“Stand” by Sly and the Family Stone

Sly Stone wrote "Stand!" alone, as he did nearly every Family Stone song, produced it, and made it the title track of the band's 1969 album, with Epic issuing it as a single that spring. It's a rallying cry, urging listeners to stand up for themselves, for their communities and for what they believe, and the family piles in: Sly on guitar and keyboards, Freddie Stone on guitar, Rose Stone on keyboards, Larry Graham on bass, Greg Errico on drums, Jerry Martini on sax and Cynthia Robinson on trumpet.

The fevered, gospel-flavored breakdown at the end came later: an early acetate drew a warm but hardly ecstatic response when Sly had it spun in a San Francisco club, so he recut that closing section, mostly with studio players, since most of the Family Stone couldn't make the session. The flip side, "I Want to Take You Higher", became a hit of its own.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.