Dawn (Go Away)

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"Dawn (Go Away)"
Single by The Four Seasons
from the album Dawn (Go Away) and 11 Other Great Songs
B-side"No Surfin' Today (from the album Born To Wander)"
ReleasedJanuary 1964
RecordedNovember 1963
GenreRock
Length2:10
LabelPhilips
Songwriter(s)Bob Gaudio-Sandy Linzer
Producer(s)Bob Crewe
The Four Seasons singles chronology
"Peanuts"
(1963) 		"Dawn (Go Away)"
(1964) 		"Stay"
(1964)

"Dawn (Go Away)" is a song written by Bob Gaudio and Sandy Linzer and recorded by The Four Seasons[1] in November 1963.[2] The song hit No. 3 in the early part of 1964. According to Billboard, it was the 25th biggest hit single of the year, placing behind "Rag Doll", another Four Seasons hit, which was No. 24.[3]

Background[]

It was recorded as the Four Seasons were involved in a royalty dispute with Vee-Jay Records. As the lawsuit proceeded, the group recorded "Dawn" and a handful of other songs and withheld the master tapes from Vee-Jay, which then claimed breach of contract. The dispute was not settled until 1965, a year after the Four Seasons officially left Vee-Jay.

The group signed with Philips Records, a subsidiary of Mercury Records, shortly thereafter. "Dawn (Go Away)" was released in January 1964. It took four weeks to climb the Billboard Hot 100 chart to #3 on February 29, 1964,[4] prevented from going higher by The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You", which turned became the top two singles of 1964. "Dawn" remained at #3 for three weeks, then dropped to make way for two further Beatles singles ("Twist and Shout" and "Please Please Me"). During its six-week run in the Top Ten, only Beatles hits ranked above it in the chart.[5]

Originally written as a folk song, arranger Charles Calello sped it up and, at Valli's suggestion, added a galloping rhythm guitar borrowed from Kai Winding's version of "More". Drummer Buddy Saltzman accented the recording with bombastic around-the-kit fills and ghost notes without using any cymbals.[6]

The single version, with a two-line sung introduction, was never recorded in true stereo. Early "stereo" album releases were (with the high and low frequencies on one channel and the midrange on the other); later stereo issues, from the Edizione d'Oro greatest hits album onward, include different takes of the recording. One begins with a short drum intro, featuring a louder and more frantic drum backing by Saltzman, and slightly different vocals. Both versions are listed as 2 minutes 11 seconds long, but in fact the stereo Dawn is 2 minutes 30 seconds, and the mono Dawn with the "Pretty as midsummer's morn. They called her Dawn" intro is 2 minutes 45 seconds.[7]

"Dawn (Go Away)" was the only Philips single crediting the Four Seasons that did not have the notation "featuring the 'sound' of Frankie Valli".

References[]

  1. ^ Bob Gaudio interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969)
  2. ^ "Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons Sessionography Part 4". That 'Four Seasons' Sound. 2012. Retrieved July 24, 2020. November 1963, as they pursued their law suit against the soon to be defunct Vee-Jay label, saw their first milestone recording which would launch their new sound and hits....but not at Philips studios as they prepared to sign contracts, but at Atlantic Studios. Charlie Calello had his biggest part to date in arranging the song...”We recorded "Dawn (Go Away)" at Atlantic studios. That was our first opportunity to work on 8 track. It was an extreme luxury to have the bass and drums on their own track. It was amazing. “
  3. ^ https://top40weekly.com/top-100-songs-1955-2015/
  4. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 238.
  5. ^ "Billboard Hot 100 Charts – The Sixties/The Seventies", Record Research Inc, 1990
  6. ^ https://www.bapresley.com/silverthreads/history/magazine/buddysaltzman.html
  7. ^ Thomas J McKeon personally playing and observing phonograph records, August 28-September 1, 2013

External links[]

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