Under the Boardwalk

"Under the Boardwalk" is a pop song written by Kenny Young and Arthur Resnick and recorded by the Drifters in 1964. It charted at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on August 22, 1964.^[2] The song has since been covered by many other artists, with versions by Bette Midler, Sam & Dave, Tom Tom Club, The Rolling Stones, Billy Joe Royal, The Beach Boys, Bruce Willis, Bad Boys Blue, John Mellencamp and Lynn Anderson all charting in the United States or overseas. The song ranked number 487 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004 and number 489 in 2010.

For other uses, see Under the Boardwalk (disambiguation).

"Under the Boardwalk"

"I Don't Want to Go On Without You"

June 1964

May 21, 1964

Atlantic (New York City)

Pop-soul^[1]

2:45

Atlantic

Kenny Young, Arthur Resnick

Bert Berns

Premise[edit]

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. The instrumentation includes güiro, triangle and violins. The song's chorus switches from a major to minor key.^[3] 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[edit]

The song was set to be recorded on May 21, 1964, but the band's lead singer, Rudy Lewis, died of a suspected heroin overdose the night before. Lewis had sung lead on most of their hits since the 1960 departure of Ben E. King, 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 on piano, Everett Barksdale, Bill Suyker and Bob Bushnell on guitar, Milt Hinton on bass, Gary Chester on drums and George Devens on percussion.^[4] The arranger was Teacho Wiltshire.^[5] The last-minute move was a success, as the single, released on Atlantic Records, 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.^[6]

In 2014, this recording of the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.^[7]