Stay (Maurice Williams song)
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"Stay" was a doo-wop song recorded by Maurice Williams and The Zodiacs. The song was written by Williams in 1953 when he was only 15 years old. He had been trying to convince his date not to go home at 10 o'clock as she was supposed to. He lost the argument, but as he was to relate years later, "Like a flood, the words just came to me."
In 1960, the song was put on a demo by Williams and his band, the Zodiacs, but it attracted no interest until a ten-year-old heard it and impressed the band members with her positive reaction to the tune.[citation needed] The band's producers took it along with some other demos to New York City and played them for all the major record producers that they could access. Finally, Al Silvers of Herald Records became interested, but insisted that the song be re-recorded as the demo's recording levels were too low. They also said that one line, "Let's have another smoke" would have to be removed in order for the song to be played on commercial radio. After the group recorded the tune again, it was released by Harold Records and was picked up by CKLW. It entered the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on October 9, 1960 and reached the number one spot on November 21, 1960. It was dislodged a week later by Elvis Presley's Are You Lonesome Tonight.
The song was covered by the Hollies (who took it to number eight in the UK Singles Chart) and by the Four Seasons in 1964, whose version peaked at number sixteen in the U.S.
A version of the song with somewhat revised lyrics is the last track on Jackson Browne's 1977 album Running on Empty. The song follows on the heels of Browne's "The Load Out," begs the audience to stay for an encore and includes an extensive playout. It was released as a single and reached number twenty in the U.S.
Recently, a version of the song has been used to promote travel to and tourism in Wisconsin.
In 1987 the song was included in the movie Dirty Dancing.
The song remains the shortest song ever to reach the top of the American record charts, being only 1 minute and 37 seconds long. By 1990 the song had sold more than 8 million copies.
| "Stay" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Single by Cyndi Lauper | ||
| from the album At Last | ||
| Released | 2004 | |
| Recorded | 2003 | |
| Genre | Pop | |
| Label | Sony Records | |
| Writer(s) | Maurice Williams | |
| Cyndi Lauper singles chronology | ||
| "Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)" (2004) |
"Stay" (2004) |
"Time After Time (With Sarah McLachlan)" (2005) |
[edit] Cyndi Lauper Cover
Stay is the third and final single off of the 2003 cover album At Last by Cyndi Lauper.
This is a promo only single, released only in the U.S. and Australia. The video that was made for the single is rarely seen but is commercially available as a special feature on the DVD Live At Last.
- Radio Edit 2:53
[edit] Crowdshaker Cover
In 2004 Crowdshaker released a hard trance cover sporting a remixed tune of Stay - lyrics removed, and a sample shouting, "It's PARTY TIME!," placed throughout the track.
- Stay (It's Party Time)(Ziggy X Remix)(2004) (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- Problems listening to the file? See media help.
| Preceded by "Georgia on My Mind" by Ray Charles |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single November 21, 1960 |
Succeeded by "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" by Elvis Presley |
[edit] External links
Categories: Articles lacking sources from March 2007 | All articles lacking sources | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | 1960 singles | 1964 singles | 1978 singles | Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles | The Four Seasons songs | Jackson Browne songs | Cyndi Lauper songs
