"On Broadway" is a song written by

Barry Mann Barry Mann (born Barry Imberman; February 9, 1939) is an American songwriter and musician, and part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil. He has written or co-written 53 hits in the UK and 98 in the US. Early li ...

and

Cynthia Weil Cynthia Weil (born October 18, 1940) is an American songwriter who wrote many songs together with her husband Barry Mann. Life and career Weil was born in New York City, and was raised in a Conservative Jewish family. Her father was Morris Weil ...

in collaboration with the team of

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller Lyricist Jerome Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933) were American songwriting and record producing partners. They found success as the writers of such crossover hit songs as " Hound Dog" ( ...

Composition

Weil and Mann were based at Aldon Music, located at 1650 Broadway,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and the song as written by Mann/Weil was originally recorded by the Cookies (although

the Crystals The Crystals are an American vocal group that originated in New York City. Considered one of the defining acts of the girl group era in the first half of the 1960s, their 1961–1964 chart hits – including "There's No Other (Like My Baby)", " ...

' 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". The song was played as a shuffle. When Leiber/Stoller let it be known that

the Drifters The Drifters are several American doo-wop and R&B/ soul vocal groups. They were originally formed as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter, formerly the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1953. The second group of Drifters, formed i ...

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; the four held an overnight brainstorming session that culminated in the better-known version, now with a rock-oriented groove and with a more bluesy feel, which matched the new lyric in which the singer was now actually on Broadway and having a hard time.

The Drifters version

A young

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...

played the distinctive lead guitar solo on the Drifters' recording. The personnel for the Drifters recording were

Rudy Lewis Rudy Lewis (born Charles Rudolph Harrell; August 23, 1936 – May 20, 1964) was an American rhythm and blues singer known for his work with the Drifters. In 1988, he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Career Lewis bega ...

– lead vocals; Joe Newman,

Ernie Royal Ernest Andrew Royal (June 2, 1921 in Los Angeles, California – March 16, 1983 in New York City) was a jazz trumpeter. His older brother was clarinetist and alto saxophonist Marshal Royal, with whom he appears on the classic Ray Charles big band ...

– trumpets; Billy Butler, Bill Suyker, Everett Barksdale – guitars; Russ Savakus – bass; Gary Chester – drums; and Phil Kraus, Nick Rodriguez, Martin Grupp – percussion. The arranger was

Garry Sherman Garry Sherman (born December 28, 1933) is an American musician, arranger, composer and orchestrator, who was involved from the 1960s in many hit records as well as Broadway shows, film soundtracks and advertising campaigns. He has also maintain ...

. The recording by the Drifters was a hit, reaching No. 9 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1963. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an onli ...

'' described it as "a haunting, slow beat cha cha opus...that sports a first rate

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orche ...

." The Drifters' version was featured in a 1971 television public service announcement for

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

(RFE). The Hungarian expatriate announcer is shown entering the RFE studio announcing "On Broadway", after which young Hungarians are shown listening to the "In sound from Outside".

George Benson version

George Benson George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist. A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s, play ...

's version of "On Broadway", from his 1978 album '' Weekend in L.A.'', hit No. 7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 2 on the soul chart. Benson's take also has had substantial

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

and

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the ...

radio airplay ever since. It won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

for Best R&B Vocal Performance. Benson's performance of the song was used in the 1979 film '' All That Jazz'' in a sequence that featured dancers on stage auditioning for a musical similar to ''

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

''. Benson also performed "On Broadway" with Clifford and the Rhythm Rats for the 1994 Muppets album '' Kermit Unpigged''.

In theatre

* It was featured in the musical revue '' Smokey Joe's Cafe'' (1995). * It is highlighted in the

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one ...

musical '' Beautiful'' (2013); Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann are characters in the show.

Other versions

Eric Carmen Eric Howard Carmen (born August 11, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and keyboardist. He was first known as the lead vocalist of the Raspberries. He had numerous hit songs in the 1970s and 1980s, first as a member of the Rasp ...

recorded a version of the song on his 1975 self-titled album. Allmusic review/ref> *

Jimmy Scott James Victor Scott (July 17, 1925 – June 12, 2014), known professionally as Little Jimmy Scott or Jimmy Scott, was an American jazz vocalist known for his high natural contralto voice and his sensitivity on ballads and love songs. After ...

recorded a version of the song on his 1969 album "The Source". *

Gary Numan Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two albums with the band, he released his d ...

release a version. It was included in his

Living Ornaments '79 ''Living Ornaments '79'' (1981) is a live album by British musician Gary Numan recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon on 28 September 1979. It was also released as a limited edition box set with '' Living Ornaments '80'' (1981). An expanded (21-t ...

tour and was renowned for its

Billy Currie William Lee Currie (born 1 April 1950Ultravox.org.uk
) is a ...

ARP Odyssey The ARP Odyssey is an analog synthesizer introduced by ARP Instruments in 1972. History ARP developed the Odyssey as a direct competitor to the Moog Minimoog and an answer to the demand for more affordable, portable, and less complicated "perf ...

solo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaPzt0vK7Ok

References

{{Authority control 1963 songs 1963 singles Songs written by Barry Mann Songs with lyrics by Cynthia Weil Songs written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller The Drifters songs The Coasters songs The Dave Clark Five songs Eric Carmen songs Bobby Darin songs Percy Faith songs Tom Jones (singer) songs Johnny Mathis songs James Taylor songs Gary Numan songs Frank Sinatra songs Nancy Sinatra songs Neil Young songs George Benson songs Disco-Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes songs Atlantic Records singles Songs about New York City