New Mexican Rose

"New Mexican Rose"
Single by The Four Seasons
from the album Ain't That a Shame and 11 Others
B-side	That's the Only Way (from the same album)
Released	September 1963
Format	7"
Genre	Rock
Length	2:45
Label	Vee-Jay Records
Writer(s)	Bob Crewe Charles Calello
Producer	Bob Crewe
The Four Seasons singles chronology
"Candy Girl" (1963) "New Mexican Rose" (1963) "Peanuts" (1964)

Released on the eve of a lawsuit between The Four Seasons and Vee-Jay Records, "New Mexican Rose" was the third single taken from the album Ain't That a Shame and 11 Others. The song was composed by producer Bob Crewe and arranger Charles Calello, a rare songwriting credit for the former member of The Four Lovers who would shortly replace Nick Massi as bassist for the group. While sales did not match that of the singles' predecessors, "New Mexican Rose" did make it into the Top 40 of Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart, reaching a peak position of #36 in November 1963.

It was the last Four Seasons single to appear on the Hot 100 before the British invasion transformed the American record charts in early 1964.

The B-side of the single was "That's the Only Way", written by Crewe and Robert Boulanger. It attracted some airplay on its own, reaching #88 on the Hot 100.

The record was released at a time in which a Vee-Jay management shakeup triggered a sequence of events which involved accusations by The Four Seasons involving the label's purporting to withhold royalties from record sales and Vee-Jay's accusing The Four Seasons of breach of contract (as they were starting to stockpile song recordings - such as "Dawn (Go Away)" - and withholding them from release by the record company). In the interim, Vee-Jay started repackaging already-released recordings by the group and selling them as "new" albums. While the lawsuit was not to be settled until early 1965, the group officially left Vee-Jay by the end of 1963, and "Dawn" became their first single on Philips Records in February 1964.

References

• Fred Bronson, The Billboard Book of Number One Hits, 3rd edition (Billboard Books, 1992) ISBN 0-8230-8298-9
• Joe Sasfy, Liner notes to Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons: 1962-1967 (Warner Special Products, 1987: Time-Life Music The Rock 'N' Era 2RNR-15)
• Jay Warner, American Singing Groups: A History from 1940 to Today (Hal Leonard Books, 2006) ISBN 0-634-09978-7
• Joel Whitburn, Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1993, (Billboard Publications, 1994) ISBN 0-89820-105-5
• Label, "New Mexican Rose"/"That's the Only Way", Vee-Jay single VJ 562