[citation needed] In April 2010, The Drifters' "Up on the Roof" was named number 114 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.

The Kenny Lynch version, which largely replicated the Drifters' original, was the more successful, reaching number 10 in the UK.

Nyro's version slows down the song's tempo and also omits the lyrics sung to the first of the original's three bridge sections.

Rearranged around Taylor's acoustic guitar playing and vocal accents and interjections, his version of "Up on the Roof" became a concert staple, often with a star-lit urban dreamscape presented behind the stage halfway through the number as his band played unison ascending notes to echo the song's theme.

Its arrangement hewed close to The Drifters' original; the accompanying music video showed the duo cavorting atop a midtown Manhattan skyscraper.