Rag Doll (The Four Seasons song)

"Rag Doll" is a popular song written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio. It was recorded by the Four Seasons and released as a single in 1964. It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on July 18, 1964, and remained on top for two weeks.[1] The song was also a number one hit in Canada, and reached number two in the UK and number four in Ireland.

"Rag Doll"
Single by The Four Seasons
from the album Rag Doll
B-side"Silence Is Golden" (from the album Born to Wander)
ReleasedJune 1964
Recorded1964
GenrePop
Length2:54
LabelPhilips Records
Songwriter(s)Bob Crewe
Bob Gaudio
Producer(s)Bob Crewe
The Four Seasons singles chronology
"Alone"
(1964)
"Rag Doll"
(1964)
"Save It for Me"
(1964)

According to songwriter Bob Gaudio, the recording was inspired by one of the homeless people cleaning windshields. At stop lights in the Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan neighborhood, children would run into the street and clean windshields for spare change, including one young girl with a dirty face and wearing ragged clothes who approached his automobile. When Gaudio reached into his wallet to pay her, he found that none of the notes were smaller than $10. He gave the girl a ten-dollar bill. (Some accounts indicate that it was a five-dollar bill.)[2] "The image of her stuck in my head until I wrote 'Rag Doll'", Gaudio recalled in a 2009 interview.[3]

The B-side was the original version of "Silence Is Golden", also written by Crewe and Gaudio. In 1967, that song was covered by the English band the Tremeloes and peaked at number 1 on the UK Singles Chart and number 11 on the US charts.[4][5]

In 1989, critic Dave Marsh ranked "Rag Doll" at No. 401 on his list compiled in the book The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made, being one of five songs by the Four Seasons listed in the book.[6] In 1997, Mojo also listed the song as one of the 'Bubbling Under' singles in its list of 'The 100 Greatest Singles Of All Time'.[7]

In 2010, radio station WCBS-FM in New York City ranked the Four Seasons' "Rag Doll" as the number-one song of all time, as voted on by its listeners.[8]

Personnel

Source.[9]

The Four Seasons
Additional musician and production staff

Chart history

References


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