Can’t Take My Eyes Off You – by by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio (1967) with sheet music (available in our online Library), performed by 101 Strings Orchestra.
“Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” is a 1967 song written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio. It was recorded as a single by Frankie Valli.
The song was among his biggest hits, earning a gold record and reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a week, stuck behind “Windy” by the Association.
Gaudio was a bandmate of Valli’s in the Four Seasons. It was Valli’s biggest solo hit until he hit No. 1 in 1975 with “My Eyes Adored You”.Bob Gaudio, an original member of the Four Seasons, refers to “Eyes” today as “the one that almost got away” until Windsor, Ontario radio station CKLW (a station also serving the Detroit metro on the American side of the border) intervened.
In 1967, the record’s producers urged Paul Drew, program director at the legendary station, to consider the tune for rotation. For much of the ’60s and ’70s, CKLW was credited with launching hit records via its powerful signal, blanketing the Great Lakes region.
Drew didn’t warm to the song at first, but accepted an invitation to hear it live at the Roostertail, where Frankie Valli was performing a weeklong stint with the Four Seasons. Drew liked what he heard and added the song to his station’s playlist. “The switchboards lit up, and the rest, as they say, is history,” Gaudio recalls.”Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” has been recorded in many other arrangements, many of which have been on the charts in different countries.
The song is a staple of television and film soundtracks, even being featured as part of the plot of some films, such as when the lead characters sing or arrange their own version of the song. The Valli version was also used by NASA as a wake-up song on the STS-126 Space Shuttle mission, to celebrate the anniversary of astronaut Christopher Ferguson, one of the mission’s crew members.
The song was written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio. Arrangement was done by Artie Schroeck and Gaudio. The original recording was made at A & R Studio 2 (formerly Columbia Studio A) 799 7th Avenue in New York City, with Bob Crewe producing and Phil Ramone engineering.
The song has been recorded by many artists. Among the most notable examples are the following: The Lettermen (#7 in 1967, in a medley with “Goin’ Out of My Head”) A version by Andy Williams made it to #5 on the UK singles chart in 1968.[17] The arranger and producer was Nick DeCaro and the conductor was Eddie Karam.
This version is included in the soundtrack of the 2001 film Bridget Jones’s Diary. It is also included in the soundtrack for Black Mirror Season 5 Episode 2; Smithereens. In 2002 he recorded a new version of the song, as a duet with British actress and singer Denise van Outen, which reached #23 in the UK singles charts. Maureen McGovern (#27 on the US Adult Contemporary chart in 1979; #5 Canadian AC in 1980).
1991, Pet Shop Boys used part of the song on their version of U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name”, which reached #4 in the U.K. and #72 in the U.S.[citation needed] 1992, Dutch singers Gerard Joling and Tatjana Šimić recorded a duet version of the song (including a rap segment by Darrell Bell), which peaked at #5 in the Dutch Top 40 charts. 1993, the song was recorded by a-ha singer Morten Harket for the soundtrack of the movie Coneheads (1993). 1998, Lauryn Hill (#35 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart and #2 on the Rhythmic Top 40 chart in 1998 and #8 on the Australian Singles Charts).
This version was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1999. 2004, Jennifer Peña recorded a Latin version of the song, “No Hay Nadie Igual Como Tú”, which reached #33 on the Latin charts. 2011, Stereophonics frontman Kelly Jones sang an acoustic version of the song in tribute to former Wales national football team manager Gary Speed.
The song was adopted as an anthem for Welsh football fans during Speed’s playing career with Wales after being used in a BBC Wales promo for the 1994 World Cup qualifying campaign. In 2013, the vocal harmony group the Overtones covered the song for the official soundtrack of the German film Buddy.
In 2014, John Lloyd Young covered the song for the movie Jersey Boys about the band the Four Seasons in which he played Frankie Valli. 101 Strings Orchestra was a brand for a highly successful easy listening symphonic music organization, with a discography exceeding 150 albums and a creative lifetime of around 30 years beginning in 1957. 101 Strings had a trademark sound, focusing on melody with a laid-back ambiance most often featuring strings.
Their LPs were individualized by the slogan “The Sound of Magnificence”, a puffy cloud logo and sepia-toned photo of the orchestra. The 101 Strings orchestra included 124 string instruments, and was conducted by Wilhelm Stephan. The orchestra’s famous official photograph was taken in the Musikhalle Hamburg.
Sheet Music Lyrics:
You’re just too good to be true
Can’t take my eyes off of you
You’d be like Heaven to touch
I wanna hold you so much
At long last, love has arrived
And I thank God I’m alive
You’re just too good to be true
Can’t take my eyes off of you
Pardon the way that I stare
There’s nothin’ else to compare
The sight of you leaves me weak
There are no words left to speak
But if you feel like I feel
Please let me know that it’s real
You’re just too good to be true
Can’t take my eyes off of you
I love you, baby
And if it’s quite alright
I need you, baby
To warm the lonely night
I love you, baby
Trust in me when I say
Oh, pretty baby
Don’t bring me down, I pray
Oh, pretty baby
Now that I’ve found you, stay
And let me love you, baby
Let me love you
You’re just too good to be true
Can’t take my eyes off of you
You’d be like Heaven to touch
I wanna hold you so much
At long last, love has arrived
And I thank God I’m alive
You’re just too good to be true
Can’t take my eyes off you
I love you, baby
And if it’s quite alright
I need you, baby
To warm the lonely night
I love you, baby
Trust in me when I say
Oh, pretty baby
Don’t bring me down, I pray
Oh, pretty baby
Now that I’ve found you, stay
Oh, pretty baby
Trust in me when I say
Oh, pretty baby