Stand by Me - Pennywise - MP3 instrumental karaoke

For nearly a minute and a half, Pennywise lead the listener to believe that "Stand by Me" is their attempt at a sophisticated R&B-soul smoothie. That's before the skate-punk breakdown kicks in and all hell breaks loose. "Stand by Me" is the Californian band's energetic, attitude-packed punk rock rendition of the classic 1961 Ben E. King hit (co-written with Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, and Elmo Glick), itself a rearrangement of the early 20th-century gospel hymn "Stand by Me" by Charles Albert Tindley, which was based on Psalm 46. "Stand by Me" was the closing track on Pennywise's Wild Card/A Word to the Wise compilation album, which was sandwiched in between the release of their 1991 self-titled debut for Epitaph Records and their second studio album Unknown Road, which edged the band towards mainstream glory by helping them to pick up support slots for fellow punk bands such as The Offspring.