The Four Seasons

#13 Dawn (Go Away) -- The Four Seasons 1964

Let’s leave the heavy and psychedelic tunes for today and go back to 1964 when I was just 13 and could carry my record collection around in one hand. I was listening to the radio one day – I don’t remember the specifics, but the most likely scenario was at the breakfast counter, with my mother serving our breakfast and listening to the AM radio and local Mason City, Iowa, radio station KRIB. Back then, it was rare for tunes to run back to back, especially without being announced, but I usually tuned all the talking out. Then there was acapella introduction:

 Pretty as a midsummer’s morn
They call her Dawn

 Well, I was hooked. Other Four Seasons hits on the radio were listenable, but I didn’t wait for them to be played or buy the records. Up till then, the Four Seasons had some success with “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” and “Walk Like a Man.” Nice tunes, well-harmonized, I enjoyed hearing them on the radio, cruising up and down “Federal” (our town’s main drag) or in my room at night. The song was something of a switch for the group that had recorded songs with some swagger, like “Walk Like a Man.” In it the singer berates himself and lists the reasons “I’m no good for you” and she should take up with this other guy:

 Think (think)
What a big man he'll be
Think
Of the places you'll see
Now think what the future would be with a poor boy like me
Dawn go away…

 The Four Seasons’ trademark was always Frankie Valli’s powerful tenor voice and his remarkable falsetto. Of course (for me), the song has some unusual drum work with flashy around-the-kit fills and ghost notes, and as far as I can tell, no cymbals. The galloping rhythm guitar reminds one of Kai Winding’s version of “More” (the theme from Mondo Cane). I know I probably sound as if I’m speaking another language to some of you young’uns, so I’ll leave it there. The bottom line is, I bought the 45 rpm single.

 This is the only Phillips recording that did not credit the song to The Four Seasons “featuring the 'sound' of Frankie Valli.” “Dawn (Go Away)” made it to #3 on the charts, prevented from reaching #1 by a couple of recordings by some newbie foreigners – “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “She Loves You,” by the Beatles. It stayed at #3 for three weeks and was bumped because of the Beatles’ recordings “Twist and Shout” and “Please Please Me.” According to Wikipedia, during its six weeks on the top 10 Billboard charts, only Beatles’ recordings ranked higher.

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