"Stand By Me" was co-written by former Drifters' member Ben E. King and songwriting duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller whose credits also include Hound Dog and Jailhouse Rock for Elvis Presley.
"I took 'Stand By Me' from an old gospel song that was recorded by Sam Cooke and the Soulsters called 'Lord I'm Standing By' or something…"
Hear Ben E King talk about how "Stand By Me" came to be
Credited with changing the sound of American popular music songwriters Leiber and Stoller masterfully mixed traditional rhythm and blues with a more modern pop style. With their use of unusual rhythms such as the one used in "Stand By Me", their songs are regarded as precursors to modern soul music.
"Writing songs is something I enjoy doing. So when I write songs I never know if I'm writing something that's gonna last for a day or a year or a hundred years."
"Stand By Me" was King's second solo chart entry. It went to #50 in the UK charts in June 1961 but re-entered a month later and made it to #27 it also topped the R&B charts and made the US Top 5. But the song was a much bigger hit in 1987 when it shot to #1 after being used in an advert for Levis jeans – though the version used in the ad wasn't sung by Ben E. King.
"That was actually the only one that we did write a scenario for – that was the guy getting into the nightclub with the black jeans."
Pop gospel?
It's believed that "Stand By Me" is based on Charles Tindley's gospel hymn of the same name which was written in the first few years of the century but not registered until 1916. Ben E. King claimed it was inspired by a song recorded by Sam Cooke. The chord structures are also very similar to Elvis Presley's "Blue Moon of Kentucky"
"Stand By Me" has been a popular choice for film soundtracks. Aside from its memorable use in the movie of the same name, it was used in the soundtrack for the 1988 Imagine documentary about John Lennon, and coincidentally, Lennon's son Julian also sang a version for a film entitled Playing For Keeps.
I think it almost spoke to a later generation better than it did to its original generation.
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Stand By Me was the work of a talented trio - find out more about collaborating in our guide.
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