FEATURE:
Groovelines
Ben E. King – Stand By Me
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THIS is a song…
that has been covered quite extensively through the years. Recorded back in October 1960, Ben E. King’s Stand By Me is one of those songs that has bene taken to heart by so many people. I am mentioning the track, as it was recently Bob Harris’ seventy-fifth birthday. He united a special group to perform a cover of Stand By Me back in 2020. Here is some further information and explanation:
“A huge array of artists have come together under the banner ‘Whispering Bob’s Allstars’ to perform the song remotely, including: Paul Rogers, Mark Knopfler, PP Arnold Peter Frampton, Rick Wakeman, Richard Thompson, Beth Nielsen Chapman, The Shires and Ward Thomas plus many more – see below for full list.
This new recording of the Ben E King classic is spearheaded by the legendary Bob Harris OBE, who celebrates 50 years in broadcasting this year. What better way to mark the occasion than inviting some of his favourite artists to come together to perform his favourite song, 60 years to the day it was originally recorded (27 October 1960) and raise money for a wonderful cause – Help Musicians”.
At such a difficult time, I think Stand By Me has taken on a new life. It is a wonderful song that will continue to be explored by various different artists in the form of cover versions. I am looing at the original recording which, to me, is the very best. Ben E. King’s performance carries so much passion and emotion! It still sound so moving and powerful six decades after its release. Released on 24th April, 1961, I wanted to mark sixty years of a phenomenal song.
Before moving on, here are some more details about an all-time gem of a track that continues to inspire and impact people all around the world:
“Stand by Me" is a song originally performed in 1961 by American singer-songwriter Ben E. King and written by King, Jerry Leiber, and Mike Stoller. According to King, the title is derived from, and was inspired by, a spiritual written by Sam Cooke and J. W. Alexander called "Stand by Me Father," recorded by the Soul Stirrers with Johnnie Taylor singing lead. The third line of the second verse of the former work derives from Psalm 46:2c/3c.
It was featured on the soundtrack of the 1986 film Stand by Me, and a corresponding music video, featuring King along with actors River Phoenix and Wil Wheaton, was released to promote the film. It was also featured in a 1987 European commercial of Levi's 501 jeans, contributing to greater success in Europe. In 2012, the song's royalties was estimated to have topped $22.8 million (£17 million), making it the sixth highest-earning song as of its era. 50% of the royalties were paid to King.[4] In 2015, King's original version was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress, as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", just under five weeks before his death. Later in the year, the 2015 line up of the Drifters recorded it in tribute.
There have been over 400 recorded versions of the song, performed by many artists, notably John Lennon, Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali), 4 the Cause, Tracy Chapman, musicians of the Playing for Change project, Florence and the Machine, and the Kingdom Choir. A-League club Melbourne Victory FC play this song before home matches, while fans raise their scarves above their heads and sing the lyrics”.
There have been some great covers of Stand By Me through the decades. I want to finish off by brining in an article from The Guardian. They published a piece in 2015 to mark fifty-five years since Stand By Me was written. As they explore, one can easily identify the song. It is one of those tracks that resonates after so many years:
“As is the case with all the great pop songs, you can identify Stand By Me by its opening few notes. Mike Stoller’s simple bassline, built around a 50s doo-wop chord progression, is decorated with little more than the faint ting of a triangle and the scrape of a gourd guiro – yet the effect is instant. King’s gospel-infused vocals followed this approach: the strength of his feelings imparted with no need for histrionics.
Fifty-five years after it was written, King’s original version still wields the kind of emotional heft that can reduce people to tears, and get others on their feet at weddings. Yet not everyone saw its magic at first. King had originally intended the song for his band the Drifters, before he left that group in 1960 – it was only after a songwriting session with Stoller and Jerry Lieber had come to an end, and they asked if he had any other songs in the locker, that he put it forward. “I wasn’t trying to make a hit,” he told the Guardian in 2013. According to King, legendary producer Jerry Wexler was even less aware of its magic: “He hated it because we’d gone into overtime in the studio with an expensive orchestra.”
King’s novella The Body inspired Rob Reiner’s 1986 film Stand By Me, and the inclusion of the original version of the song on the soundtrack helped make it an even bigger hit in 1987, when it topped the UK singles chart. The renaissance continued shortly afterwards when Stand By Me was one of several soul classics to appear on adverts for Levi’s 501 jeans. Such ongoing success thrilled King, who vowed to keep performing the song “as long as I’m breathing”.
On paper, Stand By Me seems a simple song, and certainly King wrote it with simple intentions: a love song to his partner at the time, Betty Nelson. Pop songs are seldom expected to mirror the lives of the artists who created them, but it certainly adds a sparkle to the song to know that Nelson would go on to celebrate five decades of marriage with the man who sang to her: “If the sky that we look upon should tumble and fall / All the mountains 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.”
It’s especially fitting that a song about enduring love – a love able to survive, no matter what trials and traumas it encounters – was built equally strongly to stand the test of time”.
Perhaps one of the most memorable and loved songs ever released, Stand By Me has acquired fresh relevance and potency during the pandemic. Bob Harris’ assembled tribute has done a lot of good and, in the process, brought Ben E. King’s version to new people. It is truly…
ONE of the all-time classics.