On Broadway
Encyclopedia
"On Broadway" is a song written by Barry Mann
and Cynthia Weil
in collaboration with the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
.
, and the song as written by Mann/Weil was originally recorded by The Cookies
(although The Crystals
' version beat them to release) and featured an upbeat lyric in which the protagonist is still on her way to Broadway and sings "I got to get there soon, or I'll just die." Additionally the melody was in compound time and the backing riff modulated between the root and the 2nd minor.
When Leiber/Stoller let it be known that The Drifters
had booked studio time for the following day and were a song short, Mann/Weil forwarded "On Broadway". Leiber and Stoller liked the song but felt that it was not quite right and the four held an overnight brainstorming session which culminated in the better-known version of the song, now in simple time and with a backing riff that modulated down to the flattened 7th, giving it a more bluesy feel which matched the new lyric in which the singer was now actually on Broadway and having a hard time. A young Phil Spector
played the distinctive lead guitar solo on The Drifters' recording.
the personnel for the Drifters recording is
Joe Newman, Ernie Royal - trumpets;
Billy Butler, Bill Suyker, Everette Barksdale - guitars;
Russ Saunders - bass;
Gary Chester - drums;
Phil Kraus, Nick Rodriguez, Martin Grupp - percussion;
Members of ? - violins;
Members of ? - cellos.
The instrumental arrangement was written by noted arranger Gary Sherman.
, and has been covered by many artists such as The Dave Clark Five
, George Benson
, The Chipettes
, Eric Carmen
, Bobby Darin
, Percy Faith
, Tom Jones
, Johnny Mathis
, James Taylor
, Gary Numan
, Tito Puente
, Lou Rawls
, Buddy Rich
, Paul Rodgers
with Jeff Beck
, Frank Sinatra
, Nancy Sinatra
, Sly & the Family Stone
, Livingston Taylor
, Neil Young
, and Widespread Panic
. David Bowie
quoted from the song in his 1973 track "Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?)
". The song was covered jazz-style by Ray Brown, Jr.
on the album Stand by Me. The lyrics of the song also make a brief appearance at the end of the song "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
" by Genesis
from their album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
.
George Benson
's version of "On Broadway", from his 1978 album Weekend in L.A., was an even bigger hit than The Drifters' original, hitting #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and getting substantial adult contemporary and smooth jazz
radio airplay ever since. It won a Grammy Award
for Best R&B Vocal Performance
. The song appeared in the films Big Business
and American Beauty. George Benson's performance of the song was used during the opening credits of the 1979 film All That Jazz
, which featured dancers on stage auditioning for a musical similar to Chicago
. George Benson also performed "On Broadway" with Clifford
and The Rhythm Rats for the 1994 Muppet
album Kermit Unpigged
.
Argentinian group "Serú Girán" referenced the song's melody — played by the fretless bass — in their track "Canción de Hollywood" (Hollywood song) from their 1979 album "La grasa de las capitales".
An instrumental version of the song was used in the film American Beauty
during the Spartanettes dance scene.
The song was included in the musical revue "Smokey Joe's Cafe
".
Barry Mann
Barry Mann is an American songwriter, and part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil.-Career:...
and Cynthia Weil
Cynthia Weil
Cynthia Weil is a prominent American songwriter. She is famous for having written many songs together with her husband Barry Mann....
in collaboration with the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Jerome "Jerry" Leiber and Mike Stoller were American songwriting and record producing partners. Stoller was the composer and Leiber the lyricist. Their most famous songs include "Hound Dog", "Jailhouse Rock", "Kansas City", "Stand By Me" Jerome "Jerry" Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011)...
.
Composition
Weil and Mann were based at Aldon Music, located at 1650 Broadway, 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...
, and the song as written by Mann/Weil was originally recorded by The Cookies
The Cookies
The Cookies were an American R&B girl group in the 1950s to 1960s. Members of the original lineup would later become The Raelettes, the backing vocalists for Ray Charles.-History:...
(although The Crystals
The Crystals
The Crystals are an American vocal group based in New York, considered one of the defining acts of the girl group era of the first half of the 1960s. Their 1961–1964 chart hits, including "Uptown", "He's a Rebel", "Da Doo Ron Ron " and "Then He Kissed Me", featured three successive female lead...
' version beat them to release) and featured an upbeat lyric in which the protagonist is still on her way to Broadway and sings "I got to get there soon, or I'll just die." Additionally the melody was in compound time and the backing riff modulated between the root and the 2nd minor.
When Leiber/Stoller let it be known that 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...
had booked studio time for the following day and were a song short, Mann/Weil forwarded "On Broadway". Leiber and Stoller liked the song but felt that it was not quite right and the four held an overnight brainstorming session which culminated in the better-known version of the song, now in simple time and with a backing riff that modulated down to the flattened 7th, giving it a more bluesy feel which matched the new lyric in which the singer was now actually on Broadway and having a hard time. A young Phil Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
played the distinctive lead guitar solo on The Drifters' recording.
the personnel for the Drifters recording is
Joe Newman, Ernie Royal - trumpets;
Billy Butler, Bill Suyker, Everette Barksdale - guitars;
Russ Saunders - bass;
Gary Chester - drums;
Phil Kraus, Nick Rodriguez, Martin Grupp - percussion;
Members of ? - violins;
Members of ? - cellos.
The instrumental arrangement was written by noted arranger Gary Sherman.
Versions
The song was a hit for The Drifters in 1963, reaching #9 on the Billboard Hot 100Billboard 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 has been covered by many artists such as The Dave Clark Five
The Dave Clark Five
The Dave Clark Five were an English pop rock group. Their single "Glad All Over" knocked The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" off the top of the UK singles charts in January 1964: it eventually peaked at No.6 in the United States in April 1964.They were the second group of the British Invasion,...
, George Benson
George Benson
George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....
, The Chipettes
The Chipettes
The Chipettes are a fictional group of anthropomorphic chipmunk singers first appearing on the cartoon series Alvin and the Chipmunks in 1983. In this and related materials, the Chipettes served as female featured characters in their own right, starring in numerous episodes...
, Eric Carmen
Eric Carmen
Eric Howard Carmen is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist.He scored numerous hit songs across the 1970s and 1980s, first as a member of the Raspberries , and then with his solo career, including hits such as "All By Myself", "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again", "She Did It",...
, Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin , born Walden Robert Cassotto, was an American singer, actor and musician.Darin performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country...
, Percy Faith
Percy Faith
Percy Faith was a Canadian-born American bandleader, orchestrator, composer and conductor, known for his lush arrangements of pop and Christmas standards. He is often credited with creating the "easy listening" or "mood music" format which became staples of American popular music in the 1950s and...
, Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
, Johnny Mathis
Johnny Mathis
John Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts...
, 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....
, Gary Numan
Gary Numan
Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
, Tito Puente
Tito Puente
Tito Puente, , born Ernesto Antonio Puente, was a Latin jazz and Salsa musician. The son of native Puerto Ricans Ernest and Ercilia Puente, of Spanish Harlem in New York City, Puente is often credited as "El Rey de los Timbales" and "The King of Latin Music"...
, Lou Rawls
Lou Rawls
Louis Allen "Lou" Rawls was an American soul, jazz, and blues singer. He was known for his smooth vocal style: Frank Sinatra once said that Rawls had "the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game"...
, Buddy Rich
Buddy Rich
Bernard "Buddy" Rich was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" and was known for his virtuosic technique, power, groove, and speed.-Early life:...
, Paul Rodgers
Paul Rodgers
Paul Bernard Rodgers is an English rock singer-songwriter, best known for his success in the 1970s as a member of Free and Bad Company. After stints in two less successful bands in the 1980s and early 1990s, The Firm and The Law, he became a solo artist. He has recently toured and recorded with...
with Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sandra Sinatra is an American singer and actress. She is the daughter of singer/actor Frank Sinatra, and remains best known for her 1966 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"....
, Sly & the Family Stone
Sly & the Family Stone
Sly and the Family Stone were an American rock, funk, and soul band from San Francisco, California. Active from 1966 to 1983, the band was pivotal in the development of soul, funk, and psychedelic music...
, Livingston Taylor
Livingston Taylor
Livingston Taylor is an American singer-songwriter, born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He attended the Westtown School in Pennsylvania...
, Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
, and Widespread Panic
Widespread Panic
Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Todd Nance, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJo" Hermann, and guitarist Jimmy Herring...
. David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
quoted from the song in his 1973 track "Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?)
Aladdin Sane (song)
"Aladdin Sane " is a song by David Bowie, the title track from his 1973 album Aladdin Sane. Described by biographer David Buckley as the album's "pivotal" song, it saw Bowie moving into more experimental musical styles following the success of his breakthrough glam rock release The Rise and Fall of...
". The song was covered jazz-style by Ray Brown, Jr.
Ray Brown, Jr.
Ray Brown, Jr. is an American jazz and blues pianist and singer.The adopted son of Ray Brown and Ella Fitzgerald, he was born in New York City, New York to Fitzgerald's half-sister Frances...
on the album Stand by Me. The lyrics of the song also make a brief appearance at the end of the song "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (song)
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is the first song from Genesis's 1974 album of the same name. The song was released as a single in the US but failed to chart. However, FM rock stations in the US would play this frequently....
" by Genesis
Genesis (band)
Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...
from their album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
The Lamb Lies down on Broadway
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is a double concept album recorded and released in 1974 by the British rock band Genesis. It was their sixth studio album and the last album by the group to feature the involvement of lead singer Peter Gabriel.-Premise:...
.
George Benson
George Benson
George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....
's version of "On Broadway", from his 1978 album Weekend in L.A., was an even bigger hit than The Drifters' original, hitting #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and getting substantial adult contemporary and smooth jazz
Smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of music that grew out of jazz fusion and is influenced by R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles ....
radio airplay ever since. It won a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best R&B Vocal Performance
Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance was awarded between 1968 and 2011. The award has had several minor name changes:*In 1968 it was awarded as Best R&B Solo Vocal Performance, Male...
. The song appeared in the films Big Business
Big Business (1988 film)
Big Business is a 1988 American comedy film farce starring Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin . It was produced by Touchstone Pictures, with the plot loosely based on The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare....
and American Beauty. George Benson's performance of the song was used during the opening credits of the 1979 film All That Jazz
All That Jazz
All That Jazz is a 1979 American musical film directed by Bob Fosse. The screenplay by Robert Alan Aurthur and Fosse is a semi-autobiographical fantasy based on aspects of Fosse's life and career as dancer, choreographer and director. The film was inspired by Bob Fosse's manic effort to edit his...
, which featured dancers on stage auditioning for a musical similar to Chicago
Chicago (musical)
Chicago is a musical set in Prohibition-era Chicago. The music is by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal"...
. George Benson also performed "On Broadway" with 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...
and The Rhythm Rats for the 1994 Muppet
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...
album Kermit Unpigged
Kermit Unpigged
Kermit Unpigged is a music and comedy record released by The Jim Henson Company through BMG Kidz in 1995, and the last album released by Jim Henson Records...
.
Argentinian group "Serú Girán" referenced the song's melody — played by the fretless bass — in their track "Canción de Hollywood" (Hollywood song) from their 1979 album "La grasa de las capitales".
An instrumental version of the song was used in the film American Beauty
American Beauty (film)
American Beauty is a 1999 American drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a middle-aged magazine writer who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter's best friend, Angela...
during the Spartanettes dance scene.
The song was included in the musical revue "Smokey Joe's Cafe
Smokey Joe's Cafe
Smokey Joe's Cafe is a musical revue showcasing 39 pop standards, including rock and roll, rhythm and blues songs written by songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller...
".