"Somebody Stand By Me" ~ Rebirth Genesis?

[mikebise]

If you were part of the fairly new online Stevie community in Late 1994, you would have been inundated with the two "sure fire" ways to "fix Stevie", repeated ad nauseum:

"Get Don Was to produce Stevie!"

"Get Bill Bottrell to SAVE Stevie's career!"

Was had revived Bonnie Raitt's career in 1989, turning her into a reliable hit-maker. Bottrell produced Sheryl Crow's first (released) album, Tuesday Night Music Club, which was taking the world by storm in Late 1994.

Proponents of these solutions swore on stacks of the Mabinogion that these two men were the only ones who could "save" Stevie.

So, when "Somebody Stand By Me" was released in Early 1995, it was a melding of the two ideas. Don Was produced the track, which was itself a song from Crow's original unreleased 1988 album that had been shelved.

Here was Stevie's first new release since Street Angel. She had just gotten through writing off that album to Mary Turner on that Christmas 1994 Off the Record interview. Stevie even mentioned talking with Don Was on a plane trip they were on together recently, and he was telling her to get back in there, writing songs, trusting her own instincts (several months before Petty's over-mentioned inspiration of August 1995). Even if it was a cover, it was new, and it was Stevie. Did it work for you?

I remember being disappointed when my friend Alicia told me that the song would be one of Crow's, but I still greatly anticipated the soundtrack's release. Once Stevie's voice began to sing, I got chills, that old Stevie feeling once again! Throughout the song, Stevie would alternate wailing and whispering, defiant and pleading... I was mesmerized!

The Street Angel tour proved Stevie's voice was better than ever, and "Somebody Stand By Me" definitely showed off Stevie's vocal abilities as still present and prominent.

I thought then, and I still believe now, that "Somebody Stand By Me" represented the Rebirth of Stevie, free from Klonopin, free from trying to fix the mistakes of the past. However, that song seems to have been forgotten in the last 16 years, even if it was on Enchanted. Was it because Stevie didn't write it? Is Stevie comparing herself to a dog too reminiscent of the dreaded forgotten chimpanzee?

In my iPod mixes for Trouble In Shangri-la, I always make sure "Somebody Stand By Me" is sequenced in, as I feel that song is truly the beginning, starting Stevie on the Road to Shangri-la.