1962 Songs: Up on the Roof

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Hey, now! I’m almost done with the alphabetical look at 60-year-old songs. The top ten will start (hopefully) on Sunday. Meanwhile, here’s another gem from 1962 that most of you will remember, either thanks to the classic original or the number of covers. Up on the Roof - The Drifters Hey, look, another Carole King song!! That’s right, in addition to having us do the Loco-Motion with her, she’s gonna see how far I’m progressing with my acrophobia! I just wrote a scathing opinion piece for my blog about how the Country Music Hall of Fame drags its feet with inducting people. The same applies to the folks in Cleveland, who took until 2021 to induct her (although, to be fair, they did put her and Gerry King in as songwriters in 1990). Oh, well. She’s in (twice), and so are the Drifters (1988, if you’re wondering….even if you aren’t, that’s when they went in ). And this song….ooh. It’s obviously about New York City (there are few places you need to escape to the roof to see “the stars put on a show for free” in the country ), but it’s universal. We all have our “roof” — literal or figurative — to escape to when this old world starts getting us down. God bless the brilliance of Carole King and the beautiful singing of the Drifters. Up on a Roof Written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin Recorded by the Drifters Released as a single, 1962 All my cares just drift right into space: