Today’s classic song of the day is one of the very best songs of the 1960s (or any decade), “Stand By Me” by Ben E. King. Mr. King wrote it, with a little assist from legendary producers/songwriters Mike Leiber and Jerry Stoller, inspired by/based on the turn-of-the-previous-century gospel hymn of the same name by Charles Albert Tindley. It’s a song about hope and devotion and love, speaking across generations and genders and race.
Ben E. King originally intended the song to be sung by his former group, the Drifters, but they passed on it. Mr. King says that he was in the studio recording “Spanish Harlem” and finished early, so he and producers Leiber and Stoller decided to give “Stand By Me” a go. That was a wise decision.
Here’s how Mr. King remembers it:
“At the end of a long day, they asked me: ‘We have 15 or 20 minutes left over, do you have anything you want to show us?’ And I showed them this little song I had called ‘Stand By Me’ on the piano. They called the musicians back into the studio and he did what’s called a hell arrangement, which is something you come up with right away because you don’t have a lot of time, and of course, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller came up with the bass line right there on the spot.”
Mike Stoller has a slightly different recollection of events:
“I remember arriving at our office as Jerry and Ben were working on lyrics for a new song. King had the beginnings of a melody that he was singing a cappella. I went to the piano and worked up the harmonies, developing a bass pattern that became the signature of the song. Ben and Jerry quickly finished the lyrics.”
However it transpired, the song they wrote and recorded was inspired. “Stand By Me” is based on a simple chord progression, the one found in scores of 1950’s doo-wop songs: I – vi – IV – V. (In the key of G, that’s G – Em – C – D, repeated repeatedly.) The New York studio musicians called back to record the track included Ernie Hayes on piano, Al Caiola and Charles McCracken on guitars, Romeo Penque on sax, Lloyd Trotman on acoustic bass, Phil Kraus on percussion, and the legendary Gary Chester on drums. Leiber and Stoller produced.
Charles Albert Tindley’s original hymn was itself based on Psalm 46, which includes the line “We will not fear, though the Earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.” Ben E. King modernized that sentiment and came up with the following lyrics:
If the sky that we look upon
Should tumble and fall
Or the mountain should crumble to the sea
I won’t cry, I won’t cry
No, I won’t shed a tear
Just as long as you stand
Stand by me
Leiber and Stoller released Ben E. King’s recording of “Stand By Me” in April of 1961 and the single went to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, #3 on the Cash Box Top 100, and #1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B Sides chart. Twenty-five years later, producer Rob Reiner used the song in his 1986 movie, Stand By Me, which was based on the novella The Body, by Stephen King. Thanks to the success of the film, the song “Stand By Me” entered the charts a second time, this time peaking at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100. I have no doubt that if they released the song again today it would do equally as well.
The thing about “Stand By Me” is that, even though it’s deceptively simple, it’s a near-perfect piece of music. The lyrics are inspirational and universal; they can apply to the love between two partners, between two friends, between a parent and a child, or between a person and their God. Take it whichever way you want, it still has the same meaning and packs the same emotional punch. And, while the song has been covered by dozens of artists (including an earnest but somewhat shambolic version by ex-Beatle John Lennon in 1975), it’s Ben E. King’s emotion-packed vocals that make the original the definitive version. It’s a true standard, a real classic, and one of my favorite songs of all time.
