Opus 17 (Don't You Worry 'bout Me)

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"Opus 17 (Don't You Worry 'bout Me)"
Opus 17 (Don't You Worry 'bout Me) - The Four Seasons.jpg
Single by The Four Seasons
from the album 2nd Vault of Gold Hits
B-side "Beggar's Parade (from the album Workin' My Way Back to You and More Great New Hits)"
ReleasedMay 1966 [1]
Genre
Length2:32
Label Philips
Songwriter(s) Sandy Linzer-Denny Randell
Producer(s) Bob Crewe
The Four Seasons singles chronology
"Peanuts"
(1966)		"Opus 17 (Don't You Worry 'bout Me)"
(1966)		"On The Good Ship Lollipop"
(1966)

"Opus 17 (Don't You Worry 'bout Me)" is a song composed by Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell and recorded by The Four Seasons in 1966 for their album Working My Way Back to You.

Contents

Background

"Opus 17" was the first hit with new full-time bassist/bass vocalist Joe Long. The title meant that this was the 17th single released by the Four Seasons.

As was the case with another Linzer-Randell contribution to the Four Seasons catalog, "Let's Hang On!", "Opus 17" features a rhythmic vocal hook within each verse, but, unlike in most Four Seasons singles up to that point, the song uses very little falsetto from Frankie Valli other than in the closing coda; by 1966, Valli was tiring of singing falsetto and, over the next several years, would begin singing music that did not require it. [4] The song begins in F-sharp major, and goes up by half scale, until it reaches the coda in B major.

Billboard praised the "excellent vocal and instrumental production." [5] Cash Box described the song as a "pulsating, blues-soaked romancer with an infectious, Seasons-associated repeating, danceable riff." [6] Record World said it "gets rolling like mad and then modulates upward." [7]

Chart history

The song was released as the official follow-up to "Working My Way Back to You" and reached the #13 position on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. [8]

Chart (1966)Peak
position
Canada RPM Top Singles [9] 33
New Zealand ( Listener ) [10] 9
South Africa (Springbok) [11] 12
UK [12] 20
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [13] 13
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 [14] 9

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Sandy Linzer is an American songwriter, lyricist, and record producer, who is best known for his songwriting collaborations with Denny Randell and Bob Crewe in the 1960s and 1970s. He co-wrote hits including "A Lover's Concerto", "Let's Hang On!", "Working My Way Back to You", "Breakin' Down the Walls of Heartache", "Native New Yorker", and "Use It Up and Wear It Out". He was nominated with Randell for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) in 2012.

Denny Randell is an American songwriter and record producer, who is best known for his songwriting collaborations with Sandy Linzer and Bob Crewe in the 1960s and 1970s. He co-wrote hits including "A Lover's Concerto", "Let's Hang On!", "Working My Way Back to You", and "Native New Yorker", and was nominated with Linzer for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) in 2012.

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References

  1. ↑ The Four Seasons; Frankie Valli (1991), Greatest Hits, Volume 2, Internet Archive, Warner Special Products, retrieved 2023-01-30
  2. ↑ A. Guarisco, Robert. "Opus 17 (Don't You Worry 'bout Me) song review". AllMusic. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  3. ↑ Stanley, Bob (13 September 2013). "1966: The London Look". Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop. Faber & Faber. p. 200. ISBN   978-0-571-28198-5.
  4. ↑ Willman, Chris (2014-06-06). "Frankie Valli on Jersey Boys and His Unlikely Success: 'The Way I Grew Up, It Was Basically Against All Odds'". Parade . Retrieved 2023-05-31.
  5. ↑ "Spotlight Singles" (PDF). Billboard. May 14, 1966. p. 18. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  6. ↑ "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. May 14, 1966. p. 18. Retrieved 2022-01-12.
  7. ↑ "Single Picks of the Week" (PDF). Record World. May 21, 1966. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
  8. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 297.
  9. ↑ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1966-06-27. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  10. ↑ Flavour of New Zealand, 26 August 1966
  11. ↑ "SA Charts 1965–March 1989" . Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  12. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 210. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  13. ↑ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 - ISBN   0-89820-089-X
  14. ↑ Cash Box Top 100 Singles, , 1966


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