Songfacts®:

• "Beggin'" was just a modest hit for The Four Seasons, reaching #16 in the US when it was released in 1967, but it made a global impact when it was reworked by various outfits.
  
  The song got some attention in the UK as a Northern Soul standby, and in 1968 it was covered by the British group Timebox, who took it to #38 in their country. The song was revived in 2007 by the French DJ Pilooski, who made a remix that went to #32 in the UK. Then in 2008, a Norwegian group called Madcon reworked the song into a worldwide smash that landed at the top of the charts in many European countries, including France, Belgium, and their native Norway. This version also reached #5 in the UK and #79 in the US.
  
  When the Italian band Måneskin covered it in 2017, it was a minor hit in their home country, but in 2021 Måneskin won the Eurovision Song Contest, which drew lots of interest in their back catalog and sent their version of "Beggin'" up the charts around the world. It reached #6 in the UK and #13 in the US.
• Many Four Seasons songs deal with love and loss, but this one stands out for the yearning desperation, as lead singer Frankie Valli is literally begging the girl for another chance. It sounds more like something Otis Redding or James Brown might sing.
• Bob Gaudio, who was one of the main songwriters in The Four Seasons, wrote this song with Peggy Farina of the girl group The Angels ("My Boyfriend's Back"). Gaudio's other compositions for the group include "Big Girls Don't Cry" and "Sherry."
• By 1967, The Four Seasons were on the wane, which explains why "Beggin'" didn't do better when it was first released. From 1963-1966, they were the only American group that could rival The Beatles for hits, but they couldn't sustain it into the late '60s. They returned to glory in the mid-'70s with the hits "Who Loves You" and "December 1963 (Oh What a Night)."