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The golden touch of songwriter Mike Stoller

How "Stand By Me" became a hit again 25 years after its release

Ever seen the 1986 movie “Stand By Me”? It’s a highly entertaining film, one with a nice Maine connection since it’s based on a novella by Stephen King called “The Body.”

Mike Stoller is one of the giants of popular American songwriting, having co-written with his partner Jerry Leiber such hits as “Kansas City,” “Hound Dog,” “Jailhouse Rock,” “On Broadway,” and perhaps their greatest work, “Stand By Me,” which they wrote with Ben E. King, who sang it to perfection.

Back in the 1980s Stoller was at a party when he met actor and director Rob Reiner. “I’m not a guy who goes to the piano at parties,” Stoller told me as we talked on the stage at Ogunquit Playhouse. “It’s not my thing.” But Reiner insisted that Stoller play and Reiner then proceeded to belt out song after song after song that Lieber and Stoller had written.

Reiner at the time was working on the movie version of “The Body,” which he directed. He told Stoller he had the right title for the film—not “The Body” but “Stand By Me.” Would it be OK to use it? “Be my guest,” Stoller said.

A week later Stoller called Reiner back. “I said, hey, wait a minute. Who can we get to record ‘Stand By Me’ for the movie who’s hot right now?” Reiner said he envisioned the movie as a period piece and wanted the original Ben E. King version. That’s what the movie used, and the song, which had been a top ten hit when first released in 1961, shot right back into the top ten in 1986 when the movie came out.

The music of Leiber and Stoller provides the entertainment in “Smokey Joe’s Café,” a revue being performed at Ogunquit Playhouse. They wrote the songs in the 1950s and ‘60s, which begs the question: did they have any idea their music would last for sixty years and show no sign of fading away? “Not a clue,” Stoller says with a smile. “Not a clue. It’s such a delightful and pleasant surprise.”

http://www.ogunquitplayhouse.org

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