A piece for BBC News about the use of Stand By Me at the royal wedding:
That’s why Harry and Meghan’s choice of song meant more than if they’d gone with, say, Ed Sheeran’s Shape Of You. And the performance by the Kingdom Choir takes Stand By Me back further still, re-infusing it with the defiance as well as the devotion of gospel.
Playlist:
Also, for fun:
- See also: me on What A Wonderful World, Everybody Hurts and other stories of songs
- Sources: Radio 4’s Soul Music; Craig Werner’s books about music and race A Change Is Gonna Come and Higher Ground; Randy Petersen’s book about hymns Be Still, My Soul; the Guardian piece How we made Stand By Me and Davina Hamilton’s Voice interview with Ben E King
- Image: Grace Church of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, taken by me two days before the Obama/McCain election
Tags: bbc, bbcnews, beneking, music, politics, race, royalty, smashedhits, standbyme
