"Up on the Roof" is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King and recorded in 1962 by The Drifters: released late that year, the disc became a major hit in early 1963, reaching number 5 on the U.S. pop singles chart and number 4 on the U.S. R&B singles chart. In the UK it was a top ten success for singer Kenny Lynch, whose version was also released in 1962.
The 1980 Rolling Stone 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 April 2010, The Drifters' "Up on the Roof" was named number 114 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.
Steve Sullivan - Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings "It is difficult to imagine a pop record more perfect than Up On the Roof. Gerry Goffin's lyrics to wife Carole King's gorgeous melody eloquently evoke the feeling of New York in the summertime; apartment dwellers with no other way to escape the oppressive heat, or simply feeling the weariness of everyday life, could always escape to the rooftop - and perhaps (Goffin suggests) find both freedom and romance. The Drifters were on a roll of classic singles in 1962, and this was their finest of all, with lead vocal by Rudy Lewis (who would die following a drug overdose just a year and a half later). There is a sweetness to this performance, a joy at discovering the small but precious pleasures in life that are available to anyone regardless of income, that makes it absolutely timeless."
Billy Vera: "For anyone raised in New York City, with its large Cuban and Puerto Rican population, that Spanish feel evokes the romance of life as it occurs on the 'tar beach,' as anyone who has ever sunned himself on a tenement roof will attest."
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