Music Tuesday: “Stand by Me” by Ben E. King

This past week one of the great voices and song writers passed away: Ben E. King, from the Drifters and a solo artist.  From the L.A. Times: 

Singer and songwriter Ben E. King, who had one of the most enduring hits of all time with "Stand By Me," almost didn't become a solo artist.

In 1960 he was the lead singer with the Drifters when the group got into a disagreement with its manager over money. The manager wouldn't back down.

"He said, 'If you're not happy, you can leave,'" King told the Herald in Glasgow in 2012. "So I left the room, expecting the rest of the guys to follow me. I waited and waited but they never came out, and I became an accidental solo artist."

King, 76, who was also known for his solo hits "Spanish Harlem" and "I (Who Have Nothing)," and "There Goes My Baby" and "Save the Last Dance For Me" with the Drifters, died Thursday at Hackensack University Medical Center, near his home in Teaneck, N.J.

His attorney in New York, Judy Tint, said he died after a brief illness.

The Drifters are one of my all-time favorite groups and I didn’t realize King had so many hits outside of the group as a solo artist.  “Stand by Me” is truly one of the great songs in all of pop music history.

Look at these lyrics:

When the night has come

And the land is dark

And the moon is the only light we'll see

No, I won't be afraid

Oh, I won't be afraid

Just as long as you stand, stand by me

So darling, darling

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 mountain 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 darling, darling

Stand by me, oh stand by me

Oh stand now, stand by me

Stand by me

So darling, darling

Stand by me, oh stand by me

Oh stand now, stand by me, stand by me

Whenever you're in trouble won't you stand by me

Oh stand by me, oh won't you stand now, stand

Stand by me

Stand by me

The sky and the mountains crumbling into the sea sounds so Biblical to me.  May Mr. King rest in peace.