Street musician Roger Ridley was playing his guitar and singing “Stand By Me,” the Ben E. King classic from 1961, written by King together with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Producer Mark Johnson heard him from down the street and asked if he could record him.
That recording became the start of something beautiful. Johnson and his team from Playing For Change carried it around the world. They played Roger’s performance through headphones to other musicians, who sang and played along wherever they were.
In New Orleans, Grandpa Elliott, a beloved street singer, added his deep, warm voice. Clarence Bekker sang in Amsterdam. A Native American drum group joined in from Zuni, New Mexico. There was a cello in Moscow, guitars on a street in Caracas, drums in the Congo, and voices from South Africa, among others from France, Brazil, Spain and Italy.
Nearly 40 musicians took part. Most of them never met each other. Yet when everything was put together, it sounded as though they were standing side by side.
“Stand By Me” became the first of Playing For Change’s “Songs Around the World,” and the video has been watched many millions of times on YouTube.
It is a simple reminder of what the song has always said: when someone stands by you, you don’t have to be afraid.
Who has always stood by you? Share this song with them today.