Gerry Goffin: Up on the Roof

Remarks:

This is not a cover – this is the demo! Goffin and his wife, Carole King, wrote the song in 1962. On the demo he sings while she plays piano. She came up with the tune, he with the words, thinking of the roofs of the Upper West Side of Manhattan in “West Side Story” (1961). The song became a hit for The Drifters in 1963. Carole King played the piano on that version too. It went to #4 on the US R&B chart, #5 on the pop chart.

Carole King went to James Madison High School in Brooklyn where she was a year ahead of Bernie Sanders, who is now running for president. Sanders, in turn, is a year older than Joe Biden.

See also:

• songs: the 1960s
• James O. Eastland
• Manhattan in the early 1960s
  • Henry Mancini: Moon River
  • Malcolm X
  • The Baldwin-Kennedy meeting – in 1963
  • Mina: Il cielo in una stanza – fake
  • 1040 Fifth Avenue: Where Jackie O. lived

Lyrics:

When this world starts getting me down
And trouble gets too hard for me to face
I climb way up to the top of the stairs
All my cares just drift right into space

On the roof it’s peaceful as can be
And there the world below can’t bother me

Let me tell you now
I don’t melt in the sweltering heat
I go up where the air is fresh and sweet
I get away from the bustling crowd
And the hustling rat race noise down on the street

On the roof’s the only place I know
Where you just have to wish to make it so
Up on the roof

At night the stars put on a show for free
And darling, you can share it all with me
I keep a-telling you
Right smack dab in the middle of town
I found a paradise that’s trouble-proof

And if this world starts getting you down
There’s room enough for two, up on the roof