C'mon Marianne

Album

New Gold Hits

Label

Philips Records

Genre

Pop rock

Media Type

45s

Composer(s)

L. Russell Brown;Raymond Bloodworth

Entered Chart

Jun 10, 1967

Peak Date

Jul 15, 1967

Released

May 1967

Recorded

Unknown

Catalog #

Philips 40460

B-Side

Let's Ride Again

"C'mon Marianne" is a song composed by L. Russell Brown and Raymond Bloodworth and popularized by The Four Seasons in 1967. Produced by Bob Crewe, the single was the last Four Seasons single to reach the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the 1960s, and their last Top Ten hit until "Who Loves You" in 1975. "C'mon Marianne" hit the charts less than a month after lead singer Frankie Valli's "solo" (with Four Seasons participation) hit, "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", hit No. 2. Originally on the New Gold Hits album, a different version of the song was distributed on promotional singles distributed to disk jockeys and released commercially, but when people did not react positively to a recording that was slower than and mixed differently from the "more familiar" LP version, the single was replaced with the album version. Ultimately, "C'mon Marianne" reached the No. 9 position on the Hot 100. This song begins with Acapella in B-Flat Major, with the first verse beginning in G Minor. After the repeated refrains, which ends in a descending vocal repeat of "Marianne", making it sound like a psychedelic song, the key of the song descends to the second verse that begins in F-Sharp Minor, with the repeated refrains in A Major, before the song's fade out. Cash Box called it an "infectious, fast-moving toe-tapper." The song sported a riff which The Doors also appropriated in their 1968 single "Touch Me". In the following year, 1968, the song was covered by Grapefruit, a London-based group headed by Glaswegian George Alexander (b. Alexander Young), who was the older brother of George Young (from The Easybeats) and of Malcolm and Angus Young of AC/DC. The single, their third, also appeared on their first album, Around Grapefruit (1968). In 1976, Donny Osmond recorded "C'mon Marianne" (with the Osmond Brothers providing backing vocals) and it was released on his album Disco Train as well as the Donny and Marie album Featuring Songs from Their Television Show. The song reached No. 38 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 25 on the magazine's Easy Listening chart. Songwriter L. Russell Brown would compose (or co-compose) a string of hit records in the 1970s, including several recorded by Dawn featuring Tony Orlando.

(Marianne, Marianne, Marianne, Marianne)

[Verse 1]
Whoa-ho-ho here I am on my knees again
I'll do anything just to make it right
Say you'll understand, oh I know you can
C'mon Marianne

[Verse 2]
No matter what people say, it didn't happen that way
She was a passing fling and not a permanent thing
Say you'll understand, oh I know you can

[Chorus]
C'mon Marianne (baby)
C'mon Marianne (baby)
C'mon Marianne (baby)
Say you can understand
My Marianne, Marianne, Marianne, Marianne

[Verse 3]
Well now your big brown eyes are all full of tears
From the bitterness of my cheatin' years
So I hang my head, wish that I was dead

[Chorus]
C'mon Marianne (baby)
C'mon Marianne (baby)
C'mon Marianne (baby)
Say you can understand
My Marianne (baby)
C'mon Marianne (baby)
C'mon Marianne (baby)
Marianne, Marianne, Marianne, Marianne