The 1966 Motown classic that was originally a hit way back in 1936
The whole reason for the existence of Motown was to bring a new sound of music and representation to audiences that needed to hear it, and then the rest of the world who learned to love it.
Yet despite their acclaim, The Four Seasons are perhaps not instantly the type of band you would imagine being signed to those ranks. Those four young Italian American men from New Jersey were hardly adopting a newfound home in Detroit, but nevertheless, when times got tough, they found themselves knocking on the door of the hit-making machine that was Motown.
The band’s usual shrill tones on the likes of ‘Sherry’ were far from the standard soul and R&B fodder, but nevertheless, after leaving the record label Phillips following a string of commercial failures, they were signed to the Motown West Coast subsidiary MoWest and started out on a new streak of success, which began with a now classic song.
‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin’ is one of those tunes where the era you grew up in largely dictates the artist you know it from. The Four Seasons made it a top ten hit in 1966, but it was equally a signature song for Frank Sinatra, and Neneh Cherry even had a go in the 1990s. However, none of those could be credited as the original owner.
The holder of that title stretches far further back in time than you may think, as it was actually Cole Porter who wrote the original version way back in 1936. That was an era in which the rich scores of Motown could never have been imagined, but it just goes to show that in the span of just over 20 years, so much could change in life, and in music.
Indeed, as much as Porter was one of the most prolific, if not also tragic, composers in American history, his body of work spanned the length and breadth of the entire musical canon. Broadway and the West End, classic standards, and eventually Motown – was there anything the man couldn’t achieve, in life and in death?
The point was that The Four Seasons achieved a hit with ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin’ no less than 30 years after it was first written, and two years after Porter himself had passed away. Their presence at Motown somewhat subverted expectations, but so did the fact that such an old song could have new life breathed into it.
It was a bright spark of success for the band, proving that despite a bit of a downturn compared to the hits they enjoyed at the start of the ‘60s, they were still capable of greatness. It would be a few more years yet before they saw those glimmers of success sustained in any way, but ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin’ proved that The Four Seasons could, indeed, worm their way to people’s hearts.
In all of Motown’s most famous roster of talent, you can imagine that there would be more obvious names that would make the cut above The Four Seasons. But even still, this was a band who defined the ‘60s and ‘70s through their own pop style, with a little help at times from the classic overtures of Porter.
