"Lean on Me" is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter

Bill Withers William Harrison Withers Jr. (July 4, 1938 – March 30, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He had several hits over a career spanning 18 years, including "Ain't No Sunshine" (1971), " Grandma's Hands" (1971), " Use Me" (1972 ...

. It was released in April 1972 as the first single from his second album, ''

Still Bill ''Still Bill'' is the second studio album by American soul singer-songwriter and producer Bill Withers, released in 1972 by Sussex Records. The album was recorded and produced by Withers with musicians from the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band. Th ...

''. It was a number one single on both the soul singles and the ''Billboard'' Hot 100; the latter chart for three weeks in July 1972. ''Billboard'' ranked it as the No. 7 song of 1972. It was ranked number 208 on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its cov ...

''s list of "

The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring survey compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2004 in ...

" in 2010. Numerous other versions have been recorded, and it is one of only nine songs to have reached No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 with versions recorded by two different artists.

Background and writing

Bill Withers' childhood in the coal mining town of

Slab Fork, West Virginia Slab Fork is an unincorporated community in Raleigh County, West Virginia, United States with a population of 202. Slab Fork is located along a stream of the same name and West Virginia Route 54. The ZIP code for Slab Fork is 25920. Demograph ...

, was the inspiration for "Lean on Me", which he wrote after he had moved to Los Angeles and found himself missing the strong community ethic of his hometown. He had lived in a decrepit house in the poor section of his town. Withers recalled to

SongFacts Songfacts is a music-oriented website that has articles about songs, detailing the meaning behind the lyrics, how and when they were recorded, and any other info that can be found. The journalists who work for the site have interviewed thousa ...

the original inspiration for the song:

"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.'"

Withers stated in the same interview that he made an effort to keep the lyrics simple. Several members of the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band were used for the recording session in 1972. A string section was also included as well.

Personnel

– Piano, Vocals * Benorce Blackmon – Guitar * Raymond Jackson –

Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptua ...

, string arrangement * Melvin Dunlap – Bass *

James Gadson James Gadson ( James Edward Gadson; born June 17, 1939) is an American drummer and session musician. Beginning his career in the late 1960s, Gadson has since become one of the most-recorded drummers in the history of R&B. He is also a singer and ...

– Drums

Track listings

7-inch single # "Lean on Me" – 3:45 # "Better Off Dead" – 2:13

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Club Nouveau version

The R&B group Club Nouveau covered the song with

go-go Go-go is a subgenre of funk music with an emphasis on specific rhythmic patterns, and live audience call and response. Go-go was originated by African-American musicians in the Washington, D.C. area during the mid-60s to late-70s. Go-go has li ...

beat and took it to number one for two weeks on the ''

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charts in March 1987. It also reached number one on the

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

charts, and number two on the

Black Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

charts, kept out of the top spot by

Jody Watley Jody Vanessa Watley (born January 30, 1959) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and artist,USA Today (February 16, 1996), Best Bets: Albums Jody Watley Greatest Hits, "Few singers fired up the disco like Jody Watley who set trends ...

's " Looking for a New Love". It won a Grammy award in 1987 for Bill Withers, as the writer, for Best R&B Song. The song ranked at number 94 in

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Communi ...

's ''100 Greatest One-hit Wonders of the 80s''.

Track listings

7-inch single # "Lean on Me" – 3:58 # "Pump It Up (Lean on Me)" (reprise) – 2:38 12-inch single # "Lean on Me" (remix)" – 7:42 # "Lean on Me" (LP version) – 5:56 # "Pump It Up (Lean on Me)" (remix) – 4:51 # "Pump It Up (Lean on Me)" (reprise – LP version) – 2:38

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

2-4 Family version

In 1999, 2-4 Family released "Lean on Me (With the Family)", a remake with a hip hop

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

and additional lyrics.

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was founded predominantly as a jazz and classical mu ...

published a

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...

and a CD maxi single in Germany. In 2008, several years after the dissolution of 2-4 Family, founding band-member Mike Johnson performed the song with

backing vocalist A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

s and dancers at the Eurovision Song Contest in Bulgaria.

Track listings

12-inch single

# "Lean on Me (With the Family)" (Special radio version) – 3:58 # "Lean on Me (With the Family)" (DSP mix) – 4:04 # "9 Lives" (Album Version) – 4:06 # "Stay" (Special Radio Version) – 4:12 # "Lean on Me (With the Family)" (Lounge mix) – 6:38 # "Stay" (Jay's D-Style Mix) – 4:15

CD maxi single

# "Lean on Me (With the Family)" (Radio version) – 3:38 # "Lean on Me (With the Family)" (DSP mix) – 4:04 # "Lean on Me (With the Family)" (Lounge mix) – 6:38 # "Lean on Me (With the Family)" (Special radio version) – 3:58 # "Stay" (Jay's D-Style mix) – 4:15 # "9 Lives" (Album version) – 4:06

Charts

Year-end charts

In popular culture

* The song is used in the ending scene of the Season 7 episode of ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...

'' titled "

Radioactive Man Radioactive Man may refer to: *Radioactive Man (comics), a fictional character in the Marvel Comics Universe *Radioactive Man (The Simpsons), a fictional comic book superhero in ''The Simpsons'' :*''List_of_The_Simpsons_comics#Radioactive_Man, Radio ...

". *

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the " Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and " Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Awar ...

performed this song at the HBO '' We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial'' (January 18, 2009). The next day, a crowd spontaneously began singing the song in the Purple Tunnel of Doom under the

National Mall The National Mall is a landscaped park near the downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institution, art galleries, cultural institutions, and var ...

as they waited to gain entrance to the inauguration ceremonies. * On October 3, 2015,

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States senat ...

, during her presidential campaign, made a

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...

on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...

'' in a comedy sketch alongside

Kate McKinnon Kate McKinnon Berthold (born January 6, 1984) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. She is known for her character work and celebrity impressions on the sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (2012–2022), of which she was a cas ...

, who regularly parodied Clinton for the show. At the end of the sketch, the duo sang "Lean on Me" together. * In the animated series ''

Amphibia Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arbore ...

'', the song plays at the climax of the first-season finale "Reunion".

Notable cover versions

* In 1989, remakes of "Lean on Me" by

the Winans The Winans are an American gospel quartet from Detroit, Michigan consisting of brothers Marvin, Carvin, Michael and Ronald Winans. Members ''Please refer to the Winans family page for more detail on the individual members.'' About: Origins & M ...

and Sandra Reaves-Phillips provided the emotional uplift for the film '' Lean on Me''. For the same film, the song was adapted by

Big Daddy Kane Antonio Hardy (born September 10, 1968), better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper who began his career in 1986 as a member of the Juice Crew. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and skilled MCs in ...

in "hip hop" form. That same year

Kids Incorporated ''Kids Incorporated'' (also known as ''Kids Inc.'') is an American children's television program that began production in the mid-1980s and continued airing well into the early 1990s. It was largely a youth-oriented program with musical performan ...

covered "Lean on Me" in the Season 6 episode "The Cover Up". * In 2020, the song was recorded by an ad hoc supergroup of Canadian musicians credited as ArtistsCAN, both in tribute to Withers' recent death and to raise funds for the

Canadian Red Cross The Canadian Red Cross Society ()COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Participating artists included

Bryan Adams Bryan Guy Adams (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and photographer. He has been cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and is estimated to have sold between 75 million and mor ...

Jann Arden Jann Arden (born Jann Arden Anne Richards; March 27, 1962) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and actress. She is famous for her signature ballads, " Could I Be Your Girl" and " Insensitive", which is her biggest hit to date. Early life and educa ...

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter B ...

Michael Bublé Michael Steven Bublé ( ; born September 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer. A four-time Grammy Award winner, he is often credited for helping to renew public interest and appreciation for traditional pop standards and the Great American Son ...

Fefe Dobson Felicia Lily Dobson (born February 28, 1985) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Born in Toronto, Ontario, she began performing as a teenager, during which time she received and refused an offer from Jive Records for a recording contract. Dobso ...

Scott Helman Scott Helman (born October 1, 1995) is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Toronto. He released his debut EP, ''Augusta'' in 2014 followed by ''Spotify Sessions'' in 2016 and ''Hang Ups'' in 2018. His album ''Hôtel de Ville'' was released in 201 ...

Shawn Hook Shawn Hlookoff (born September 5, 1984), known as Shawn Hook, is a Canadian singer, songwriter and producer. Career Hook studied piano through the Royal Conservatory from as early as age 4. In high school, he played piano and trombone in a ja ...

Avril Lavigne Avril Ramona Lavigne ( ; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. At age 16, she signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records. Her debut studio album, '' Let Go'' (2002), is the best-selling album of the 21 ...

Geddy Lee Geddy Lee (born Gary Lee Weinrib; July 29, 1953) is a Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush. Lee joined the band in September 1968, at the re ...

, Marie-Mai,

Sarah McLachlan Sarah Ann McLachlan OC OBC (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. As of 2015, she had sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is '' Surfacing'', for which she won two Grammy Awards (ou ...

, Johnny Orlando,

Josh Ramsay Joshua Keeler Ramsay (born June 11, 1985) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, producer, recording engineer, multi-instrumentalist. He is best known for being the lead vocalist of the pop rock band Marianas Trench. He has produced and has written ...

Buffy Sainte-Marie Buffy Sainte-Marie, (born Beverly Sainte-Marie, February 20, 1941) is an Indigenous Canadian-American ( Piapot Cree Nation) singer-songwriter, musician, composer, visual artist, educator, pacifist, and social activist. While working in these a ...

, Tyler Shaw, Walk Off the Earth, Donovan Woods, and Olivia Lunny.

References

External links

* {{authority control 1972 singles 1987 singles 1999 singles 2010 singles Bill Withers songs Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients Charity singles Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Number-one singles in New Zealand RPM Top Singles number-one singles Songs written by Bill Withers Pop ballads Soul ballads 1970s ballads Songs about friendship 1972 songs Sussex Records singles Warner Records singles Epic Records singles