This Week's "Oldie But Goodie": Lean On Me
"Lean on Me" was written and recorded by Bill Withers. It was the first single from his 1972 album, Still Bill. He said that the song reflects his rural West Virginia upbringing, where “people were a little more attentive to each other.”
In a 2004 interview with SongFacts he says:
That's probably why somebody from New York did not write that song, or somebody from London, or somebody from a large city. It's a rural song that translates probably across demographical 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.
“Lean on Me” reached number one on both the soul and Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1972. It is Wither’s only number one hit. It’s currently ranked #236 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 2007, the recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
In 1987 the R&B group Club Nouveau covered the song with a “go-go” beat. This version also reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. “Lean on Me” is one of only nine songs to have reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with versions recorded by two different artists. The Club Nouveau version won a Grammy Award in 1987 for Bill Withers, as the writer, for Best R&B Song.
I posted both the Bill Withers and the Club Nouveau versions of the song here.