Lean on Me (song)

This article is about the Bill Withers song. For other uses, see Lean on Me.

"Lean on Me"
side-A label by Eric Records
Side A of the 1985 US Eric Records reissue
Single by Bill Withers
from the album Still Bill
B-side"Better Off Dead"
ReleasedApril 21, 1972 (1972-04-21)
Recorded1972
Genre
Length
  • 4:17 (album version)
  • 3:45 (single edit)
LabelSussex
Songwriter(s)Bill Withers
Producer(s)Bill Withers
Bill Withers singles chronology
"Grandma's Hands"
(1971) 		"Lean on Me"
(1972) 		"Use Me"
(1972)
Audio
"Lean on Me" on YouTube

"Lean on Me" is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Bill Withers. It was released in April 1972 as the first single from his second album, Still Bill. It was a number one single on both the soul and Billboard Hot 100 charts, the latter chart for three weeks in July 1972.[2] Billboard ranked it as the No. 7 song of 1972.[3] It was ranked number 208 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2010.[4] 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.[5] In 2007, the 1972 recording of the song by Bill Withers on Sussex Records was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[6] 1970s Glam Rock band 'MUD' recorded a cover of the song in 1976 that became a chart hit in the UK the same year.

  1. ^ Coleman, Mark; Evans, Ben (2004). "Bill Withers". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 884. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  2. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 633.
  3. ^ Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1972
  4. ^ "The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time : Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 25, 2008. Retrieved November 22, 2007.
  5. ^ "Cover Me: Same Songs to Hit No. 1 By Two Different Artists". Billboard. Archived from the original on December 28, 2012.
  6. ^ "GRAMMY Hall Of Fame | Hall of Fame Artists | GRAMMY.com". grammy.com. Retrieved September 14, 2024.