Lean On Me — Bill Withers (1972)

Why it's in this book

"Lean On Me" arrives in November, alongside Love Story, and it is here for a practical reason: it is the song for the first rotation of the year. From now on, the band places change hands, and for anyone to be able to pick up the ukulele bass you need a song whose bass line can be learnt in five minutes. This one climbs the scale note by note: C, D, E, F, and back. In class we play it in C, like the record, with the chords C, D minor, E minor and F climbing step by step and coming back down. The real song has more chords, with small changes Withers makes on the piano; in class we keep the staircase, which is its skeleton. In the classroom with no instruments we sing the melody and the staircase; with ukuleles we play the four chords in a row; and in the music room the ukulele bass and the xylophones play the scale while everyone else sings. The second voice sings a third on the title line.

Why this song

Sing C, D, E, F, and then F, E, D, C. You have just sung the intro of "Lean On Me".

You have heard this song in films, adverts, sports events and tributes. Whenever someone wants to say "you are not alone" with a song, this is the one.

The question on this page is: how does a four-note scale become one of the most-sung songs in history?

Historical context

Bill Withers was born in 1938 in Slab Fork, a coal-mining town in West Virginia, in the United States. His father was a miner and his mother cleaned houses. As a child he had a stutter and found it hard to fit in.

At 17 he joined the Navy and stayed for nine years. That is where he started singing and writing songs. Then he moved to Los Angeles and worked assembling parts in aircraft factories while recording demos with his own money. When his first famous song, "Ain't No Sunshine", became a hit in 1971, he refused to quit the factory: he thought the music business could not be trusted.

Foto: Coal town guy, CC BY-SA 3.0, vía Wikimedia Commons

Slab Fork, the town where Bill Withers was born, in 2011. In the background, an iron railway bridge among the hills of the coal country.

In Los Angeles, Withers missed his hometown. There, neighbours helped each other; in the big city, not so much. One day he bought a little piano and started running his fingers up and down the keys. That is where the line "Lean on me" came from. He said himself that he worked hard to keep the lyrics simple.

The song came out in 1972 and was number 1 in the United States for three weeks.

Musical characteristics

A staircase of notes. The piano starts on C and climbs note by note: C, D, E, F. Then it comes back down the same way. Moving like this, from one note to the next one, is called moving by step. It is the easiest thing in the world to sing, and that is why everyone sings it.

A staircase of chords. On each step of that staircase there is a chord: C, D minor, E minor, F. The chords climb and fall with the bass, the lowest line in the song. That is why the bass is so easy in class: it is a scale, the same one you sing when you learn the notes.

The piano in charge. The main instrument is Withers's piano, played calmly at 72 beats per minute. The drums come in softly and keep the beat without making noise. Later on, strings come in.

From church. The style is soul with a lot of gospel in it, the music of African American churches. You can hear it in the singing, strong and unhurried, and in the ending, which invites people to join in.

Hard facts: C major, 4/4, 72 beats per minute, 4:17 on the album. The form: piano intro, verses and choruses that come back, and an ending that repeats the call to lean on each other.

Guided listening

Play the official audio. In the intro there is only piano. Sing the notes along with it: C, D, E, F, and back.

When the voice comes in, listen to the melody: it also moves almost always to neighbouring notes, with no big leaps.

In the chorus, listen to the title line. Does the melody go up or down?

Find the moment the drums come in. Listen to how softly they play.

Then play the 1974 BBC performance and compare. Withers sings the same song, but not exactly the same way: listen for what changes.

Trivia and curiosities

• On the cover of his first album, Withers is pictured at the aircraft factory where he worked, holding his lunch box.

• In October 1971 he got two letters on the same day: one from the factory that had laid him off, offering him his job back at 3.50 dollars an hour, and one from a famous TV show inviting him to sing.

• In 1987 the group Club Nouveau made a dance version, and it also reached number 1. Only nine songs have been number 1 in the United States by two different artists.

• When Withers was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015, Stevie Wonder and John Legend sang "Lean On Me" with him.

Classroom activities

• The staircase with your voice. Sing C, D, E, F, F, E, D, C. Then sing the chord names: C, D minor, E minor, F.

• The staircase on ukulele. C, D minor, E minor, F, and back, one chord per beat. No rush: the song is slow.

• The first rotation. Take turns on the ukulele bass and play the scale C, D, E, F. If you get it in five minutes, you are in the band.

• Second voice. One group sings the title melody and another a third above.

• Band. The ukulele bass and the xylophones play the scale, each note under its chord. Everyone else sings and plays ukulele.

Key vocabulary

• Step / stepwise motion — grados conjuntos
• Scale — escala
• Bass — bajo: la línea más grave
• Soul — soul: música afroamericana nacida del gospel

Resources

Official audio — From Bill Withers's channel. No music video was made in 1972.

Live for the BBC (1974) — Withers at the piano, also from his official channel.

Ukulele tutorial — TenThumbs Productions. For beginners, with tab and a play-along.

Guitar tutorial — JustinGuitar. An easy beginner lesson.

Piano tutorial — Betacustic. For beginners, with sheet music: the staircase is very clear.

With Stevie Wonder and John Legend (2015) — At the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Listen to the whole audience singing.