On Broadway

Written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil in collaboration with the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.

Published: 05 Aug 2014 Updated: 22 Jun 2023Visits: 1Code: UL565

Category: RockInstrument: Any Subjects: Jazz • Repertoire • Rock

Share On Broadway on: Bluesky facebook twitter (X)

All 2 sample page(s) are viewable on-line.

If you are a registered site member, have verified your email address, and have the correct permissions you can view ALL the pages of this PDF or Samples pages at a larger size using the LearningUkulele.com Online PDF Viewer .

View the Main Song Downloads section below to download the song files for the complete and most up-to-date versions.

On Broadway

"On Broadway" is a song written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil in collaboration with the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Weil and Mann were based at Aldon Music, located at 1650 Broadway, New York City, and the song as written by Mann/Weil was originally recorded by the Cookies (although the Crystals' version beat them to release) and featured an upbeat lyric in which the protagonist is still on her way to Broadway and sings "I got to get there soon, or I'll just die." Additionally the melody was in compound time and the backing riff modulated between the root and the minor 2nd.

On Broadway — Premium Play-along Track

A Premium Play-along track that features key modulations inspired by George Benson's rendition from Weekend in LA. This cool track takes you on a musical journey through the keys of E, F, F#, G, and Ab, just like Benson's iconic version.

Premium Play-along Tracks are only available to Premium members and Active/Private Students.

Here is a Demo of Desafinado to get an idea of the quality of these custom play-along tracks.

Play-along Demo: Desafinado

DesafinadoPremium Play-along Track with Guitar Melody Played


I, (Curt) originally created these tracks to perform over for gigs and this was a demo for booking gigs.

These Premium Play-along Tracks are available to LearningUkulele.com Site Members and are my personal one-of-kind tracks I (Curt) and Chuck Anderson recorded and arranged.

On Broadway is in the The Daily Ukulele 365 Songs for Better Living book.

Strum a different song every day with easy arrangements of 365 of your favorite songs in one big songbook! The Daily Ukulele features ukulele arrangements with melody, lyrics and uke chord grids and are in ukulele-friendly keys that are particularly suited for groups of one to one hundred to play and sing.

On Broadway…

The songwriters, Weil and Mann were based at Aldon Music, located at 1650 Broadway, New York City, and was originally recorded by The Cookies (although The Crystals' version beat them to release) and featured an upbeat lyric in which the protagonist is still on her way to Broadway and sings I got to get there soon, or I'll just die. Additionally the melody was in compound time and the backing riff modulated between the root and the minor 2nd.

George Benson's version of On Broadway, from his 1978 album Weekend in L.A., hit #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the soul chart. The George Benson version also has had substantial adult contemporary and smooth jazz radio airplay ever since. It won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance. The song appeared in the films Big Business and American Beauty. George Benson's performance of the song was used during the opening credits of the 1979 film All That Jazz, which featured dancers on stage auditioning for a musical similar to Chicago. George Benson also performed "On Broadway" with Clifford and The Rhythm Rats for the 1994 Muppet album Kermit Unpigged.

Main Song Download(s)

The main downloads for this Song.

WEB_CONTENT_ONLY

On Broadway - Premium Play-along

Updated: 31 Dec 2016

Premium play-along track for On Broadway. Modulates up a key each time through.

UL565-LS-PLAY-F

On Broadway - Leadsheet for Playalong

Updated: 22 Jun 2023

Leadsheet for "On Broadway", Playalong.

UL565-HW-LS-F

On Broadway - Original Handwritten Leadsheet for Playalong

Updated: 22 Jun 2023

Original Handwritten Leadsheet for "On Broadway", Playalong.

Related Lessons

Related Lessons for On Broadway.

UL101

Common `Ukulele Tunings

Updated: 11 Apr 2012

Any tuning is possible on a ukulele, as long as the ukulele’s construction supports it and a string is available.

UL04

Six Essential Scales for `Ukulele

Updated: 24 May 2024

The six essential scales are: Blues Major Pentatonic Mixolydian Dorian Aeolian and Ionian From the six essential scales, you can get through a wide variety of traditional and contemporary music. A scale is simply a collection of pitches or notes, not really a "this is a Jazz scale", "this is a Blues" or "this is a Rock scale". It's how a scale is used that really matters not its name.

UL07

Learning the `Ukulele Fingerboard (Finally!!!)

Updated: 20 Oct 2021

Most players struggle with learning the names of the notes of the ukulele fingerboard. There doesn't seem to a pattern and notes repeat. There is an easy way and "it's easier that you think." Most players know the names of the open strings for their favorite tuning.

UL06

Playing by Ear - The Ultimate Goal

Updated: 08 Oct 2015

The ultimate goal for any musician when playing a musical instrument is to "Play by Ear". It’s true whether you’re singing, banging a drum, strumming a guitar, or our favorite instrument, the ukulele. If your fingers can already interpret and follow what your inner ear commands, you’ve obtained your goal and are "Playing by Ear."

ULHA-YB-181

On Broadway

Updated: 24 Apr 2023

Harmonic Analysis (RMA) Worksheet for the song: "On Broadway".

Related Lesson Series

Related Lessons Series for On Broadway.

Types of Chords Available on Ukulele

Updated: 08 Jun 2023

On the ukulele, there are various types of chords that you can explore, including open position chords, movable form chords, 4-part chords (commonly known as jazz chords), and free form chords.

Common Chord Progressions and Remembering Songs

Updated: 08 Jun 2023

Understanding the similarities between chord progressions and songs can greatly enhance your ability to remember and play a wide variety of songs. It's fascinating how much common ground exists among different musical compositions.

Basic Ukulele Chords Charts

Updated: 01 Jan 2003

Not so much a series - but the basic chords ALL ukulele players should know.

Jazz Standard Chord Progressions

Updated: 01 Jan 2003

These are the chord progressions, extracted from my book "Exploring Jazz Chords on Ukulele" for use with on-line and private students.

Modular Phonetic Rhythm by Chuck Anderson

Updated: 01 Jan 2003

Modular Phonetic Rhythm represents a significant advance in the teaching and application of rhythm. Eliminating many inefficient aspects of rhythm education, Modular Phonetic Rhythm streamlines the traditional educational approach, resulting in a reflexive reaction to rhythm.

Related Songs

Related Songs for On Broadway.

UL520

Sunny

Updated: 01 Oct 2011

Sunny is the name of a song written by Bobby Hebb. It is one of the most covered popular songs, with hundreds of versions released. BMI rates "Sunny" number 25 in its "Top 100 songs of the century".

UL513

Moondance

Updated: 09 Mar 2020

Moondance is a popular song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter an Morrison and is the title song on his 1970 album Moondance. Morrison did not release the song as a single until November 1977, seven and a half years after the album was released. It reached the Billboard Hot 100, charting at #92. The single's B-side, "Cold Wind in August" had been released in the same year, on his latest album at the time, A Period of Transition.

UL528

Light My Fire

Updated: 09 Dec 2019

Light My Fire is a song by The Doors which was recorded in August 1966 and released the first week of January 1967 on the Doors' debut album. Released as a single in April, it spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and one week on the Cash Box Top 100, nearly a year after its recording. A year later, it re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968 following the success of Jose Feliciano's version of the song, peaking at number 87.

Site Access Plans for LearningUkulele.com

Forever Access - With Forever Premium Access, you get ALL the benefits of a Premium Access Subscription such as Unlimited 24/7 access to ALL lessons, downloads, songs, play-along jam tracks, videos, email access to Curt, resources, related assets, and ALL books by Curt as FREE downloads. Pretty much everything on the site, and NEVER worry about a subscription or surprise payment again. And jump the queue for responding to any questions.

If you're anything like me (Curt) and getting Subscription overloaded with everything and everybody on-line wanting money from you once a month — I'm with you. For like-minded individuals, this forever plan is a pay once, and you're done.

The price for Unlimited Forever access is right around the cost of a few months of private lessons. I can guarantee there is more than enough material on-line to keep you busy for a long, long time. And, you get all of my books for FREE. That alone is more than the cost of this plan.

Premium Access - This premium gives you Unlimited 24/7 access to ALL lessons, downloads, songs, play-along jam tracks, videos, email access to Curt, resources and related assets. As well as ALL books by Curt Sheller as FREE downloads.

Basic Access - A limited selection of basic lessons — ( currently over 140 ) and 100+ songs for ukulele as well as basic general music reference material — Completely FREE — Simply Register/Signup. HOWEVER - I've been doing ukulele and LearningUkulele.com since 2003 and probably have given too much away already - as reflected in my income from the site in relationship to the time spent on the site. So help support this site and its continued development by signing up for one of the below Premium Access Plans or buy a few of my books. - Thanks, Curt

NOTE: Each higher access level includes ALL the benefits of the lower levels. Private Lessons include all the benefits of a Premium Access Plans as long as you remain a student on the schedule.

Just browsing over both books, they look fantastic! I'm a guitarist and uke player for over 25 years and was thinking about writing a ukulele book but you've already written what I think are the best, most comprehensive and thorough books I've ever seen for the instrument. I just might end up buying every book you've written and I'll be giving my highest recommendation for your books to my friends and students. Thank you so much for taking the time to write such great books!Peter Rhee

Aloha, Curt, All I can say is WOW! What you have accomplished is simply incredible! All the bestGlen Hirabayashi, The Aloha Boys

Folks, if you haven't stopped by Curt's site, do so right now! ..And get his books, they are fantastic. This guy knows his stuff and is able to pass it along too.Alan Johnson Proprietor, The 4th Peg

I can highly recommend Curt's Uke books — I have four of them and they are excellent.fatveg — Portland

Want to drop LearningUkulele.com & Learning Ukulele with Curt a nice comment . We always like to know how we are and you are doing. We'll post any comment, quotes throughout the site and you can help spread the word .

Thanks for visiting and checking out the site!

curtieAnim.gif rw.vg.gif

Original Curtie Animation from 1987 for my first web site on a Macintosh II, 37 years ago. Man, does time fly.

“Built for myself (Curt), and sharing with the `Ukulele community!”

LearningUkulele.com has one of the largest collections of lessons, songs, and TABS, Luthiers, ukulele builders, ukulele festival and club information, and, ukulele links on the web. Curt has been on the ®Internet since the early 1990's and This site just never stops growing!!!

Content is added and updated daily — so check back often. I really do need to get out more ;-)

Love LearningUkulele.com? • Show your support!
Support development via a monthly membership or a one-time forever membership!