According to songwriter Bob Gaudio, the recording was inspired by an occasion involving the homeless children who, at stop lights in the city, would run into the street and clean windshields for spare change. In the Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan neighborhood, a young girl with a dirty face and wearing ragged clothes approached Gaudio's automobile. When he reached into his wallet to pay her, he found that none of the notes were smaller than $10. He gave the girl a $10 bill. (Some accounts indicate that it was a $5 bill.)[4] "The image of her stuck in my head until I wrote 'Rag Doll'", Gaudio recalled in a 2009 interview.[5]
Billboard described the song as a "sentimental slow dance ballad."[6]Cash Box described it as "a touching, cha cha beat opus...that the group serves up in their fabulous style" and that features the "hit sounds" of Frankie Valli.[7] In 1989, critic Dave Marsh ranked "Rag Doll" at No. 401 on his list compiled in the book The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made, being one of five songs by the Four Seasons included in the book.[8] In 1997, Mojo also listed the song as one of the 'Bubbling Under' singles in its list of 'The 100 Greatest Singles Of All Time'.[9]
Accolades
In 2010, radio station WCBS-FM in New York City rated the Four Seasons' "Rag Doll" as the No. 1 song of all time, as voted on by its listeners.[10]
Cover
In 1966 the band Pooh recorded the Italian version in the single entitled Quello che non sai (What you do not know), text by Antonietta De Simone, (Vedette, VVN 33114) for the album Per quelli come noi (For those like us) of the same year (Vedette, VRM 36033).
"Rag Doll" reached the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 on July 18, 1964, and remained on top for two weeks.[15] The song was also a No. 1 hit in Canada, and reached No. 2 in the UK and No. 4 in Ireland.
