"Under the Boardwalk" is a pop song written by

Kenny Young Kenny Young (born Shalom Giskan, April 14, 1941 – April 14, 2020) was an American songwriter, musician, producer and environmental campaigner who wrote and in some cases produced hit songs for The Drifters, Ronnie Dove, Herman's Hermits, Mark ...

and

Arthur Resnick Arthur Resnick (born 1937) is an American songwriter, record producer and musician. His most successful songs as a writer include " Under the Boardwalk" (co-written with Kenny Young), "Good Lovin'" (co-written with Rudy Clark), and " Yummy Yumm ...

and recorded by

the Drifters The Drifters are several American doo-wop and R&B/Soul music, 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, f ...

in 1964. It charted at number four on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart on August 22, 1964. The song has since been covered by many other artists, with versions by

Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...

Sam & Dave Sam & Dave were an American soul and R&B duo who performed together from 1961 until 1981. The tenor (higher) voice was Sam Moore (born 1935) and the baritone/tenor (lower) voice was Dave Prater (1937–1988). Nicknamed "Double Dynamite", "The ...

, the

Tom Tom Club Tom Tom Club is an American new wave band founded in 1981 by husband-and-wife team Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth and as a side project from Talking Heads. Their best known songs include "Wordy Rappinghood", "Genius of Love", and a cover of T ...

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

Billy Joe Royal Billy Joe Royal (April 3, 1942 – October 6, 2015) was an American country soul singer. His most successful record was " Down in the Boondocks" in 1965. Life and career Born in Valdosta, Georgia, to Clarence and Mary Sue Smith Royal, and rai ...

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

Bruce Willis Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and appeared in over a hundred films, gaining recognition as an action hero a ...

Bad Boys Blue Bad Boys Blue are the German pop group formed in Cologne in 1984. The group performed many international hits including "You're a Woman", " Pretty Young Girl", " I Wanna Hear Your Heartbeat", and "Come Back and Stay". The group became massive ...

John Mellencamp John J. Mellencamp (born October 7, 1951), previously known as Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for his catchy brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrument ...

and

Lynn Anderson Lynn Renée Anderson (September 26, 1947 – July 30, 2015) was an American country singer and television personality. Her crossover signature recording, "Rose Garden," was a number one hit in the United States and internationally. She charte ...

all charting in the United States or overseas. The song ranked number 487 on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' list of

The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring survey compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2004 in ...

in 2004 and number 489 in 2010.

Premise

The lyric describes a tryst between a man and his beloved in a seaside town, who plan to privately meet "out of the sun" and out of sight from everyone else under a

boardwalk A boardwalk (alternatively board walk, boarded path, or promenade) is an elevated footpath, walkway, or causeway built with wooden planks that enables pedestrians to cross wet, fragile, or marshy land. They are also in effect a low type of bridge ...

. The instrumentation includes

güiro The güiro () is a Puerto Rican percussion instrument consisting of an open-ended, hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side. It is played by rubbing a stick or tines (see photo) along the notches to produce a ratchet sound. The güiro ...

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three Edge (geometry), edges and three Vertex (geometry), vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, an ...

and

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

s. The song's chorus switches from a major to minor key. The opening line of the song references the Drifters' prior hit " Up on the Roof." Also, the violins are heard playing the riff of "Up on the Roof", before the chorus.

History

The song was set to be recorded on May 21, 1964, but the band's lead singer,

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 ...

, died of a suspected

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...

overdose A drug overdose (overdose or OD) is the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities much greater than are recommended.

the night before. Lewis had sung lead on most of their hits since the 1960 departure of

Ben E. King Benjamin Earl King (né Nelson; September 28, 1938 – April 30, 2015) was an American soul and R&B singer and record producer. He is best known as the singer and co-composer of " Stand by Me"—a US Top 10 hit, both in 1961 and later i ...

, including " Up on the Roof". Rather than reschedule the studio session, the lead on "Under the Boardwalk" was given to the group's other lead vocalist, Johnny Moore, who had returned to the group in April 1963. The personnel on that recording included

Ernie Hayes Ernest George Hayes (6 November 1876 – 2 December 1953) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Surrey, Leicestershire and England. Ernie Hayes was a right-handed batsman, usually batting at No 3 and strong at driving and pull ...

on piano,

Everett Barksdale Everett Barksdale (April 28, 1910 – January 29, 1986) was an American jazz guitarist and session musician. He played bass and banjo before settling on guitar. In the 1930s, Barksdale moved to Chicago, where he was in Erskine Tate's band. He r ...

, Bill Suyker and

Bob Bushnell Robert C. Bushnell (1926 – January 31, 2016) was an American bass player and guitarist who has appeared on dozens of albums and singles as a studio musician, including Bobby Lewis's hit " Tossin' and Turnin'" (1961), " My Boyfriend's Back" ...

on guitar,

Milt Hinton Milton John Hinton (June 23, 1910 – December 19, 2000) was an American double bassist and photographer. Regarded as the Dean of American jazz bass players, his nicknames included "Sporty" from his years in Chicago, "Fump" from his time on the ...

on bass,

Gary Chester Gary Chester (born Cesario Gurciullo; October 27, 1924 – August 17, 1987) was an American studio drummer, author, and teacher. Beginning in the 1960s, he played on hundreds of records for bands such as The Coasters, The Monkees, and The Lovin ...

on drums and George Devens on percussion. The arranger was

Teacho Wiltshire George "Teacho" Wiltshire (born Audrick Gladstone Wiltshire; September 20, 1909 – September 29, 1968) was a Barbadian-born American R&B pianist, bandleader, arranger, A&R man, and songwriter, who had success in the 1950s and 1960s with mu ...

. The last-minute move was a success, as the single, released on

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

, went to number four on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 charts and number one for three non consecutive weeks on '' Cashbox'' magazine's R&B chart.

Cover versions

A cover of this song by

was released the same year as the original version. Their version was released as a single only in Australia, South Africa and Rhodesia, and peaked at No. 1 in the first two (the song was the band's first No. 1 hit in Australia) and at No. 2 in Rhodesia. It appeared on their albums ''

12 X 5 ''12 × 5'' is the second American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released in 1964 following the success of their American debut '' The Rolling Stones (England's Newest Hit Makers)'', is an expanded version ...

'' and ''

The Rolling Stones No. 2 ''The Rolling Stones No. 2'' is the second studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released in 1965 following the success of their 1964 debut album ''The Rolling Stones''. It followed its predecessor's tendency to largely fe ...

''. In 2007, it was included on the album '' Rhythms del Mundo Classics''. In 1966,

Los Apson Los Apson is a former Mexican rock-n-roll band, best known for their Spanish language cover versions of famous songs. History The band was formed in 1957 by Arturo Durazo, a guitarist and a rock-n-roll enthusiast, with his brother Francisco “ ...

released a

Spanish-language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...

version titled "Fue en un Café", which was a hit in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

, reaching the top 5 in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

.Hits of the World
, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

''. August 26, 1967. p. 57. Retrieved October 18, 2021. "Under the Boardwalk" has since been covered by many artists, including

(number 26 in Australia), and the

(whose version reached number 22 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in 1982, becoming the first version of the song to chart in Britain). Versions by

(a number 2 success in the UK), and

(number 24 on the Country chart) all reached the ''Billboard'' charts.

released the track as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

of his single "

R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.", subtitled "A Salute to 60's Rock", is a rock song written and performed by John Mellencamp. It was the third single from his 1985 album ''Scarecrow'' and a top-ten hit on both the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and Top Rock Trac ...

". In Australia, the single effectively became a

double-A side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

when the B-side "Under the Boardwalk" received significant airplay and both tracks were listed together on the singles chart, reaching number 18. The track also reached number 19 on the ''

Top Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in ...

chart. In 2022, after a raid on his house by police that was captured on security cameras,

Afroman Joseph Edgar Foreman (born July 28, 1974), better known by his stage name Afroman, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, comedian and musician. He is best known for his songs "Because I Got High", released in 2000, and "Crazy Rap", which w ...

released
parody version
of the song called "Lemon Pound Cake," mocking the police for their attention to a cake on the kitchen counter during the raid.

In pop culture

In 2001, children’s music artist

Bill Harley Bill Harley (born William Harley, July 1, 1954 in Greenville, Ohio) is an American children's entertainer, musician, and author who has been called "the Mark Twain of contemporary children's music" by ''Entertainment Weekly''. He uses a range o ...

parodied the song as “Down in the Backpacks” for his 2001 preschool music album of the same name and this track was frequently played on SiriusXM’s Kids Place Live radio station.

Chart history

Weekly charts

The Drifters' original version

Year-end charts

Rolling Stones cover Billy Joe Royal cover Tom Tom Club cover John Mellencamp cover Bruce Willis cover Lynn Anderson cover Bette Midler cover

References

{{Authority control 1964 songs 1964 singles 1965 singles 1982 singles 1987 singles 1988 singles Atlantic Records singles Decca Records singles Island Records singles Mercury Records singles Motown singles Billy Joe Royal songs The Drifters songs The Rolling Stones songs Bette Midler songs Lynn Anderson songs Bruce Willis songs Tom Tom Club songs Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in South Africa Songs written by Kenny Young Songs written by Artie Resnick Song recordings produced by Bert Berns