“Up on the Roof” is a song written by husband and wife Gerry Goffin and Carole King, when she was 20 years old, and most popularly recorded in 1962 by The Drifters. This is the demo recording by Carole with Gerry singing:

Appropriately enough, the song was born among the rat-race noise of a crowded city street. “Carole came up with the melody in the car – an a cappella melody,” Goffin told Ken Emerson. “I said, ‘How about a place to be alone?’ She says, ‘My secret place.’ So the song was originally called ‘My Secret Place.’ I said, ‘No, that’s no good. How about ‘Up on the Roof’? It was imaginary – maybe something that I copped out of West Side Story.” Gerry Goffin would cite “Up on the Roof” as his all-time favorite of the lyrics he’d written. Goffin kept King’s suggested focus of a haven, modifying it with his enthusiasm for the movie musical West Side Story which contained several striking scenes set on the rooftops of Upper West Side highrises.

Here’s a live version of Carole performing it in 1972:

Little Eva also released her version in 1962:

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.

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