This weekend I went to see Jersey Boys with my family. For those not in the know, Jersey Boys is the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. One of my all time favorite songs is “December 1963 (Oh What a Night).” You will see the importance of the parenthetical phrase shortly.
I’m not sure what made it my favorite song. I first heard it at a high school dance (Senior Ball, 1995… if only it were December 1993, that would be poetic justice). I’m not sure if it was the catchy piano introduction/chord progression, how the beat was easy to dance to, how easy it was to belt out the words, or even the “doo-doo-doo-doot doots.” Maybe it was because it WAS “what a night” (not like THAT, I didn’t know the actual meaning of the song back then… just that it was a fun night of dancing with my friends).
In fact, that song became associated with me by my friends. I was at my friend Angela’s going away party this weekend and she said “Why do I have “Oh what a night” in my head? Maybe it’s because Dale’s here.” It took a lot of work for that song to become mine. After Senior Ball, I set off looking for the CD. I couldn’t find it anywhere. I tried all those catalogs in the music stores, looking up “Oh what a night.” No luck. I asked all my classmates, and they all suggested different bands and groups, and none worked. Finally, I found out it was called “December 1963” and NOT “Oh What a Night.” After that, it was easy to find that it was by the Four Seasons… and I finally had my hands on my favorite song.
It was a fun going back and remembering how much effort it took to find this needle in a haystack. Unfortunately, Napster Google hadn’t been invented yet (heck, we didn’t even have internet at the time). But on the other hand, if Google had been invented, there wouldn’t be this story.