Beggin'

Last updated

"Beggin'"
Beggin Dody cover .jpg
Single by the Four Seasons
from the album New Gold Hits
B-side "Dody"
ReleasedFebruary 1967 [1]
Genre Northern soul [2]
Length2:48
Label Philips
Songwriters
Producer Bob Crewe
The Four Seasons singles chronology
"Tell It to the Rain"
(1966)
"Beggin'"
(1967)
"C'mon Marianne"
(1967)
Official audio
"Beggin'" on YouTube

"Beggin'" is a song composed by Bob Gaudio and Peggy Farina and first released as a single by American band the Four Seasons in 1967. Initially charting at number 16 in the US Billboard Chart, the song became popular in the Northern soul scene in the United Kingdom in the 1970s. It has been covered multiple times, with versions by Norwegian hip-hop duo Madcon and Italian rock band Måneskin topping music charts in Europe and beyond. The Four Seasons' version was remixed in 2007 by French DJ Pilooski and re-released as a single, reaching number 32 in the UK Singles Chart, commercially outperforming the band's original release in the UK.

Contents

Original version

Keyboardist-songwriter Bob Gaudio had not written a Four Seasons single since 1965's "Girl Come Running", although he had written or co-written almost every hit for the band up to then.

"Beggin'", the second single from the Four Seasons' New Gold Hits album in 1967, marked Gaudio's "return" as the Seasons' songwriter, with a combination of Frankie Valli's impassioned soul singing and the band's more contemporary instrumentation. It was also the first Seasons single since "Dawn (Go Away)" on which Gaudio collaborated with a lyricist other than producer Bob Crewe, as lyrics were contributed by Peggy Farina (better known as Peggy Santiglia of the Angels, who sang lead on the 1963 hit "My Boyfriend's Back" and was frequently used as a background singer by Crewe).

The song, backed with "Dody" as a B-side, reached number 16 on the US Billboard Hot 100, continuing the group's string of Billboard top-20 hits. [3] However, it was overshadowed by Valli's "solo" recording of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", a Gaudio-Crewe composition, which rose to number two. It was the last Gaudio composition for the Four Seasons to chart in the top 20 until 1975's "Who Loves You".

The song is included in Act Two of the Broadway musical about the Four Seasons, Jersey Boys , in which the Seasons (here anachronistically including Nick Massi) beg mob boss Gyp DeCarlo to help them bail fellow band member Tommy DeVito out of his gambling debts. The Jersey Boys version featuring Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, Ryan Molloy and John Lloyd Young was released on the Jersey Boys (soundtrack) in 2014. The song was used as the main theme of an ad campaign for Adidas, celebrating the company's 60th anniversary.[ citation needed ]

Retrospectively, the song has been highly regarded by music critics as a strong example of the Four Seasons' vocal and arrangement abilities. Donald A. Guarisco, writing for AllMusic, described the song as "one of their finest entries" in the genre of the soul ballad, and also commended the song's "funky groove" and "Phil Spector-styled production". [4] Chris DeVille, writing for Stereogum, characterized the song as featuring a "contagiously upbeat drum part", and suggested that its sound was an early predecessor to hip-hop music. [5]

Pilooski remix

In 2007, French disc jockey Pilooski re-edited and released his version of the Four Seasons song. This version reached number 32 in the UK and number one on the UK Dance Chart. [6] [7] It is the first single from the album Beggin': The Ultimate Collection. The Pilooski re-edit does not include any new instrumentation or vocals but is purely a manipulation and remix of the original Four Seasons recording, using echo and phase-polarisation.

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI) [8] Silver200,000

Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Madcon version

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"Beggin'"
Beggin' (Madcon single - cover art).jpg
Cover used on most European releases
Single by Madcon
from the album So Dark the Con of Man
ReleasedOctober 25, 2007 (2007-10-25) [9]
Length3:38
Label
Songwriters
Producers Hitesh Ceon, Kim Ofstad, Jonny Sjo
Madcon singles chronology
"Infidelity"
(2004)
"Beggin'"
(2007)
"Back on the Road"
(2008)
Alternative cover
Madcon - Beggin' (US single).webp
US cover