Up on the Roof (song)
Encyclopedia
"Up on the Roof" is a song written by Gerry Goffin
and Carole King
and recorded in 1962 by The Drifters
. Released at the tail end of that year, the song became a big hit in early 1963, reaching number five on the U.S. pop singles chart
and number 4 on the U.S. R&B singles chart
.
Brill Building
writers:
Illustrated History of Rock & Roll described "Up on the Roof" as "in every way a remarkable pop song for 1962," and in particular said of the above lyric, "From the internal rhyme of 'stairs' and 'cares' to the image of ascending from the street to the stars by way of an apartment staircase, it's first-rate, sophisticated writing."
In 2004, The Drifters' "Up on the Roof" was named number 113 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. It is one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
The song was featured extensively in the 1992 episode of Reading Rainbow
entitled "Tar Beach." The episode focused on urban rooftops and used the song in both a video segment and during the end credits.
; however, a recording by English variety show entertainer Kenny Lynch
, released at almost the same time, was hitting number 10 on the UK Singles Chart
. Leeds
singer Julie Grant followed it with another rendition, posting modestly on the UK Singles Chart at number 33 in 1963.
Goffin-King babysitter and song recipient Little Eva
included it as a track on her only LP offering, LLLLLoco-Motion, in late 1962.
The song has been recorded by other artists numerous times since, including by The Cryan' Shames
(1968, a very minor hit at number 85 on the U.S. pop singles chart), Laura Nyro
on Christmas and the Beads of Sweat
(1970, an even more minor hit at number 92 on the U.S. pop singles chart, but nonetheless Nyro's only appearance there), Carole King herself on the 1970 album Writer
, Tony Orlando and Dawn
(on several 1970s albums), Ike and Tina Turner on the 1973 album Let Me Touch Your Mind, James Taylor
on Flag
(1979), Neil Diamond
on the appropriately titled Up On The Roof: Songs From The Brill Building
(1993), The Nylons
on their 1993 "Best Of" compilation, Kenny Rankin
, Billy Joe Royal
, Peter Cincotti
, Robson and Jerome, and II D Extreme
. The song is still performed by Rockapella
at many of their concerts, and appears on the live album In Concert
(2001).
Clifford
of The Muppets
performed the song on a 1997 episode of Muppets Tonight
.
Of these, the best known in the U.S. is Taylor's; it was released as a single, charting modestly into the Top 30 of the U.S. pop singles chart in 1979. Rearranged around Taylor's trademark acoustic guitar
playing and vocal accents and interjections, it became a concert staple of his, often with a star-lit urban dreamscape presented behind the stage halfway through the number as his band played unison ascending notes to echo the song's theme. It was included on his 1993 live album (LIVE)
and his 2000 Greatest Hits Volume 2 compilation, and was played at The Concert For New York City
following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, where he introduced it as representing his and the writers' positive feelings for the city. Taylor and King performed the song together, switching back and forth from one's arrangement to the other, as the first encore during their 2010 Troubadour Reunion Tour
shows.
The best known of these in the UK is that of Robson & Jerome
; recorded in 1995 and released as a double A side along with their version of "I Believe
," it reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
. Its arrangement hewed close to The Drifters' original; the accompanying music video
showed the duo cavorting atop a midtown Manhattan
skyscraper
.
Gerry Goffin
Gerry Goffin is an American lyricist. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 with former songwriting partner and first wife, Carole King. he has co-written six Billboard Hot 100 chart-toppers.-Career:Goffin enlisted with the Marine Corps Reserve after graduating from...
and Carole King
Carole King
Carole King is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. King and her former husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have become standards. As a singer, King had an album, Tapestry, top the U.S...
and recorded in 1962 by The Drifters
The Drifters
The Drifters are a long-lived American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal group with a peak in popularity from 1953 to 1963, though several splinter Drifters continue to perform today. They were originally formed to serve as Clyde McPhatter's backing group in 1953...
. Released at the tail end of that year, the song became a big hit in early 1963, reaching number five on the U.S. pop singles chart
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
and number 4 on the U.S. R&B singles chart
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
.
Content
In addition to the hit appeal of the "second Drifters" lineup, "Up on the Roof" epitomized the urban romantic dream as presented by New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
Brill Building
Brill Building
The Brill Building is an office building located at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, just north of Times Square and further uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood...
writers:
- When this old world starts getting me down,
- And people are just too much for me to face—
- I climb way up to the top of the stairs
- And all my cares just drift right into space ...
Personnel
The personnel from The Drifters' recording were- Jimmy Nottingham, Jimmy Sadler (trumpet)
- Jimmy Cleveland, Frank Sarraco (trombone)
- Carole King, Ernie Hayes (piano)
- Al Casamenti, Don Arnone, Bob Bushnell (guitar)
- George Duvivier (bass)
- Gary Chester (drums)
- Bobby Rosegarden (strings)
- George Devens (percussion)
Reception and legacy
The 1980 Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
Illustrated History of Rock & Roll described "Up on the Roof" as "in every way a remarkable pop song for 1962," and in particular said of the above lyric, "From the internal rhyme of 'stairs' and 'cares' to the image of ascending from the street to the stars by way of an apartment staircase, it's first-rate, sophisticated writing."
In 2004, The Drifters' "Up on the Roof" was named number 113 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. It is one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
The song was featured extensively in the 1992 episode of Reading Rainbow
Reading Rainbow
Reading Rainbow is an American children's television series aired by PBS from June 6, 1983 until November 10, 2006 that encouraged reading among children. The award-winning public television series garnered over 200 broadcast awards, including scores of Emmy Awards, many for "Outstanding Children's...
entitled "Tar Beach." The episode focused on urban rooftops and used the song in both a video segment and during the end credits.
Other recordings
The Drifters' version was not a hit in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
; however, a recording by English variety show entertainer Kenny Lynch
Kenny Lynch
Kenny Lynch, OBE is an English singer, songwriter, entertainer and actor from London. Lynch appeared in many variety shows in the 1960s...
, released at almost the same time, was hitting number 10 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
singer Julie Grant followed it with another rendition, posting modestly on the UK Singles Chart at number 33 in 1963.
Goffin-King babysitter and song recipient Little Eva
Little Eva
Eva Narcissus Boyd , known by the stage name of Little Eva , was an American pop singer.-Biography:...
included it as a track on her only LP offering, LLLLLoco-Motion, in late 1962.
The song has been recorded by other artists numerous times since, including by The Cryan' Shames
The Cryan' Shames
The Cryan' Shames is an American garage rock group from Hinsdale, Illinois. They originally formed as The Travelers, with founding members Tom Doody , Gerry Stone , Dave Purple of The Prowlers, Denny Conroy and Jim Fairs from The Roosters, Jim Pilster , and Bill Hughes...
(1968, a very minor hit at number 85 on the U.S. pop singles chart), Laura Nyro
Laura Nyro
Laura Nyro was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist. She achieved considerable critical acclaim with her own recordings, particularly the albums Eli and the Thirteenth Confession and New York Tendaberry, and had commercial success with artists such as Barbra Streisand and The 5th...
on Christmas and the Beads of Sweat
Christmas and the Beads of Sweat
- Personnel :-References:Michele Kort's biography Soul Picnic: The Music and Passion of Laura Nyro -External Links:...
(1970, an even more minor hit at number 92 on the U.S. pop singles chart, but nonetheless Nyro's only appearance there), Carole King herself on the 1970 album Writer
Writer (album)
Writer is the first solo album by Carole King and was released in 1970. Carole King had already started her career as a songwriter and been a part of The City. The top song was "Child of Mine", then "Up on the Roof" which was a number 4 hit for the Drifters in 1962 and later covered by James Taylor...
, Tony Orlando and Dawn
Tony Orlando and Dawn
Tony Orlando and Dawn was a pop music group that was popular in the 1970s. Their signature hits include "Candida", "Knock Three Times", "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree", and "He Don't Love You ".-History:...
(on several 1970s albums), Ike and Tina Turner on the 1973 album Let Me Touch Your Mind, James Taylor
James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000....
on Flag
Flag (James Taylor album)
Flag is singer-songwriter James Taylor's ninth album. Released in 1979, it included songs from Taylor's music score to Studs Terkel and Stephen Schwartz's Broadway musical, Working ....
(1979), Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
on the appropriately titled Up On The Roof: Songs From The Brill Building
Up on the Roof: Songs from the Brill Building
Up On The Roof: Songs From The Brill Building is a cover album, released in 1993 by Neil Diamond on Columbia Records. It contains a duet with Dolly Parton, along with re-makes of tracks associated with the Brill Building, where Diamond had worked in the 1960s.It was certified Gold by the Recording...
(1993), The Nylons
The Nylons
The Nylons are an a cappella group founded in 1978 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Best known for their covers of The Turtles' "Happy Together", Steam's "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye", and The Tokens' version of the traditional "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"....
on their 1993 "Best Of" compilation, Kenny Rankin
Kenny Rankin
Kenny Rankin was an American pop and jazz singer and songwriter, originally from the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City, New York.-Biography:...
, Billy Joe Royal
Billy Joe Royal
Billy Joe Royal is an American singer.-Biography:Born in Valdosta and raised in Marietta in 1942, Royal became a local star at Savannah, Georgia's Bamboo Ranch in the 1950s and 1960s...
, Peter Cincotti
Peter Cincotti
Peter Cincotti is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He attended the Horace Mann School and Columbia University.-Biography:...
, Robson and Jerome, and II D Extreme
II D Extreme
II D Extreme was an American new jack swing/urban R&B group from the early 1990s that included D'Extra Wiley, Randy Gill and Jermaine Mickey...
. The song is still performed by Rockapella
Rockapella
Rockapella is an American a cappella musical group formed in 1986 in New York City. Their name is derived from the words "rock" and "a cappella". They sing original vocal music and a cappella covers of pop and rock songs; over time, their sound has evolved from high-energy pop and world music...
at many of their concerts, and appears on the live album In Concert
In Concert (Rockapella album)
In Concert is the twelfth overall, seventh North American album, and first live concert album by the a cappella group Rockapella. It was recorded live on December 9, 2000 at The Lobero Theater in Santa Barbara, CA. A corresponding DVD was also filmed as part of a PBS Special...
(2001).
Clifford
Clifford (Muppet)
Clifford is a Muppet character, performed by Kevin Clash. He is a violet-colored creature with multi-colored dreadlocks and big lips. Like many other Muppets, it is never specified what kind of creature he is, but it is speculated that he is in fact a catfish.He was created to be the bass guitar...
of The Muppets
The Muppets
The Muppets are a group of puppet characters created by Jim Henson starting in 1954–55. Although the term is often used to refer to any puppet that resembles the distinctive style of The Muppet Show, the term is both an informal name and legal trademark owned by the Walt Disney Company in reference...
performed the song on a 1997 episode of Muppets Tonight
Muppets Tonight
Muppets Tonight is a live-action/puppet television series created by Jim Henson Productions and featuring The Muppets. Much like the "MuppeTelevision" segment of The Jim Henson Hour, Muppets Tonight was a continuation of The Muppet Show, set in a television studio, rather than a theater.-Format:The...
.
Of these, the best known in the U.S. is Taylor's; it was released as a single, charting modestly into the Top 30 of the U.S. pop singles chart in 1979. Rearranged around Taylor's trademark acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
playing and vocal accents and interjections, it became a concert staple of his, often with a star-lit urban dreamscape presented behind the stage halfway through the number as his band played unison ascending notes to echo the song's theme. It was included on his 1993 live album (LIVE)
(LIVE) (James Taylor)
Live is singer-songwriter James Taylor's fifteenth album, and first live album. Released in 1993, this double CD presents selections from 14 shows during a November 1992 tour...
and his 2000 Greatest Hits Volume 2 compilation, and was played at The Concert For New York City
The Concert for New York City
The Concert for New York City was a benefit concert, featuring many famous musicians, that took place on October 20, 2001 at Madison Square Garden in New York City in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks...
following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, where he introduced it as representing his and the writers' positive feelings for the city. Taylor and King performed the song together, switching back and forth from one's arrangement to the other, as the first encore during their 2010 Troubadour Reunion Tour
Troubadour Reunion Tour
The Troubadour Reunion Tour was a 2010 international concert tour by Carole King and James Taylor. It celebrated the 40th anniversary of their first performance together at The Troubadour in November 1970, and was a continuation of their reunion at the Troubadour in November 2007.-History:The tour...
shows.
The best known of these in the UK is that of Robson & Jerome
Robson & Jerome
Robson & Jerome were an English pop duo in the 1990s, featuring TV actors Robson Green and Jerome Flynn, who were best known for their British TV series Soldier Soldier....
; recorded in 1995 and released as a double A side along with their version of "I Believe
I Believe (1953 song)
"I Believe" is the name of a popular song written by Ervin Drake, Irvin Graham, Jimmy Shirl and Al Stillman in 1953.I Believe was commissioned and introduced by Jane Froman on her television show, and became the first hit song ever introduced on TV...
," it reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. Its arrangement hewed close to The Drifters' original; the accompanying music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
showed the duo cavorting atop a midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan, or simply Midtown, is an area of Manhattan, New York City home to world-famous commercial zones such as Rockefeller Center, Broadway, and Times Square...
skyscraper
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
.