Tag: Lean On Me

Bill Withers – Lean On Me

I played this single so much when I was around 7 years old. I wore it out and know every nuance of this song. Just a great vocal by Withers on this. The simple piano riff makes this song so powerful to me. Still one of my favorite songs. Sometimes less is better. 

It’s been covered by many other artists, but this is my go-to version. Bill Withers wrote this song after he left his childhood town of Slab Fork, West Virginia, to live in Los Angeles in a poor section of town. Members of the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band were used on the recording.

Producer Ray Jackson (who doubled as the keyboard player) and engineer Bob Potter kept the recording dry and uncluttered. No strings, no brass, no unnecessary sweetening. Just voice, piano, bass, drums, and a touch of guitar. It’s like Bill is in your living room singing to you.

What’s remarkable is how this song has transcended its era. It’s been sung at weddings, funerals, movies, and classrooms. It’s part of the American pop culture now, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with songs such as Amazing Grace and This Land Is Your Land.

The musicians on this recording were Ray Jackson, Benorce Blackmon, Melvin Dunlap, and James Gadson. Some of these musicians were in The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band. The song peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #18 in the UK, and #20 in Canada in 1972. 

Bill Withers: “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. In the course of doing the music, that phrase crossed my mind, so then you go back and say, ‘OK, I like the way that 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?’ 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.”

Lean On Me

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 faith 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’ll understand 
We all need somebody to lean on 

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 

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’ll 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 uh huh(call me) if you need a friend (call me)
If you ever need a friend (call me)
Call me (call me) call me (call me) call me 
(Call me) call me (call me) if you need a friend
(Call me) call me (call me) call me (call me) call me (call me) call me (call me)

Bill Withers – Ain’t No Sunshine

This was originally one of those B-side songs that became popular after disc jockeys turned the single over. The initial A-side was a song called Harlem. Withers has stated that the track was inspired by the 1962 movie Days of Wine and Roses… more specifically the characters played by Lee Remick and Jack Lemmon. “They were both alcoholics who were alternately weak and strong. It’s like going back for seconds on rat poison. Sometimes you miss things that weren’t particularly good for you. It’s just something that crossed my mind from watching that movie, and probably something else that happened in my life that I’m not aware of.”

This song brings out the best of the early seventies. The band is Withers with the guitar and vocal, Booker T. Jones on keyboards, Stephen Stills on guitar, Jim Keltner on drums, and  Bobbye Hall on percussion…that’s a great lineup.

This was Withers’ first hit. After spending nine years in the US Navy, he had a job at a factory making parts for airplanes when he was introduced to Booker T. Jones from Booker T. & the MG’s. In 1970 he signed with the Hollywood independent Sussex Records and set about recording his first album.

Booker T was an elite session musician with Stax Records, where Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and many other soul legends recorded. He brought in some other top-notch musicians, including Stephen Stills on lead guitar, and produced this album for Withers, who was 32 when it was recorded. The “I know” parts were just filler until he wrote proper words but Booker T told him to leave that in there so Withers did. Booker T had seen Otis Redding doing the same thing with Dock Of The Bay by whistling. Redding didn’t have a chance to add any words because he would die in a plane crash on December 10, 1967.

Sax player Grover Washington became the first person to cover one of Withers’ songs when he did an instrumental version shortly after Withers released this. Later on, Washington and Withers teamed up to record Just The Two Of Us in 1981.

The song peaked at #3 on the Billboard 100 and #9 in Canada in 1971.

I ran across a metal band that covered this song. Black Label Society did this song in 2013 and made an unusual video for the song featuring anthropomorphic horses. Guitarist Zakk Wylde said that he got a kick out of reading the negative comments about the video from people who didn’t get the joke. Band members John DeServio and Zakk Wylde decided to cover it after seeing a 1974 episode of the TV show The Midnight Special, where Withers performed the song. They do a good version of it.

Bill Withers: It was an interesting thing because I’ve got all these guys that were already established, and I was working in the factory at the time. Graham Nash was sitting right in front of me, just offering his support. Stephen Stills was playing and there was Booker T. and Al Jackson and Donald Dunn – all of the MGs except Steve Cropper. They were all these people with all this experience and all these reputations, and I was this factory worker just sort of puttering around. So when their general feeling was, ‘Leave it like that,’ I left it like that.”

Graham Nash: “I was in the studio where we cut the first CSN record – it’s on the corner of Selma and Cahuenga Boulevard in Los Angeles, I was taking a break, probably smoking a joint outside, and I heard this music coming from one of the other studios. I was curious, and I walked in. And there was this African American with a guitar, sitting on a chair, with his foot on a box. That was the rhythm he was creating.

He finished the song, and I said, ‘Who are you, man? That’s a fantastic song! What’s going on in your life?’ And he says, ‘Well, I’m kind of giving up. I can’t seem to break through. Nobody seems interested. Maybe I’ll just give up.’ And I said, ‘Wait a second. I don’t know who the f–k you are, but you cannot give up. What you have is an incredible gift. You should recognize that and get on with it.’ And he loved that.”

Ain’t No Sunshine

Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
It’s not warm when she’s away
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
And she’s always gone too long
Anytime she goes away

Wonder this time where she’s gone
Wonder if she’s gone to stay
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
And this house just ain’t no home
Anytime she goes away

And I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know
I know, I know,
Hey, I oughtta leave young thing alone
But ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone

Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
Only darkness every day
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
And this house just ain’t no home
Anytime she goes away
Anytime she goes away
Anytime she goes away
Anytime she goes away