According to songwriter Bob Gaudio, the recording was inspired by an occasion involving the homeless children who, at stop lights in the city, would run into the street and clean windshields for spare change. In the
Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan neighborhood, a young girl with a dirty face and wearing ragged clothes approached Gaudio's automobile. When he reached into his wallet to pay her, he found that none of the notes were smaller than $10. He gave the girl a $10 bill. (Some accounts indicate that it was a $5 bill.) "The image of her stuck in my head until I wrote 'Rag Doll'", Gaudio recalled in a 2009 interview. Bassist and arranger
Nick Massi considered the record to be his favorite of his work with the Seasons.
Billboard described the song as a "sentimental slow dance ballad."
Cash Box described it as "a touching, cha cha beat opus...that the group serves up in their fabulous style" and that features the "hit sounds" of
Frankie Valli. In 1989, critic
Dave Marsh ranked "Rag Doll" at No. 401 on his list compiled in the book
The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made, being one of five songs by the Four Seasons included in the book. In 1997,
Mojo also listed the song as one of the 'Bubbling Under' singles in its list of 'The 100 Greatest Singles Of All Time'. ==Accolades==