B-side "Rebel Rock Me" Length 3:59 Producer(s) Ian Stanley | Released July 21, 1994 Label Sire
Warner Bros.
WEA | |
Writer(s) Chrissie Hynde
Tom Kelly
Billy Steinberg | ||
"I'll Stand by You" is a 1994 song recorded by The Pretenders from their sixth studio album, Last of the Independents. It was written by Chrissie Hynde in collaboration with the songwriting team of Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg. It was the Pretenders' last successful single in North America.
Contents
- The Pretenders original
- Personnel
- Girls Aloud version
- Background and release
- Critical reception
- Chart performance
- Music video
- Live performances
- Track listings and formats
- Carrie Underwood version
- Chart positions
- Shakira version
- Track listing
- Other versions
- References
The song pledges love and faithful assistance in times of personal darkness. Since its initial release, "I'll Stand by You" has also become a major hit for British girl group Girls Aloud in 2004 and Carrie Underwood in 2007, both times recorded as a charity single.
The Pretenders original
"I'll Stand by You" was released as the second single from the album Last of the Independents in 1994, and it reached number 16 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, the top 30 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart and number 10 in the United Kingdom. It charted higher in the UK and the U.S. than "Night in My Veins", the album's first single. The music video for "I'll Stand by You" was released in 1994 and features Chrissie Hynde caring for an ill man.. It was later featured in the pilot episode of Dawson's Creek. Since 2010 the song has been used in an appeal advert for the NSPCC.
Personnel
Additional musicians
Girls Aloud version
In 2004, the British all-female pop group Girls Aloud recorded a cover of "I'll Stand by You" as the official Children in Need charity single. Their version was produced by Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania. The track was announced a single just ten days before its 15 November 2004 release. It became Girls Aloud's second number one on the UK Singles Chart, spending two weeks at the top position and receiving a silver certification from the British Phonographic Industry. The song appears on Girls Aloud's second studio album What Will the Neighbours Say? (2004).
The music video, directed by Trudy Bellinger, saw Girls Aloud stranded in a desert as they "stand by" each other. "I'll Stand by You" was promoted through various live appearances and has since been performed on a number of the group's concert tours. Despite its success, Girls Aloud's cover of the song was largely panned by contemporary music critics.
Background and release
The first version of "I'll Stand by You" that Xenomania created was described as a "weird, modernist breakbeat version", which was scrapped upon deciding an updated version of the original song would be better suited for Children in Need. The track's release was announced a single just ten days before its release date. Nicola Roberts said, "Hopefully if our single does well it's a lot of money going to the charity."
The single was released on 15 November 2004 in the UK, the week of the Children in Need 2004 telethon. It was available on two different CD singles. The first disc includes "Real Life", a song taken from Girls Aloud's second album What Will the Neighbours Say?. The second CD format featured a medley of songs taken from the album, as well as the Tony Lamezma's Club Romp remix of the track. The Gravitas Vocal Dub Mix Edit of "I'll Stand by You" appears on the "Wake Me Up" single.
In order to promote the release, Girls Aloud toured radio stations across the United Kingdom and performed an acoustic arrangement of "I'll Stand by You" that they arranged themselves. They also visited children's hospitals.
Critical reception
Girls Aloud's version of "I'll Stand By You" was not well received by most contemporary music critics. It was called "a particular soggy area" on Girls Aloud's album. Alexis Petridis of The Guardian, who praised Girls Aloud's album, said that "I'll Stand by You" was "a thing of death-dealing tedium." BBC Music felt it was "arguable whether this cover adds much to the Pretenders' original." Sam Shepherd of musicOMH bluntly stated "perhaps the children most in need, are those that part with their pocket money for this drivel [...] This is a sub-karaoke version, limp, tired, and uninspired."
However, Stylus Magazine actually commended the song, comparing it to Shakespears Sister and calling it "far, far better than anyone gives it credit for."
Chart performance
"I'll Stand by You" debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart on 21 November 2004, becoming Girls Aloud's second single to do so. Despite competition from four new top ten entries, the song also remained at the top for a second week. It slipped to number four in its third week, making way for Band Aid 20's take on "Do They Know It's Christmas?". Girls Aloud spent a fourth week in the top five. The single spent two further weeks in the top ten, holding on at number nine. Overall, "I'll Stand by You" spent fourteen weeks in the top 75, including nine weeks in the top forty. The single was ranked thirty-fourth on the year-end chart (see 2004 in British music). It was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry.
The song entered the Irish Singles Chart at number four. It spent a second week at number four, before rising to number three. It spent three more consecutive weeks at number three. It then slipped back down to number four, and spent two more weeks in the top five.
Music video
The video for Girls Aloud's version of "I'll Stand by You" was directed by Trudy Bellinger. It begins with each member of the group lying or sitting motionless in a parched desert. At the song's climax, a thunderstorm begins, and the members of Girls Aloud come together and stand in a circle. A special Children in Need version of the video depicts the group members holding "Pudsey" teddy bears, the mascot of the organisation, towards the end of the video.
Live performances
Girls Aloud toured radio stations across the United Kingdom and performed an acoustic arrangement of "I'll Stand by You" that they arranged themselves. As the charity's official single of the year, the song was showcased as the Children in Need 2004 telethon. They also performed the song on television programmes such as Blue Peter, CD:UK, Countdown, Diggin' It, GMTV, Ministry of Mayhem, Popbusters, Top of the Pops, and Xchange. In 2005, Girls Aloud performed "I'll Stand by You" at Dublin's ChildLine Concert and on the TV show All Time Greatest Love Songs. In 2006, they performed the song on Australia's Sunrise. The group also performed the cover version on their 2005 MTV special (as seen on the Girls on Film DVD) and ITV1's The Girls Aloud Party (2008).
"I'll Stand by You" has been performed by Girls Aloud on most of their concert tours. For 2005's What Will the Neighbours Say? Live, Girls Aloud's first tour, they sang the song in colourful, simple evening gowns. It was also included on 2006's Chemistry Tour and 2007's The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits Tour. "I'll Stand by You" was included on a ballad section on 2008's Tangled Up Tour, in which Girls Aloud walk along a catwalk which reaches the middle of the crowd.
Track listings and formats
These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "I'll Stand by You".
Personnel
Carrie Underwood version
"I'll Stand by You" was covered in 2007 by Carrie Underwood as a charity single, recorded for the show Idol Gives Back which aired on April 25, 2007.
Carrie Underwood performed the song during her visit to Africa, which was used as soundtrack for a video vignette, where Underwood is seen singing to children and doing different activities with them. The single and the video were released on the U.S. iTunes Store on April 26, 2007. Ryan Seacrest announced that all money made on digital downloads would be donated to charity to help millions of poor children at the time.
On its first few days of release, the song sold 124,496 digital downloads, prompting a debut on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 at number six, Underwood's highest Hot 100 position since her 2005 debut single "Inside Your Heaven", which debuted at number one.
It was eventually removed from iTunes, leading the single to have one of the biggest falls in Hot 100 history. The single collected over 300,000 digital downloads in the time period it was available for download. As announced, all profits from the sale of the single were donated to charity. The single also received unsolicited airplay on U.S. country music radio stations, despite not being officially released to country radio.
Underwood performed the song on the American Idol Season Six Finale on May 23, 2007.
Music video
The music video was filmed in Africa. Underwood is seen singing to young children and helping them with different art projects, such as painting. At one point in the video, she is seen walking into a cemetery with a girl on her arms, and a boy by her hand who is carrying flowers. Underwood is also seen crying towards the end of the video, when she is helping an ill person. This music video was made available for download on the U.S. iTunes Store.
Chart positions
Shakira version
"I'll Stand by You" is a cover in 2010 by the Colombian singer Shakira as a promotional charity single for the Hope for Haiti Now campaign and was released on 23 January 2010, in the wake of the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake. Recorded live on the charity telethon Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief on January 22, 2010 in New York City. She performed the song during the program, exactly before Wyclef Jean's speech and after Reese Witherspoon's call on the phone bank. The song is found on the label for MTV.
Track listing
Album version
- " I'll Stand by You" (with The Roots)- 3:55