Drifters – Under The Boardwalk

This song sets a mood when you hear it. I remember this song growing up and when I bought a Rolling Stones cheap greatest hits somewhere on cassette…this song was on it. They did a good version of it but it’s hard to beat the Drifters. In 1985 I was graduating and our band was recruited for a 1950s-era type of play by the drama teacher. Now, every time I hear 50s-sounding music…it takes me back to the mid-80s. This song has a 50s sound to it but was from 1964.

Under The Boardwalk was written by Arthur Resnick and Kenny Young. Resnick also wrote “Good Lovin'” for The Rascals and Kenny Young wrote some for the British Invasion band Herman’s Hermits. After Jerry Wexler, who was the head of Atlantic Records, heard it…he thought it would be perfect for the Drifters…which it was, and especially lead singer Rudy Lewis.

The band was set to record this on May 20, 1964, but lead singer Lewis was found dead that morning of either a drug overdose or a heart attack. He was only 27 years old. The singer he replaced earlier was Ben E King…the singer of Stand By Me.

The session was rescheduled for the next day, and Johnny Moore was called in to replace Lewis. Moore was with The Drifters in 1958 when their manager fired everyone in the band and brought in new members. He was a convenient replacement for Lewis and stayed on as their main vocalist.

The song was produced by Bert Berns. He was a busy man back then writing songs for many artists including Them featuring Van Morrison, Twist and Shout for the Isley Brothers, and Everybody Needs Somebody to Love by Soloman Burke just to mention a few.

Under The Boardwalk peaked at #4 on the Billboard 100, #5 in Canada, #6 in New Zealand, and #45 in the UK in 1964. It would be the Drifter’s last top ten hit on the Billboard 100 but they would hit in the R&B and UK charts.

Under The Boardwalk

Oh, when the sun beats down and burns the tar up on the roof
And your shoes get so hot you wish your tired feet were fireproof
Under the boardwalk, down by the sea, yeah
On a blanket with my baby is where I’ll be

(Under the boardwalk) Out of the sun
(Under the boardwalk) We’ll be havin’ some fun
(Under the boardwalk) People walking above
(Under the boardwalk) We’ll be making love
Under the boardwalk, boardwalk

From the park you hear the happy sound of a carousel
Mm-mm, you can almost taste the hot dogs and french fries they sell
Under the boardwalk, down by the sea, yeah
On a blanket with my baby is where I’ll be

(Under the boardwalk) Out of the sun
(Under the boardwalk) We’ll be havin’ some fun
(Under the boardwalk) People walking above
(Under the boardwalk) We’ll be making love
Under the boardwalk, boardwalk

Oh, under the boardwalk, down by the sea, yeah
On a blanket with my baby is where I’ll be

(Under the boardwalk) Out of the sun
(Under the boardwalk) We’ll be havin’ some fun
(Under the boardwalk) People walking above
(Under the boardwalk) We’ll be falling in love
Under the boardwalk, boardwalk

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

44 thoughts on “Drifters – Under The Boardwalk”

  4. A voice like velvet. I think you know which one I mean. The “safe for radio” version changed the lyric “we’ll be makin’ love” to “we’ll be falling in love”. I’m kinda surprised that the Stones went with that version.

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      1. Yeah, for all their bad boy image, they went with the safe lyrics and changed “Let’s Spend the Night Together” to please Ed Sullivan. I’m not sure if the Jefferson Airplane sang “We Can Be Together” on Ed Sullivan (I can’t find video) but they did sing it on Dick Cavett and made no attempt to conceal “Up against the wall motherfuckers” in the lyrics.

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      2. The Beatles and Stones could have reversed images from what I read. The Beatles were from tough working class Liverpool and the Stones from the London suburbs.
        I will always like Cavett…he was the best interviewer I’ve seen…well not interview but a conversation.

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  6. I like the Stones on this, it’s one of the best covers of the song. Very interesting how the recording went and a sad end for Rudy Lewis. I used to think of The Drifters as a static entity but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. With a manager who just fired people when they wanted more money, there always seemed to be another great lead waiting in the wings. This and it’s forerunner “Up on the Roof “ always conjured up images of life in a big city in the USA. Which for me growing up seemed like a world away. Great post Max!

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    1. I didn’t know about about them Randy. The lead singer especially and how many singers they had. They weren’t short of really good lead singers for sure.

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  7. My husband worked for a while with the late Kelvin Boyd, who was with the Drifters for quite a while. I saw them perform in the mid 1980s, and can’t say for sure who was in the line-up anymore … because there was indeed a great deal of fluctuation in personnel. Great song.

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  8. I was going to tell you the story behind the recording of this truly wonderful song, but you had told it already!

    I just love the voice on this one.

    Other Drifters songs that I will love forever are Saturday Night At The Movies, At The Club and Come On Over To My Place.

    I saw The Drifters live in the mid-eighties in a relatively small theatre in Wolverhampton, England (their seventies renaissance was long behind them) and one of the other group members announced “you are in the presence of a living legend – Mr. Ben E. King”. My girlfriend at the time and I stood up to enthusiastically applaud the great man, only to find we were the only ones doing so. The rest of the audience, although enjoying the show, didn’t seem to know him from Adam. A pity.

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    1. THAT…is a pity! I didn’t know Ben E King was in the band until I wrote this sad to say…much less their current, at the time, lead singer dying on the day this was scheduled.

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  9. Fine song and recording that really fits the description of “timeless.” Randy should have fun with this – there seem to be a whole lot of covers. The one I always think of is Bruce Willis, though I’m not sure that’s a version I’d pick on my own!

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  13. A stone cold classic, and one I sang along to in all innocence for a long time, then I read somewhere about old time segregation at the beaches. That kinda dampened the mood of the song for me for a while.

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    1. Yes he was one of the first members. We didn’t sing this one in school…for some reason the song I remember was By the Light of the Silvery Moon

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  17. Such a great song! I first knew and loved it because of the Stones. Years later I heard the original by the Drifters – beautiful all around. Obviously, many other artists have covered the tune. One of my favorite renditions is by one of my favorite artists:

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    1. I like that one Christian! I have heard that before. You are right…there are many covers to this song. Some songs like this and their “Up On The Roof” are classic. The Stones did a good cover of this.

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      2. I like the Irish feel about this one…I’ll check it out….
        I also liked his cover of Wild NIght…he did a great job on that.

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      3. Basically, Mellencamp took what he first did on “The Lonesome Jubilee” to the next level. “Rough Harvest” has a warm, stripped back sound. I love the fiddles, mandolin, banjo and other traditional folk and country instruments.

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      4. It gives it a live feeling without being live. An earthy rootsy feel…like a band we have been talking about recently….The Band.

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  19. Yes, Bruce Willis had the big UK hit version of the standard, aided and abetted by The temptations – it’s OK but it’s not the Drifters. They seemed to be so much bigger in the UK, and throughout the 70’s they were based here with a string of big hits right through to 1977/8 – though pretty much all of those 70’s hits were pastiche versions of the 60’s era, and in no way in the same league as Up On The Roof, Save The Last Dance For Me and others. Like Sister And Brother is the exception, that’s more 70’s-styled smooth soul.

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    1. Yea I really like The Drifters version but I did like the Stones cover of that also…not as well though.
      You know…many of the 50s acts like Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent was more popular in the UK…and that shows great tastes…they should have been that huge over here.

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