"Stand by Me" is a song originally performed in 1961 by American singer-songwriter Ben E. King and written by him, along with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who together used the pseudonym Elmo Glick.

According to King, the title is derived from, and was inspired by, a spiritual written by Sam Cooke and J. W. Alexander called "Stand by Me Father", recorded by the Soul Stirrers with Johnnie Taylor singing lead.

The song was also featured in a 1987 European commercial of Levi's 501 jeans, contributing to greater success in Europe.

[3] In 2015, King's original version was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress, as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant",[4] just under five weeks before his death.

There have been over 400 recorded versions of the song, performed by many artists, notably Otis Redding, John Lennon, Demis Roussos, Muhammad Ali,[5] 4 the Cause, Tracy Chapman, musicians of the Playing for Change project, Florence and the Machine, Weezer, and the Kingdom Choir.

In 1960, Ben E. King was inspired to update the early 20th-century gospel hymn "Stand by Me" by Charles Albert Tindley, which was based on Psalm 46, "will not we fear, though the Earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.

Stoller recalls it differently: I remember arriving at our office as Jerry and Ben were working on lyrics for a new song.

We used my bass pattern for a starting point and, later, we used it as the basis for the string arrangement created by Stanley Applebaum.

[10]The personnel on the song included Romeo Penque on sax, Ernie Hayes on piano, Al Caiola and Charles McCracken on guitars, Lloyd Trotman on double bass, Phil Kraus on percussion, and Gary Chester on drums, plus a wordless mixed chorus and strings.

Originally "Stand by Me" was not released on an album until it had been out as a single for over a year, eventually appearing on King's Don't Play That Song!

[16] In February 2019, the Smooth Radio network in the United Kingdom called it one "of the best love songs of the 1960s".

Lennon's remake became a single three weeks after the album's release[60] and was his last hit prior to his five-year retirement from the music industry.

[61] Cash Box said of it that "John's serenading guitar chords herald this bright new production of one of rockdom's favorites," and that it displays Lennon's "magical, mysterious voice...at his finest.

[66] The single's B-side track is "Move Over Ms. L", initially intended for Lennon's previous album Walls and Bridges but was cut from the final lineup due to his dissatisfaction with his early takes.

[67] Before the parent album's official release, during Lennon's March 1974 sessions with Harry Nilsson for Nilsson's album Pussy Cats, Lennon recorded two takes of the song in collaboration with former Beatles member Paul McCartney.

[71] Personnel per John Lennon Website[72] Mickey Gilley released his version of the song in 1980, and it was included in the movie Urban Cowboy.

"[82] Documentary filmmaker Mark Johnson, who had created the Playing for Change project, witnessed street performer Roger Ridley singing "Stand by Me" in Santa Monica, California, in March 2005.

[90] The music video was uploaded via the Playing for Change YouTube channel in November 2008, garnering more than 10 million views in May 2009.

[citation needed] The debut album has nine other tracks, comes with the seven-track bonus DVD, and sold about 26,000 units on its first week, 85% of sales from online sales and "nontraditional retail stores (including Starbucks locations)" and 25% from outside the United States.

[90] Prince Royce recorded a bachata version of the song as his debut single, changing parts of the lyrics into Spanish.

[127][128] U2 performed the song with Bruce Springsteen at the John F. Kennedy Stadium (Philadelphia) concert on September 25, 1987, during the Joshua Tree Tour.

In 1988, Mui's version was awarded as one of top ten gold songs by Hong Kong telecommunication stations RTHK[130] and by TVB.

The critical and popular response was very positive, with James Christopher Monger of AllMusic praising Chapman's "emotionally pitch-perfect, spotlight-stealing rendition" of the song.

Monger further said:With just her voice and an electric guitar, she managed to simultaneously bring the house down and build it back up again, which is no small feat, even for an artist who has proven herself time and again to be a powerful yet always benevolent force of nature.

[137] A recording of that live performance was released as the final track of Chapman's Greatest Hits the same year.

Florence and the Machine recorded the song for the soundtrack and trailer of Final Fantasy XV in 2016.

[142][143] The Kingdom Choir performed the song at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on May 19, 2018.

[144] Their version debuted and peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot Gospel Songs chart on the week ending June 2, 2018.