| Walk Like a Man | |
| Cover: | Walk like a Man by The Four Seasons US vinyl A-side label.jpg |
| Caption: | A-side label of US single |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | The Four Seasons |
| Album: | Big Girls Don't Cry and Twelve Others |
| B-Side: | Lucky Ladybug |
| Released: | January 1963 |
| Recorded: | January 1963 |
| Length: | 2:17 |
| Label: | Vee-Jay |
| Producer: | Bob Crewe |
| Prev Title: | Santa Claus Is Coming to Town |
| Prev Year: | 1962 |
| Next Title: | Ain't That a Shame! |
| Next Year: | 1963 |
"Walk Like a Man" is a 1963 song written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio and originally recorded by the Four Seasons. The song is sung from the perspective of a man whose girlfriend has been belittling him, and who takes his father's advice to "walk like a man" and leave the relationship in order to preserve his dignity. The song was a #1 hit in the United States for the Four Seasons. A 1985 cover version by Divine was a top 40 hit in several European countries.
The song features the counterpoint of Nick Massi's bass voice and the falsetto of lead singer Frankie Valli.
During the sessions that produced the recording, the fire department received an emergency call from the Abbey Victoria Hotel (the building that housed the Stea-Phillips Recording Studios). As producer Bob Crewe was insisting upon recording the perfect take, smoke and water started to seep into the studio; the room directly above the studio was on fire, but Crewe had blocked the studio door. He continued recording until firemen used their axes on the door and pulled Crewe out.[1]
"Walk Like a Man" was the Four Seasons' third number one hit. It reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on March 2, 1963, remaining there for three weeks. Ths song also went to number three on the R&B singles chart.[2]
Cash Box described it as "a feelingful, cha cha beat stomper ... that again sports the falsetto gimmick" and has an "ultra-commercial arrangement by Charles Calello".[3]
Partial credits.[4]
| Chart (1963) | Peak position | |
|---|---|---|
| New Zealand (Lever Hit Parade)[5] | 1 | |
| UK[6] | 12 | |
| US Billboard Hot 100[7] | 1 | |
| US Billboard R&B[8] | 3 |
| Walk Like a Man | |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Divine |
| Album: | Maid in England |
| Released: | 1985 |
| Genre: | |
| Label: | Proto Records, Liberation Records |
| Prev Title: | T Shirts and Tight Blue Jeans |
| Prev Year: | 1984 |
| Next Title: | Twistin' The Night Away |
| Next Year: | 1985 |
Divine recorded his version of "Walk Like a Man" which was released in 1985 as the lead single from the album Maid in England.
| Chart (1985) | Peak position | |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart[12] | 75 | |
| German Singles Chart[13] | 52 | |
| Irish Singles Chart | 23 | |
| Swiss Singles Chart[14] | 28 | |
| UK Singles Chart[15] | 23 |
Other versions have been recorded by artists such as Jan & Dean (1963) off the album Jan & Dean Take Linda Surfin, the Mary Jane Girls (1986), Dreamhouse (2008) and Chance & The Phantasmics (2012). Plastic Bertrand did a version in French, entitled C'est Le Rock 'n' Roll (1978), and Hungarian band Bon Bon recorded the song with the title Sexepilem (1999).
The song is featured in the opening credits of the 1979 film The Wanderers, as well as the films Heart and Souls (1993), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) and Sleepers (1996). It is included in the 2004 biographical jukebox musical Jersey Boys, as well as the 2014 film adaptation.