"Uptown Girl" is a song performed by musician Billy Joel, whose lyrics deal with a working-class "downtown man" attempting to woo a wealthy "uptown girl". The song was first released in 1983 on his album An Innocent Man. It peaked at #3 on the Billboard charts in the US, and #1 in the UK; in 1988, Rolling Stone ranked "Uptown Girl" #99 on their list of the 100 most important singles of the period 1963-1988.. The style of music, including the doo-wop beat, the close harmonies and Joel's frequent use of falsetto singing, is reminiscent of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons (as the song is meant to be Joel's response to the Four Seasons song "Rag Doll"); the verse melody bears some resemblance to Ravel's Bol%C3%A9ro. The song also has the uncommon feature of changing key from the original two times before giving back, for a total of three keys.
Covers of this song have been performed by Alvin and The Chipmunks, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Aaron Carter, and most notably in 2001 by Irish boy band Westlife, again reaching #1 in the UK, albeit only for a single week.
