Withers made a lot of hits, and he got to #2 a few times, but “Lean On Me” would be his only #1. It’s a beautifully idealized vision of how things are supposed to work. “Lean On Me” is a social contract, a promise of mutual support. The key, I think: “For it won’t be long till I’m gonna need somebody to lean on.” He knows that he’ll be in the same situation soon enough.
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And yet there’s enormous feeling in his voice.
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He doesn’t do any of that on “Lean On Me.” He keeps things soft. Withers was never a showy vocalist, but he could still reach for huge, devastating notes. But most of the time, the band, and the strings, are just there to help Withers get that simple melody across. Withers had been touring with members of Charles Wright’s Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, and they get a few chances to get loose on “Lean On Me.” During the “call on me, brother” breakdown, the song suddenly turns just slightly funky, with bassist Melvin Dunlap doing an understated strutting thing and drummer James Gadson (who was last heard playing on D’Angelo’s “Sugah Daddy” a couple of years ago) playing something like a breakbeat. He knows that you don’t want to admit whatever’s going on, but he knows that you need to open up, that things will get easier when you do. When the chorus hits - “Lean on me / When you’re not strong / I’ll be your friend / I’ll help you carry on” - Withers jumps up an octave, and you can hear him pleading, just a bit. Withers sings in his warm, graceful baritone, and his melody is campfire-singalong stuff, direct and uncluttered. The more substantial kind of love is when you want to touch people and care for them when they’re at their worst. Romantic love, you only wanna touch people because they’re pretty and they appeal to you physically.
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The consistent kind of love is that kind that will make you go over and wipe mucus and saliva from somebody’s face after they become brain dead. Romantic love is the most fickle thing in the world. Years later, Withers said that his label didn’t understand what he was doing because he wasn’t writing about romantic love: It’s a pledge of friendship, of support, through bad times. “Lean On Me” is a love song, but it’s not a standard love song. He wrote “Lean On Me” one day when he was noodling at the piano, running his hands up and down the keyboard, and the phrase popped into his head. But when the “Ain’t No Sunshine” money started rolling in, he bought himself a Wurlitzer. Withers had come up singing and playing acoustic guitar. On the cover of Just As I Am, his debut album, he’s standing outside that factory in Burbank, holding his lunchbox. (It’s a 10, obviously.) Withers kept that factory job for a while even after “Ain’t No Sunshine” came out, convinced that his success would be fleeting.
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He was 32 by the time he hit with “ Ain’t No Sunshine,” a mystical soul-blues lament that peaked at #2 in 1971. Withers spent years working in an aircraft factory. When he got out, Withers decided he’d try to make it as a songwriter, so he sold his furniture to a co-worker and used the money to move to Los Angeles. He’d signed up for the Navy at the age of 18, and he’d stayed in the Navy for nine years. Withers was well into his 30s by the time he got famous.