And Patti Austin! She is a key part of it and most of the time gets overlooked. 1975, what a time to be alive. Disco was raging, as evidenced by the beat of this song. Just love it. It was the time of the Columbia Record Club; “get 13 albums for a penny!” I actually got mine in 8-track tape. Which of course would be dead in 5 years. In just a few years he and Frankie Avalon would have great singing parts in the movie Grease.
Thinking back I suppose it was a little odd I’d get The Best of Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons as a teenager. Maybe not if it was ’65, but in ’75 it was kind of odd. But that’s the thing, its impossible to describe, but something just clicks with some people with certain singers. That Jersey voice, such a beautiful nasally sound, loved the guy for 50 years. On this particular song Our Day Will Come, as I say you have Patti Austin’s wonderful voice that frankly, it would not be the song it is without it. And the incredible horn section that the 70’s were great for. Just a masterpiece.
A few years ago I heard an interview with Terri Gross with a key writer for the Four Seasons back then by the name of Bob Gaudio. He had some really great stories from the groups early days. One of them was from the song Rag Doll. It made me choke up. He said he was driving through NYC in like ’58, when he came across this 9 yr old street urchin at an intersection. Even back then they were doing the ‘wash your windshield for a dime’ bit (a couple of years ago it was a buck I bet its a fiver now). She was clearly in desperate straits with her thinness and the rags she was wearing.
She washed Bob’s window and held out her hand, expecting a nickel or a dime (back then a quarter was a big deal, it would buy a loaf of bread). He put a $20 dollar bill in her hand and this big ol’ tear came down her cheek. A twenty in 1958 would buy several paper bags of groceries. And that’s where the song Rag Doll came from. She’d be 72 today.
Iowa life 