Error report
On Broadway (Denis)
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On May 4, 2010
work
Written by Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil
Error description
History
It seems to me like the Cookies/Chrystals version should be set as a different song. From http://web.archive.org/web/20080423075328/http://mann-weil.com/songstories.html :
We originally wrote "ON BROADWAY" for a group called The Cookies. Our friends Carole King and Gerry Goffin were writing for them and Gerry was producing and they were short one song. Barry had this concept of writing a "Gershwinesque" pop song and I, being a Broadway fanatic wanted to write a lyric about my favorite street and all it stood for. The ideas seemed to mesh so we wrote the first version of "ON BROADWAY". The Cookies and later The Crystals cut it but neither record was released. Then our publisher told us that Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller were looking for songs for The Drifters. We played them our song and they thought we needed to make some changes for their group. They said we could go home and work on it or rewrite it with them. We idolized them and jumped at the chance to team up. Using the basic melody that Barry had written and my opening lines all we created the "ON BROADWAY" that went on to be a hit by The Drifters and George Benson.
But I agree there is a problem with versions of On Broadway
These should probably be linked to the other work.
Has the Cookies version ever been released?
The Crystals version was issued on their 1962 LP, "Twist Uptown," before the Drifters. The Cookies' version was released on the compilation LP, "The Dimension Dolls," in 1963, after the Drifters' record became a hit. (So, Mann & Weil's recollection that "neither version was released" was not quite accurate.) These two recordings—and only these two—are of the original song by just Mann & Weil.
The rewrite was more than just "rhythm and harmonies": the lyric and melody also changed. Leiber & Stoller did not independently "adapt" Mann & Weil's song; rather, all four writers collaborated—in the same room, at the same time—on the rewrite specifically for the Drifters' record, which is the first recording of "On Broadway" as it is known today.
So, the breakdown and credits for "On Broadway" as presented on Second Hand Songs are fundamentally incorrect. For the Cookies and Crystals, the credit should read, "written by Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil"; all others should read, "written by Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller," even when the credits on the record label or sleeve omit one or more names.
Peter Stoller
Leiber/Stoller Productions
I came across this while entering some other data and changed the credits for the rewritten version of "On Broadway" as you indicated is correct. Thanks for providing this information, even though we were slow to act on it.