lean on me

Bill Withers had his most enduring success with this classic hymnal to brotherly love. He wrote 'Lean on Me' for his sophomore album, 'Still Bill' while he was living in Los Angeles missing the closeness of his hometown of Slab Fork, West Virginia. He recalls the genesis of the song: "This was my second album, so I could afford to buy myself a little Wurlitzer electric piano. So I bought a little piano and I was sitting there just running my fingers up and down the piano. That's often the first song that children learn to play because they don't have to change fingers - you just put your fingers in one position and go up and down the keyboard. In the course of doing the music, that phrase crossed my mind, so then you go back and say, 'OK, I like the way this phrase, Lean On Me, sounds with this song.' So you go back and say, 'How do I arrive at this as a conclusion to a statement? What would I say that would cause me to say Lean On Me?' Then at that point, it's between you and your actual feelings, you and your morals and what you're really like. You probably do more thinking about it after it's done. Being from a rural, West Virginia setting, that kind of circumstance would be more accessible to me than it would be to a guy living in New York where people step over you if you're passed out on the sidewalk, or Los Angeles, where you could die on the side of the freeway and it would probably be eight days before anyone noticed you were dead. Coming from a place where people were a little more attentive to each other, less afraid, that would cue me to have those considerations than somebody from a different place. I think what we say is influenced by how we are, what's been our life experiences. Now, I notice young guys writing about shooting each other in the city and stuff like that, well that was not my experience, so I would never have said anything like that because it was not my experience. I'm not from a big city. I think circumstance dictates what people think."

The song was recorded with members of the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, who had been touring with him. 'Lean on Me' went to number one on the R&B and pop charts. It was his only single to reach the top of any chart.

Withers says: "It's a rural song that translates across demographic lines. Who could argue with the fact that it would be nice to have somebody who really was that way? My experience was, there were people who were that way. They would help you out. Even in the rural South, there were people who would help you out even across racial lines. Somebody who would probably stand in a mob that might lynch you if you pissed them off, would help you out in another way."

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Sometimes in our lives

We all have pain

We all have sorrow

But if we are wise

We know that there's always tomorrow

Lean on me, when you're not strong

And I'll be your friend

I'll help you carry on

For it won't be long

'Til I'm gonna need

Somebody to lean on

Please swallow your pride

If I have things you need to borrow

For no one can fill those of your needs

That you won't let show

You just call on me brother, when you need a hand

We all need somebody to lean on

I just might have a problem that you'd understand

We all need somebody to lean on

If there is a load you have to bear

That you can't carry

I'm right up the road

I'll share your load

If you just call me

Call me (if you need a friend)

Call me (call me)

Call me (if you need a friend)

Call me (if you ever need a friend)

Call me (call me)

Call me

Call me (if you need A friend)

In 1987, Club Nouveau took their version of the song to number one on the pop and dance charts. They won Withers a Grammy for Best R&B Song.