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Lean On Me (WORD)
Lean On Me (PDF)
YOU CAN PLAY IN THE SAME KEY AS BILL WITHERS' VIDEOS! Though the chords are easy, it's a challenge to format to make it easy to understand for group play. You may decide that you want to remove the arrows :)
BEGINNERS - you can leave out the quick chord changes if need be as follows:
[C] Sometimes in our [F] lives
[F] We all have [C] pain
[C] We all have [Em] sor-[Dm]row
[C] But if we are [F] wise
[F] We know that [C] there's
[C] Always to-[G7]mor-[C]row
William Harrison Withers Jr. (July 4, 1938 – March 30, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He recorded several major hits, including "Ain't No Sunshine" (1971), "Grandma's Hands" (1971), "Use Me" (1972), "Lean on Me" (1972), "Lovely Day" (1977), and "Just the Two of Us" (1981). Withers won three Grammy Awards and was nominated for six more. His life was the subject of the 2009 documentary film Still Bill. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015. Withers worked as a professional musician for just 15 years, from 1970 to 1985, after which he moved on to other occupations.
"Lean on Me" was a number one single on both the soul singles and the Billboard Hot 100; the latter chart for three weeks in July 1972. Billboard ranked it as the No. 7 song of 1972. It is ranked number 208 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Bill Withers' childhood in the coal mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia, was the inspiration for "Lean on Me", which he wrote after he had moved to Los Angeles and found himself missing the strong community ethic of his hometown. He had lived in a decrepit house in the poor section of his town. Withers' version is noted for its bridge section: ("Just call on me, brother"), as well as the coda section, where the words ”call me” are repeated a total of 14 times, before the song ends on a cadenza on the strings. Several radio stations, as well as the single version, fade out during the repeated coda, due to time limits as well as the repetition of the lyrics. Some radio versions cut the number of "Call Me's" to six times before the song's end.