Ben E. King

You know the ones, the songs of our lives; the tunes that dwell in the soul and stick to the spirit.

You know the ones, ballads mostly, that resuscitate a deep ache, a deep yearning, a deep memory of, perhaps, a romantic encounter or another sacred emotional moment.

The Temptations` "My Girl" does it: I`ve got sunshine on a cloudy day, when it`s cold outside I`ve got the month of May.

James Taylor`s "Fire and Rain" does it: I`ve seen fire and I`ve seen rain ... but I always thought that I`d see you again.

And Ben E. King`s "Stand by Me" does it: I won`t cry, I won`t cry, no, I won`t shed a tear; just as long as you stand, stand by me.

King knows what that song means to people. He wrote those words more than 40 years ago, and even now, when his gospel-tinged voice cradles the first sweet line - When the night has come, and the land is dark; and the moon is the only light we`ll see - audiences roar, folks cuddle up to their partners and sing along.

King was 21 when, inspired by the great soul singer Sam Cooke, he crafted "Stand by Me." "I was sitting up in an apartment on 113th Street and Eighth Avenue in Harlem," King recalled from a concert stop in Salt Lake City, "the top floor, a walk-up. It was nighttime, I was newly married and I had Sam Cooke songs in my head. The words to `Stand by Me` just flowed, every line seeming to find the next line."

He was singing with the Drifters, that superb group whose memorable numbers included "There Goes My Baby" (which King wrote) and "Save the Last Dance for Me." He couldn`t, however, convince the group`s manager that "Stand by Me" was worth recording, so he took the song to producers Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber, the minds behind such hits as "Hound Dog," "On Broadway" and "Kansas City" and whose work was celebrated in the play "Smokey Joe`s Cafe."

"They liked what they heard," King said, "did the arrangement, came up with the bass line and the strings. Brilliant." King knew that this was now something special.

"There was great feeling in it," he said. The song reached the Top 5 in 1961.

Twenty-five years later, film director Rob Reiner turned a short novel by Stephen King called "The Body" into an exquisite picture called "Stand by Me." On the DVD released last year, Reiner included a separate video performance of the title song by King (Ben E., not Stephen) on which two of the movie`s young stars, Wil Wheaton and the late River Phoenix, join the singer on the stage of a club and engage in some `60s-style choreography.

The match of movie and song was inspired, fitting in neatly with the other pop tunes utilized for the coming-of-age story that featured Reiner`s high-school pal Richard Dreyfuss as the narrator. Among those: "Hushabye" by the Mystics, "Come Go With Me" by the Dell-Vikings and "Mr. Lee" by the Bobbettes. Meanwhile, "Stand by Me," hit the Top 10 again in 1986.

Like with the young actors of the movie, "Stand by Me" the song continues to resonate with contemporary audiences. A punk band from Hermosa Beach, Calif., called Pennywise recorded a version of "Stand by Me" on its 1998 album "Wild Card/Word From the Wise." Lead singer Jim Lindberg takes it from a slow, basic beginning into a punk-fast, mosh pit-inducing recitation that even tosses in the f-word.

And the Ataris, a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based punk band, makes reference to "Stand by Me" in its tune "San Dimas High School Football Rules." The lyrics are lead singer Kris Roe`s: These are the things that make me free, I feel like I`m stuck in `Stand By Me.`

King hasn`t heard either band, but he appreciates a new generation`s recognition of his song: "I`m always interested in younger people interpreting it their way."

Ben E. King was not a one-hit wonder. "Spanish Harlem," produced by the legendary Phil Spector using his famous "wall of sound," was an enormous hit a few months before "Stand by Me." A song called "Supernatural Thing (Part 1)" reached the Top 5 in 1975.

There were also the memorable tunes with the Drifters, with whom King was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. "That was a magical night," King recalled of the Hall of Fame ceremonies.

Through it all, though, it`s "Stand by Me" that has gripped the multitude. To this day, King said, people come up to him with stories of what that song has meant to their lives.

"It never ends," he said. "There are the ones who got married to it. Then there was the lady from England who told me that she`d take a little cassette of the song and play it every day for her mother who was in the hospital in a coma. `It penetrated,` she wrote me. When her mother opened her eyes and came out of the coma, she started mouthing the words.

"Most of all, people tell me that when they were in school, it was their favorite song, and now it`s their son`s or daughter`s favorite song."

King credits "Stand by Me" with enabling him to have a long-lasting career. "It has helped me and my wife (Betty; they`ve been married 42 years) raise three good kids; it has helped me to travel and see the world."

(SIDEBAR: Stand by Me)

Written by, and made a part of our lives by, Ben E. King.

When the night has come and the land is dark

And the moon is the only light we will see

No I won`t be afraid, oh, I won`t be afraid

Just as long as you stand by me.

So darlin`, darlin` stand by me

Oh stand by me

Oh stand, stand by me, stand by me

If the sky that we look up on should tumble and fall

And the mountains should crumble to the sea

I won`t cry, I won`t cry, no I won`t shed a tear

Just as long as you stand, stand by me

And darlin`, darlin` stand by me

Oh stand by me

Oh stand, stand by me, stand by me

And darlin`, darlin` stand by me

Oh stand by me

Oh stand, stand by me, stand by me

If the sky that we look upon should tumble and fall

And the mountains should crumble to the sea

I won`t cry, I won`t cry, no I won`t shed a tear

Just as long as you stand, stand by me

And darlin`, darlin` stand by me

Oh stand by me

Whoa stand, stand by me, stand by me

So darlin`, darlin` stand by me

Oh stand by me

Oh stand, stand by me, stand by me

Whenever you`re in trouble won`t you stand by me

Oh stand by me

Whoa stand, stand by me, stand by me

(c) Copley News Service

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Author: Lee Grant