Summer Song #8... Up On The Roof

When this old world starts getting me down
& people are just too much for me to face
I climb way up to the top of the stairs
& all my cares just drift right in to space

On the roof it's peaceful as can be
& there the world below can't bother me

Let me tell you now
When I come home feelin' tired & beat
I go up where the air is fresh & sweet
I get away from the hustling crowds
& all that rat race noise down in the street

On the roof's the only place I know
Where you just have to wish to make it so
Oh, let's go
Up on the roof

At night the stars put on a show for free &
darling, you can share it all with me

I keep on telling you
Right smack down in the middle of town
I found a paradise that's trouble proof
So if this world starts getting you down
there's room enough for 2
 Up on the roof

Up on the roof
Everyhting's all right
Up on the roof
Oh, come on baby
Up on the roof

Gerry Goffin & Carole King
1962



Born On This Day- April 25th... Lyricist Jerry Leiber

Jerome Leiber is one of the most important & influential songwriters of the 1950s, 1960s, & 1970s. He was a member of The Brill Building stable, & along with his writing partner- Mike Stoller, wrote some of the biggest hits of their era:
There Goes My Baby
Hound Dog
Kansas City
Smokey Joe's Cafe
Yakety Yak
Poison Ivy
Charlie Brown
Ruby Baby
Stand By Me
Jailhouse Rock
Love Potion #9
Searchin
Young Blood
Is That All There Is?
On Broadway
Spanish Harlem

Here is one of my favorite Leiber lyrics:

Pearl's a singer
She stands up when she plays the piano
In a nightclub

Pearl's a singer
She sings song for the lost & the lonely
Her job is entertaining folks
Singing songs & telling jokes in a nightclub

Pearl's a singer
& they say
That she once was a winner in a contest

Pearl's a singer
& they say that she once
Cut a record
They played it for a week or so
On a local radio
It never made it

She wanted to be Betty Grable
But now she sits there
At the beer stained table
Dreaming of the things she never got to do
All those dreams that never came true

Pearl's a singer
She stands up when she plays the piano
In a nightclub

Pearl's a singer
She sings song for the lost & the lonely
Her job is entertaining folks
Singing songs & telling jokes in a nightclub

Pearl's a singer
She stands up when she plays the piano
In a nightclub

Pearl's a singer
She sings song for the lost & the lonely
Her job is entertaining folks
Singing songs & telling jokes
... in a nightclub

Jerome Leiber 1977