LET’S HANG ON (To What We Got)
There ain’t no good in our goodbyin’
True love takes a lot of tryin
Oh__ I’m cryin __Although a hand and glove fit with the rest of the song and record, this opening verse to "Let’s Hang On" was not yet written at the time the music track to the original Four Seasons recording was done.
After the track was recorded, the writers, the producer and the group still wanted an additional beginning for the record. To put the icing on, it seemed that adding a slower verse in front of the already recorded track might bring an even higher level of (first) emotion (and then) "kick" to the start of the record.
So after the session Denny and his song collaborators Bob Crewe (also the Four Season’s producer) and Sandy Linzer immediately created the now well-known verse. Once written, it also provided a great set-up for song’s story line.
Recording of this new verse was quickly put on the next day’s vocal recording schedule and, with the Seasons playing and singing live, the verse was recorded and then edited on to the front of the existing tape to finish the master.
Denny has always felt that the intended mood change in connecting this slower opening verse to the up-tempo groove & fuzz guitar figure that follows is forever enhanced by the change in the sound at the point where the warmer and more present sound of the verse (recorded at Stea-Phillips Studios) was edited to the rawer and edgier sound of the rest of the track (recorded at Olmstead Sound).
In writing "Let’s Hang On", Denny’s original concept, as he had described it to Frankie Valli before the song was completed, was to create a fresher, more current bag for the Seasons (with both the song and the record) by combining the Four Seasons unique vocal sound and stylings with certain Motown influenced R & B elements.
"Let’s Hang On" was the first Four Seasons Record to feature an R & B styled horn section and vibes in the rhythm section (as did "Workin My Way Back To You" and "Opus 17", the songs of Denny’s that became the Four Season’s following two hits.)
The record also has a snare drum on every beat, played by Denny at the Stea-Phillips Session as an overdub on top of the original track which had the snare playing only on the back beats (2 and 4). ) Also done at Stea-Phillips was a hand clapping, foot stomping track and a tamborine overdub by Bob Crewe.
Since the release and success of this original recording of "Let’s Hang On", the song has been recorded by a number of other artists including the hit recording by Barry Manilow (Arista Records) in 1982. Barry later told Denny that he’d been singing the song in his live show and audience response moved him to record it.
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