The “Golden Hits Of The 60s” 

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BOB CREWE GENERATION

“MUSIC TO WATCH GIRLS BY”

(Tony Velona, Sid Ramin)    Dyno Voice 229

No. 15    February 11, 1967

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For years, Bob Crewe seemed to be able to do no wrong.  (Near) Everything he touched turned to gold–gold

records..

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“Music To Watch Girls By” was born as jingle music for a mid­ ’60s Diet Pepsi ad campaign.  Crewe, a studio

veteran,  best known for his production and  songwriting work with the Four Seasons, thought the tune  was

catchy enough to record as a pop single for general release. He swiftly assembled a studio full of session

musicians to play seven brass instruments, three saxes, three guitars, a piano, drums, tympana, and a

zylophone as the Bob Crewe Generation.

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Although none of the Generation’s subsequent  musical musings approached the popularity of  “Music

To Watch Girls By,” Crewe’s crew did do well with their Music to Watch Girls By (1967) LP and a follow-

up single entitled “Birds Of Britain” (#89, 1967).   More  than a decade  would pass before Bob-as a

recording artist–would bounced back with “Street Talk” (#56, 1976), issued under the acronym B. C. G.

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Bob was born Stardey Robert Crewe on November 12, 1937, in Newark, New Jersey.   During the ’50 s,

Crewe moved to Detroit, then to Philadelphia, recording numerous puffy/teen-idol sides for the BBC,

Jubilee, Spotlight, Vik, U.T,  Warwick, and ABC­ Paramount labels.  Some of his later efforts were quite

solid; “Sweetie Pie” and “The Whiffenpoof Song” (#96, “1960) almost connected.

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In Philadelphia, Crewe took up painting, modeled for magazine ads, and dabbled in interior decorating.

In 1953, he struck up a friendship with a piano-playing Texan named Frank Slay, Jr. Together, Crewe and

Slay wrote and arranged songs, set up the XYZ label, and did some independent  production work.  One of

their earliest successes was the double-sided 1957 smash “Silhouettes”  b/w “Daddy Cool” by THE RAYS.

Before parting ways in the early ’60s, the  team of  Crewe and  Slay worked on disks by Billie & Lillie,

Freddie Cannon, and Dickie Doo & The Don’ts, to name but a few.

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Bob Crewe is  best known to rock’n’roll fans for his instrumental role in shaping the phenomenal career

of the Four Seasons.  From the group’s release of  “Bermuda” in 1961, through 1967, Bob produced all of

their recordings.  With one of the Seasons, Bob Gaudio, Crewe also co-wrote many of the group’s most

memorable musical moments–“Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Let’s Hang On,” “Rag Doll,” and “Walk Like A Man.”

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Before success stalled, Crewe went on to form music  publishing companies, record labels (Crewe, Dyno

Voice), and to produce or write for such artists as the Eleventh Hour, Lesley Gore, the Highwaymen, Ben E.

King, La Belle, Oliver, DIANE  RENAY, Mitch Ryder  & The Detroit  Wheels, NORMA  TANEGA,  Disco Tex 

& The Sexolettes, and Frankie Valli.

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To observers, Bob Crewe could do little wrong and had it all; seemingly.  One over the edge day in 1974, Bob

walked into his den where all his gold records filled the walls–floor to ceiling–and flew into a rage.   “I took

them all of the wall, went out onto the terrace and pounded all the gold records into a ball with a sledge

hammer and threw it down into a ravine,” said Bob to Rolling Stone’s Rob Tannenbaum.

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The incident stirred Crewe to realize that he needed help.  “Fun had became the first three letters in the

word funeral” he said, of what had been a long bout with the booze and drugs.  “I decided it was time to cool

it.”

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To all, Bob Crewe had it all; alone with himself, he felt hollow and undeserving.  “My father was a hard-

working man, and here I was making big bucks on music, and fun and games.”

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He spent a year sobbering up.  In 1977, a serious car accident laid him up for six months; followed by three

years of intense physical therapy.  In 1980, Bob met Martha Friedman, author of Overcoming The Fear of

Success.   With her assistance, he overcame what he felt was a tremendous writers block.  “I used to

complain to her that I couldn’t come up with great, fabulous, tremendous ideas and she would say, ‘Cut

the crap and write ordinary.'”

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Crewe now spends time painting and sculpting.   He continues to write ‘ordinary’ and with Sugar Loaf’s

Jerry Corbetta formed C.C. Trax.