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 to not 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. 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. The group then 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 1978 album Running on Empty. It was released as a single and reached number twenty in the U.S.
In 1987 the song was included in the movie Dirty Dancing, which helped add to its total sales. 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.
[edit] Cyndi Lauper Cover
| "Stay " | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Single by Cyndi Lauper | ||
| From the album At Last | ||
| Released | 2004 | |
| Recorded | 2003 | |
| Genre | Pop | |
| Record Label | Sony Records | |
| Writer | Maurice Williams | |
| Cyndi Lauper singles chronology | ||
| "Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)" | "Stay" |
"Time After Time (With Sarah McLachlan)" |
Stay is the third and final single off of the 2003 cover album At Last by Cyndi Lauper.
This is a promo only single. Only released in the U.S. and Australia. A video was made for the single but it is rarely seen but is commercially avaiable as a special feature on the DVD, Live At Last.
[edit] Official Versions
- Radio Edit 2:53
| 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 |
