STAND BY ME
“Stand by Me” is a song originally performed by American singer-songwriter Ben E. King, written by King, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. According to King, the song title is derived and was inspired by a spiritual composition by Sam Cooke called “Stand by Me Father” (although Mike Stoller has stated differently). This spiritual was sung by The Soul Stirrers with Johnnie Taylor singing lead. There have been over 400 recorded versions of “Stand by Me” performed by many artists. The song has been featured on the soundtrack of the 1986 film Stand by Me. In 2015, King’s original version was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”, just under five weeks before King’s death. (More from Wikipedia)
The song was written by the prolific songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. “Is That All There Is?” has little in common with their better known songs like “Jailhouse Rock”, “Hound Dog”, “Kansas City”, or the numerous hits by the Coasters; although songs that the two co-wrote with others, such as “Stand by Me” and “On Broadway” have some of the flavor of this song.
(January 2014)
