Stand by Me (Ben E. King song)

"Stand by Me"
Single by Ben E. King
from the album Don't Play That Song!
B-side "On the Horizon"
Released April 1961
Format 7-inch single, 12-inch single
Recorded October 27, 1960
Genre Rhythm and blues, soul
Length 2:57
Label Atco
Songwriter(s) Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Producer(s) Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Ben E. King singles chronology
"First Taste of Love"
(1961)		 "Stand by Me"
(1961)		 "Amor"
(1961)
"Stand by Me"
Single by John Lennon
from the album Rock 'n' Roll
B-side "Move Over Ms. L"
Released March 10, 1975
Format 7-inch vinyl
Recorded 1974
Genre Rock
Length 3:26
Label Apple
Songwriter(s) Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Producer(s) John Lennon
John Lennon singles chronology
"#9 Dream"
(1974)		 "Stand by Me"
(1975)		 "(Just Like) Starting Over"
(1980)
"Stand by Me"
Single by Mickey Gilley
from the album Urban Cowboy
B-side "Here Comes the Hurt Again"
Released May 31, 1980
Format 7"
Recorded 1980
Genre Country
Length 3:35
Label Epic
Songwriter(s) Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Producer(s) Jim Ed Norman
Mickey Gilley singles chronology
"True Love Ways"
(1980)		 "Stand by Me"
(1980)		 "That's All That Matters"
(1980)
"Stand by Me"
Single by Maurice White
from the album Maurice White
Released 1985
Format 7-inch, 12-inch
Genre Rhythm and blues, soul
Length 4:07
Label Columbia
Songwriter(s) Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Producer(s) Maurice White
"Stand by Me"
Single by 4 the Cause
from the album Stand by Me
Released September 18, 1998
Format CD
Recorded 1997
Genre Soul, Hip hop
Length 3:44
Label RCA
Songwriter(s) Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Producer(s) Michael Vitoria, Funky Be
4 the Cause singles chronology
"Stand by Me"
(1998)		 "Let Me Be"
(1998)
"Stand by Me"
Single by Prince Royce
from the album Prince Royce
Released 2010
Recorded 2009
Genre Bachata
Length 3:25
Label Top Stop Music
Songwriter(s) Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Producer(s) Sergio George
Prince Royce singles chronology
"Stand by Me"
(2010)		 "Corazón Sin Cara"
(2010)
"Stand by Me"
Single by Florence and the Machine
from the album Songs From Final Fantasy XV
Released 12 August 2016 (2016-08-12)
Format Digital download
Length 4:05
Label Island
Songwriter(s) Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Producer(s) Benjamin Nelson[1]
Florence and the Machine singles chronology
"Wish That You Were Here"
(2016)		 "Stand by Me"
(2016)		 "Sky Full of Song"
(2018)

"Stand by Me" is a song originally performed 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.[2]

There have been over 400 recorded versions of the song, performed by many artists. It was featured on the soundtrack of the 1986 film Stand by Me, and a corresponding music video was released to promote the film. In 2012 it was estimated that the song's royalties had topped $US 22.8 million (£17 million), making it the sixth highest-earning song as of that time. 50% of the royalties were paid to King.[3] In 2015 King's original version was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress, as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant",[4] just under five weeks before his death. Later in the year, the 2015 line up of the Drifters recorded it, in tribute to him.

Song information

In 1960, Ben E. King was inspired to update the early 20th century gospel hymn by Charles Albert Tindley, which was based around the psalm, "will not we fear, though the Earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea."[5]

According to the documentary History of Rock 'n' Roll, King had no intention of recording the song himself.[6] King had written it for the Drifters, who passed on recording it. After the "Spanish Harlem" recording session in 1960, King had some studio time left over. The session's producers, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, asked if he had any more songs. King played it on the piano for them. They liked it and called the studio musicians back in to record it.

Stoller recalls it differently:

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 ... .[7]

In another interview, Stoller said:

Ben E. had the beginnings of a song—both words and music. He worked on the lyrics together with Jerry, and I added elements to the music, particularly the bass line. To some degree, it's based on a gospel song called "Lord Stand By Me". I have a feeling that Jerry and Ben E. were inspired by it. Ben, of course, had a strong background in church music. He's a 50% writer on the song, and Jerry and I are 25% each.... When I walked in, Jerry and Ben E. were working on the lyrics to a song. They were at an old oak desk we had in the office. Jerry was sitting behind it, and Benny was sitting on the top. They looked up and said they were writing a song. I said, "Let me hear it."... Ben began to sing the song a cappella. I went over to the upright piano and found the chord changes behind the melody he was singing. It was in the key of A. Then I created a bass line. Jerry said, "Man that's it!" We used my bass pattern for a starting point and, later, we used it as the basis for the string arrangement created by Stanley Applebaum.[8]

The personnel on the song included Romeo Penque on sax, Ernie Hayes on piano, Al Caiola and Charles McCracken on guitars, Lloyd Trotman on double bass, Phil Kraus on percussion, and Gary Chester on drums, plus a wordless mixed chorus and strings. Songwriting credits on the single were shown as King and Elmo Glick—a pseudonym used by Leiber and Stoller.

King's record went to No. 1 on the R&B charts[9] and was a Top Ten hit on the US charts twice—in its original release, entering the Billboard chart on May 13, 1961[10] and peaking at No. 4 on June 16, 1961, and a 1986 re-release coinciding with its use as the theme song for the movie of the same name following its appearance in the film, when it peaked at No. 9 on 20 December 1986 - 3 January 1987, and also in an advertisement for Levi Jeans. It also reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart in 1987 after its re-release, mostly because of the jeans spot, originally reaching No. 27 on its first release.

The song was not released on an album until it had been out as a single for two years. The song appeared on King's Don't Play That Song! album.

The song was ranked 122nd on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 1999, BMI named it as the fourth most-performed song of the 20th century, with about seven million performances.[11]

On March 27, 2012, the Songwriters Hall of Fame announced that the song would receive its 2012 Towering Song Award and that King would be honored with the 2012 Towering Performance Award for his recording of it.[12]

Structure

The song uses a version of the common chord progression now called the 50s progression, which has been called the "'Stand by Me' changes" after the song.[13]

Other notable versions

Chart performance

Ben E. King

Chart (1961) Peak
position
US Billboard Hot R&B Singles[30] 1
US Billboard Hot 100[30] 4
UK Singles Chart[31] 27
Chart (1986) Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100[32] 9
US Billboard Adult Contemporary[33] 10

For the year-end charts in the US, the song was the #63 song of 1961[34] and #67 of 1987.[35]

Chart (1987) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart[31] 1
Irish Singles Chart 1
German Top 75 2
Swiss Music Charts 3
Dutch Top 40 7
Austria Top 40 7
Sweden Singles Chart 8
Norway Singles Chart 9

John Lennon

Chart (1975) Peak
position
Canadian RPM Singles Chart 10
US Billboard Hot 100[36] 20
US Cashbox Top 100[37] 20
UK Singles Chart 30
German Singles Chart 22

Mickey Gilley

Chart (1980) Peak
position
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[38] 1
US Billboard Hot 100[39] 22
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[40] 3
Canadian RPM Country Chart 3
Canadian RPM Singles Chart 51

Maurice White

Chart (1985)[19][20][41] Peak
position
US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs 6
US Billboard Adult Contemporary Songs 11
US Billboard Adult Contemporary Songs 50

4 the Cause

Weekly charts
Chart (1998) Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100[42] 82
UK Single Charts 12
German Single Charts 2
Austrian Single Charts 2
Swiss Single Charts 1
Year-end charts
Chart (1998) Position
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[43] 28

Prince Royce

Chart (2010)[44] Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot Latin Tracks 8
U.S. Billboard Latin Tropical Airplay 1
U.S. Billboard Heatseekers Songs 17

Florence + the Machine

Chart (2016) Peak
position
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[45] 2
Belgium (Ultratip Wallonia)[46] 23
Belgium Digital Songs (Billboard)[47] 1
France (SNEP)[48] 162
Israel (Media Forest)[49] 5
US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard)[50] 15

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Songs From Final Fantasy XV - Florence + the Machine | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic.
  2. ↑ Laurence Ourac. "Stand by Me: Digging The Oldies Part 3". Retrieved 2016-10-08. (The actual reference is Psalm 46:2c rather than all of Psalm 46:2-3.)
  3. ↑ "BBC4…The World's Richest Songs". Did You Watch It?. Archived from the original on January 1, 2016. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  4. ↑ "New Entries to National Recording Registry | News Releases - Library of Congress". Loc.gov. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  5. ↑ Connor, Alan (2018-05-21). "Stand By Me: More than a royal wedding song". BBC News. Retrieved 2018-06-06.
  6. ↑ "Good Rockin' Tonight". (c) 1995 Time-Life Video.
  7. ↑ Leiber, Jerry; Stoller, Mike; Ritz, David (2009). Hound Dog: The Leiber & Stoller Autobiography. Simon & Schuster. p. 174. ISBN 978-1-4165-5938-2.
  8. ↑ "May 2012". JazzWax. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  9. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004. Record Research. p. 325.
  10. ↑ http://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/1961-05-13
  11. ↑ "BMI Announces Top 100 Songs of the Century | News". BMI.com. December 13, 1999. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  12. ↑ "Stand By Me Named Towering Song, Ben E. King Towering Performance, Lance Freed Abe Olman Publisher". SongHall. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  13. ↑ Moore, Allan (1995). "The So-Called 'Flattened Seventh' in Rock". Popular Music. Cambridge University Press. 14 (2): 185–201. doi:10.1017/S0261143000007431.
  14. ↑ "Hit Parade del 24 Novembre 1962". Hit Parade Italia. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  15. ↑ "Late Single Spotlights". Billboard. Vol. 76 no. 10. 7 March 1964. p. 4. Retrieved 11 May 2017. The flip is a legit reading of the Ben E. King hit from a while back.
  16. ↑ Stutz, Colin (4 June 2016). "Muhammad Ali the Grammy-Nominated, Billboard-Charting Musician". Billboard. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  17. ↑ "Deep Online April 2010". Soulexpress.net. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  18. ↑ The Old Grey Whistle Test (DVD). Warner Home Video. 2003.
  19. 1 2 "Maurice White: Stand By Me (Hot R&B Songs)". Billboard.com.
  20. 1 2 "Maurice White: Stand By Me (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard.com.
  21. ↑ Steffen Hung. "4 The Cause - Stand By Me". Austriancharts.at. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  22. ↑ "Die ganze Musik im Internet: Charts". Musicline.de. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  23. ↑ "Prince Royce All Set To Touch The Sky". Thaindian.com. November 12, 2010. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  24. ↑ "Premio Lo Nuestro 2011 Winners List". Nochelatina.com. February 18, 2011. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  25. ↑ Bilstein, Jon (31 March 2016). "Hear Florence and the Machine's Sweeping 'Stand By Me' Cover". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  26. ↑ "Florence + The Machine Covers Classic "Stand By Me" for Final Fantasy XV" (Press release). Square Enix. 30 March 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  27. ↑ "Chart History: Florence + the Machine". Billboard. 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  28. ↑ Langone, Alix. "Budweiser Just Released Its 2018 Super Bowl Commercial and It Has Nothing to Do With Beer". Retrieved January 28, 2018.
  29. ↑ Marzovilla, Julia. "Skylar Grey Helps Highlight 'A Good Cause on a Large Scale' With New Budweiser Super Bowl Commercial". Retrieved January 28, 2018.
  30. 1 2 "Ben E. King awards". AllMusic. Retrieved June 16, 2013.
  31. 1 2 "Ben E. King". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 16, 2013.
  32. ↑ "Ben E. King Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  33. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 130.
  34. ↑ "1961". Longbored Surfer. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  35. ↑ "1987". Longbored Surfer. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  36. ↑ "John Lennon Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  37. ↑ Blaney, John (2005). John Lennon: Listen to This Book (illustrated ed.). [S.l.]: Paper Jukebox. p. 326. ISBN 978-0-9544528-1-0.
  38. ↑ "Mickey Gilley Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
  39. ↑ "Mickey Gilley Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  40. ↑ "Mickey Gilley Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard.
  41. ↑ "Maurice White: Stand By Me (Hot 100)". Billboard.com.
  42. ↑ "4 the Cause Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  43. ↑ "End of Year Charts 1998". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  44. ↑ Prince Royce Billboard Singes, AllMusic
  45. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Florence %2B The Machine – Stand By Me" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  46. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Florence %2B The Machine – Stand By Me" (in French). Ultratip. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  47. ↑ "Belgium Digital Songs". Billboard. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  48. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Florence %2B The Machine – Stand By Me" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  49. ↑ "Florence + the Machine – Stand By Me Media Forest". Mediaforest.biz. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  50. ↑ "Florence + the Machine Chart History (Hot Rock Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved January 19, 2017.


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