Last week I played you songs about courage and encouragement, and in their comments some suggested other songs for that theme. A couple of these had the word ‘stand‘ in their titles, and that struck me as a good theme in itself. So I’m giving it a go, and as I have quite a list of these it may be more than one go. But definitely no Tammy Wynette involved! So here is my first set of stand or standing songs for your delight and delectation.

It’s a bit of a cheat but I just had to start with this one:

Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow was released as a single in September 1966 by The Rolling Stones, but not on a studio album. It peaked at #5 in the UK, #9 in the US and #8 in Canada. The track was recorded during the sessions for what became their Between The Buttons album, which came out in January 1967, but didn’t make the album, which in the UK didn’t provide any singles. It was however included on the UK release in November 1966 of their compilation album Big Hits: High Tide And Green Grass, which I requested and received that year as a Christmas present, and played it to death, much to the ‘enjoyment’ of Mum and Dad!

This next one was written by a former schoolteacher, and as it deals with the slightly creepy aspects of that I doubt it would be released today. I still like it though:

The Police released Don’t Stand So Close To Me as a single in September 1980, as the lead track from their Zenyatta Mondatta album, which came out the following month. The single reached #1 in the UK and sold more than a million copies here, and peaked at #10 in the US. The album was also a UK #1 and reached #5 in the US, selling more than 1m copies in the UK and 3m in the US – mine was one of those purchases.

For my next tune I’m going with the other straight stand song in this set. This was one that was suggested in last week’s comments, but I would have played it anyway. I couldn’t possibly omit a classic like this:

Ben E. King started his career as the lead singer of The Drifters, and then went on to a very successful solo career.  Stand By Me was co-written by him with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, and was first released in April 1961, reaching #4 in the US and #27 in the UK. It was re-released in 1986 to tie in with the movie of the same name, which is where the video comes from (a nice movie, if you haven’t seen it). Second time around it got to #1 in the UK, also making #9 in the US. To date it has sold more than 1.6m copies in the US and 1.2m in the UK, which qualifies it here as Double Platinum. There have been many cover versions, notably by John Lennon, but none comes close to the original for me.

I tried to find a live performance of this next one. There are plenty of them, but they mostly seem to have been recorded from miles away and sound quality isn’t great. So it is, I’m afraid, the record company’s official audio version, complete with their poor grammar:

You’re Still Standing There was the closing track on Steve Earle’s sixth album, I Feel Alright, which was released in May 1996. The album peaked at #106 in the US but did much better here in the UK, getting to #44. As I’ve said often before, I’ve been a fan of his since his first album, and have the full set in my collection. This was released during the days when I had a long car commute around the North Circular Road in London, and it accompanied me on many of those journeys. The vocals on this were shared by Lucinda Williams, another long time favourite of mine.

I began today with one of the two biggest bands of the 60s in the UK, so perhaps I should close with the other? OK, here goes:

They look so young! As the video said, that was The Beatles playing I Saw Her Standing There in 1963. It seems like another era! This was the opening track on the band’s debut UK album, Please Please Me, which was released in March 1963 and got to #1. In the US, due to the usual record company shenanigans, their first album was called Introducing…The Beatles which, as a result of a contractual cock up, wasn’t released until January 1964, just ten days before their second US album! It reached #2 in their chart, and has sold more than a million copies. The song didn’t feature on a UK single, but it was the B-side to the US release of I Want To Hold Your Hand, which came out on Boxing Day 1963. The A-side went to #1, as it did here with a different B-side, and I Saw Her Standing There charted at #14 in the US, due to their odd (to us) custom of giving both sides of the same piece of vinyl their own listings.

That’s all for this week, though I have a feeling I may be returning to this theme as there are some well known songs I haven’t played, as well as some less well known ones which are in my collection. I’ll see you again in a few days, as long as we haven’t all been blown or washed away by then. Stay safe, take care 😊