Can't Take My Eyes Off You
Soul Music
BBC
4.7 • 831 Ratings
🗓️ 12 December 2013
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Few songs can claim to be - quite literally - as far reaching as the 1967 classic 'Can't Take My Eyes off You'.
Former astronaut Christopher Ferguson heard this song as an early morning wake-up call aboard the space shuttle Endeavour.
Mother of two, Michelle Noakes sang this classic piece to the baby she was told she may never be able to carry.
A honeymoon couple recall how their marriage proposal began with a hundred strong 'flash mob' performance of this track.
Singer Frankie Valli reflects on one of the most moving performances he ever gave when he sang 'Can't Take My Eyes off You' to a crowd of recently returned Vietnam Veterans.
DJ Mark Radcliffe recalls the many artists since Valli who have covered this song (not least his mum who sang along to the Andy Williams version).
Composer Bob Gaudio reveals how this piece of music began life in a room overlooking Central Park, with a melody originally penned for a children's nursery rhyme.
Series about pieces of music with a powerful emotional impact
Producer: Nicola Humphries
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2013.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Traitors is back, and so is that mysterious cloaked figure with the familiar fringe. |
| 0:06.6 | Yeah, it's me. |
| 0:07.8 | And when you've watched Claudia in the castle, join me, Ed Gamble, for the official visualised companion podcast. |
| 0:13.6 | And remember, I'll be listening. |
| 0:15.8 | Okay? |
| 0:16.6 | No, seriously, I love it. |
| 0:18.4 | What a faithful. |
| 0:19.7 | We'll unpack betrayals and spill scandalous secrets with celebrity guests, |
| 0:23.7 | traitors' legends, and murdered and banished players. |
| 0:27.0 | The Traitors Uncloat. |
| 0:28.3 | Watch on EyePlayer, listen for more on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:33.7 | One particularly relevant image that I replay time and time again is taking a moment |
| 0:40.3 | to turn all the lights off inside the space shuttle. |
| 0:45.3 | Let your eyes get dark adapted and stare at the Earth at night, |
| 0:51.3 | especially if there's a moon backlighting it. |
| 0:55.0 | Sometimes there are aurora, kind of glowing lights on the horizon that you can see. |
| 1:01.0 | Sometimes there are thunderstorms, and you witness the lightning as popping on the ground. |
| 1:07.0 | Invariably, the nights end up being very short.'re only about 20 minutes each and then the colors are |
| 1:14.2 | incredible as the sun gets ready to rise and it all happens very very quickly the sun is up in a matter of |
| 1:20.0 | seconds but as the sun prepares to rise the amazing colors that you see on the horizon are so indescribable |
| 1:26.6 | i liken it to watching a campfire. |
| 1:29.3 | You know, sometimes it's just hard to take your eyes off a campfire. |
... |
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