combined with an unforgettable bass line.” Record World referred to it as a “disco-flavored item in [the Four Seasons’] timeless harmony mold.”
In 1988, Dutch DJ and producer Ben Liebrand remixed the song and re-released it as a single. Curb Records, the original song’s release label, picked up the 1988 remix in 1993 and released it in the U.S. market. The remix spent 27 weeks on the Hot 100, matching the chart life of the original 1975 single. Its peak position was #14, and when combined with the original single’s chart run, the song had the longest tenure ever on the Billboard Hot 100 chart up to that time, totaling 54 weeks. The remix has a duration of five minutes and became the Four Seasons’ only charting song on the Mainstream Top 40 chart, reaching a peak of #6.
Video
Lyrics
Oh, what a night
Late December, back in ’63
What a very special time for me
As I remember, what a nightOh, what a night
You know, I didn’t even know her name
But I was never gonna be the same
What a lady, what a nightOh, I, I got a funny feeling
When she walked in the room
And my, as I recall
It ended much too soon(Oh, what a night)
Hypnotizing, mesmerizin’ me
She was everything I dreamed she’d be
Sweet surrender, what a nightAnd I felt a rush
Like a rolling bolt of thunder
Spinning my head around
And takin’ my body under
(Oh, what a night)Oh, I got a funny feeling
When she walked in the room
And my, as I recall
It ended much too soon(Oh, what a night)
Why’d it take so long to see the light?
Seemed so wrong, but now it seems so right
What a lady, what a nightOh, I felt a rush
Like a rolling bolt of thunder
Spinning my head around
And takin’ my body under(Oh, what a night)
Do do do, do do, do do do do
(Oh, what a night)
Do do do, do do, do do do do
(Oh, what a night)
Do do do, do do, do do do do
(Oh, what a night)
Do do do, do do, do do do do…