“Uptown” (The Crystals)

Continuing our appreciation of the late Cynthia Weil, today’s classic song of the day is “Uptown,” by the Crystals. It’s one of the earliest Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil collaborations, released in 1962. It was a hit for Phil Spector’s Philles Records, hitting #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #10 on the Cash Box Top 100.

“Uptown” is a ostensibly a love song, but with incredible depth. Consider these lyrics:

He gets up each mornin’ and he goes downtown
Where ev’ryone’s his boss and he’s lost in an angry land
He’s a little man

But then he comes uptown each evening to my tenement
Uptown where folks don’t have to pay much rent
And when he’s there with me
He can see that he’s ev’rything
Then he’s tall
He don’t crawl
He’s a king

A love song, yes, but on the surface only. What “Uptown” is really about is pride and self-worth. The protagonist’s boyfriend works all day in an oppressive environment, “where ev’ryone’s his boss… he’s a little man.” But at night the little man comes uptown where he’s empowered by his lover, “then he’s tall, he don’t crawl, he’s a king.” There’s an intelligence at play here and a sympathy for the downtrodden, courtesy of Cynthia Weil’s lyrics, that was not typical of the time. And, as with most Mann and Weil songs, the protagonist finds his salvation in that most basic of emotions, love.

Musically, “Uptown” has an interesting structure. The verse is in C minor, with a fairly standard i – III – V7 chord progression. The chorus, however, shifts to C Major, with the following progression: I – vi – IV – vi – bVI – iv7 – I. It’s the bVI and iv7 that are the interesting chords. The bVI (an Ab Major chord in the key of C Major) is totally unexpected; you typically don’t base a chord on the flatted sixth of a major scale. (In the course of this progression, the Ab Major follows from an A minor chord, which—even though it’s a simple step-wise movement—is slightly jarring.) Then we move to the iv7 (Fm7), which follows somewhat naturally from the Ab chord, even though it’s also outside the C Major scale. (Within C Major, the fourth chord should be a major—F Major, in this case.) But the Fm7 is sort-of the subdominant of C, which is the final chord in the chorus, so the progression makes sense, even though it’s rather atypical—especially for its time. (Were Barry Mann and Carole King, friends and Brill Building contemporaries, learning from each other?) And, not surprisingly, the chord progression supports the lyrics well, the unexpected harmonization giving added weight to the pride expressed in the lyrics.

Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil were New Yorkers who worked at 1650 Broadway in New York City. This building was across the street from the famed Brill Building and, like the Brill, a one-stop-shop for the music industry in the 1950s and 1960s. The 1650 Building was home to Aldon Music, the publishing house run by Al Nevins and Don Kirshner (that’s Al+Don, or Aldon). Aldon signed some of the biggest songwriting teams of the era, including Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, and Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart.

Don Kirshner signed Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil to Aldon Music in 1961. The two of them wrote separately for a short while but ultimately teamed up (both professionally and personally). They were married that same year.

The songs they created together are legendary. Here’s just a short list:

• “Bless You” (Tony Orlando, 1961)
• “Uptown” (The Crystals, 1962)
• “Conscience” (James Darren, 1962)
• “Johnny Loves Me” (Shelly Fabares, 1962)
• “My Dad” (Paul Peterson, 1962)
• “He’s Sure the Boy I Loved” (The Crystals, 1962)
• “Blame It On the Bossa Nova” (Edie Gorme, 1963)
• “Don’t Be Afraid, Little Darlin'” (Steve Lawrence, 1963)
• “On Broadway” (The Drifters, 1963/George Benson, 1978)
• “Only In America” (Jay and the Americans, 1963)
• “I’ll Take You Home” (The Drifters, 1963)
• “I Want You to Meet My Baby” (Edie Gorme, 1964)
• “I’m Gonna Be Strong” (Gene Pitney, 1964)
• “Walking in the Rain” (The Ronettes, 1964/Jay and the Americans, 1969)
• “You Baby” (The Ronettes, 1964)
• “Saturday Night at the Movies” (The Drifters, 1964)
• “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” (The Righteous Brothers, 1964/Hall & Oates, 1980)
• “Looking Through the Eyes of Love” (Gene Pitney, 1965)
• “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” (The Animals, 1965)
• “(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration” (The Righteous Brothers, 1966)
• “Kicks” (Paul Revere & the Raiders, 1966)
• “Hungry” (Paul Revere & the Raiders, 1966)
• “Just a Little Lovin’” (Dusty Springfield, 1969)
• “Make Your Own Kind of Music” (Mama Cass Elliot, 1969)
• “It’s Getting Better” (Mama Cass Elliot, 1969)
• “New World Coming” (Mama Cass Elliot, 1970)
• “I Just Can’t Help Believing” (B.J. Thomas, 1970)
• “Rock and Roll Lullaby” (B.J. Thomas, 1972)
• “So Long Dixie” (Blood, Sweat & Tears, 1972)
• “We’re Over” (Johnny Rodriguez, 1974)
• “Here You Come Again” (Dolly Parton, 1977)
• “Don’t Know Much” (Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville, 1981)
• “Just Once” (Quincy Jones featuring James Ingram, 1981)
• “Never Gonna Let You Go” (Sergio Mendes, 1983)
• “The Last Time I Made Love” (Joyce Kennedy and Jeffrey Osborne, 1984)
• “Somewhere Out There” (Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram, 1986)
• “Closer Than Close” (Peabo Bryson, 1991)
• “I Will Come to You” (Hanson, 1997)

That is an incredible legacy of wonderful music. Even more impressive, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil stayed together, both professionally and personally, until her death on June 1, 2023.