Edit for headphones, May 24, 2021.
According to Bob Gaudio (the organist/singer with The Four Seasons) the song took about 15 minutes to write and was originally titled "Jackie Baby" (in honor of then-First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy). He says it took the group longer to decide upon a name for the song than it took him to write it.
Before breaking through with this hit, the group was known by a few different names, including The Four Lovers and The Varietones. They did make an Ed Sullivan Show appearance as The Four Lovers, but couldn't score a hit. The group ended up singing backup on songs for other artists, including Danny & The Juniors and Johnny Halo. They spent much of the summer of 1962 performing local New Jersey bars before "Sherry" hit it big.
"Sherry" was the band's first nationally released single and their first number one hit, reaching the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on September 15, 1962. It remained at number one for five consecutive weeks, and number one on the R&B charts for one week.
Charts:
Canada 1
Asia+Southeast Asia 1
New Zealand 1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100: 1
U.S. Billboard R&B 1
Australia 3
UK 8
Brazil 13
SHERRY
(Bob Gaudio)
Sherry, Sherry baby
Sherry, Sherry baby
Sherry baby (Sherry baby)
Sherry, can you come out tonight (come come, come out tonight)
Sherry baby (Sherry baby)
Sherry can you come out tonight
(why don't you come out) (come out) to my twist party
(come out) where the bright moon shines
(come out) we'll dance the night away
I'm gonna make-a you mine
Sherry baby (Sherry baby)
Sherry can you come out tonight
(come come, come out tonight)
(come come, come out tonight)
you ooh better ask your mama (Sherry baby)
tell her everything is all right
(why don't you come out) (come out) with your red dress on
(come out) mmm, you look so fine
(come out) move it nice and easy
girl, you'll make me lose my mind
Sherry baby (Sherry baby)
Sherry can you come out tonight
(come come, come out tonight)
(come come, come out tonight)
Sherry, Sherry baby
(come come, come out tonight)
(come come, come out tonight)
®© WMG (on behalf of Rhino (Pure)); AMRA, LatinAutorPerf, UNIAO BRASILEIRA DE EDITORAS DE MUSICA - UBEM, Kobalt Music Publishing, SOLAR Music Rights Management, Sony ATV Publishing, EMI Music Publishing, LatinAutor - SonyATV, ASCAP, UMPG Publishing, CMRRA.
