Was Bill Withers' song "Lean On Me" inspired by the lyrics from the Rolling Stones' song "Let It Bleed"?

How "Lean On Me" came to be

Bill Withers was born in West Virginia in 1938 and could have easily started working at the coal mines, like most other black men in his hometown. Instead, he joined the army at 17 and stayed in the US Navy for nine years. After he left the force, he started playing music and happened to meet the right people at the right time. He eventually ended up in Los Angeles and signed a record deal with Sussex Records.

When it was time to make a second album, Booker T. Jones, the producer who had helped shape Withers' debut album, Just As I Am, wasn't available. Withers convinced the label that he could produce the record himself.

Withers had just bought a Wurlitzer electric piano. "I was sitting there just running my fingers up and down the piano," he told SongFacts. As he was playing the phrase "Lean on me" crossed his mind. He used it as a prompt and wrote the lyrics around the question "What could lead someone to say those words?"

The songwriter then worked out arrangements with the musicians from the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, which had just split up.