Stay Another Day

"Stay Another Day"
Single by East 17
from the album Steam
B-side	Remix
Released	21 November 1994 (UK)
Format	CD single, CD maxi, Cassette
Genre	Pop
Length	4:29
Label	London (UK)
Writer(s)	Tony Mortimer
Producer(s)	Phil Harding Ian Curnow
East 17 singles chronology
"Around the World" (1994) "Stay Another Day" (1994) "Let It Rain" (1994)

"Stay Another Day" is a 1994 pop song recorded by British boy band East 17. It was released in late 1994 and became their only number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the Christmas number one of 1994, and also topped the charts in Sweden, Ireland and Denmark. To this day, it remains their biggest hit.

The song was used in the pilot episode of the BBC drama series Dirk Gently.

Background and release

"Stay Another Day" was the third single from East 17's second album Steam, following up "Around The World" and the album's title track. It was their first ballad, written by the band's lead songwriter Tony Mortimer and said to be about his brother Ollie,^[1] who committed suicide. Mortimer was aided in the composition by his co-manager Rob Kean and songwriter Dominic Hawken, who had once been Boy George's keyboard player.^[2] "Stay Another Day" included Christmas bells towards the end of the song to give it a Christmassy feel and appeal to the lucrative Christmas singles market. The most familiar arrangement is unusual among pop records in that it features almost no drums, apart from some timpani during the introduction to and towards the end of the track.

Bizarrely, given its sentiment mentioned above, the tune is featured in a current (2012-3) Doritos advert.

Music Videos

Two videos were made for the song. One features the band singing the song in a studio whilst the other video shows the band in a black background wearing white furry parkas and black leather jackets and features a woman wearing a long dress and veil whilst it snows.

Commercial reception

In November 1994, "Stay Another Day" entered at number seven on the UK Singles Chart. The following week it climbed to its peak of number one on the chart, where it remained for 5 weeks,^[3] thus becoming the 1994 Christmas number-one and Britain's third best-selling single of 1994.^[4]

It was also the 4th biggest selling boyband single of the 90s in the United Kingdom and has sold 910,000 copies and has received a Platinum sales status certification. Tony Mortimer won an Ivor Novello songwriting award for this song. The single was also nominated for 'Best Single' at the Brit Awards in 1995.

Track listings

CD maxi - UK [LONCD354]

1. "Stay Another Day" (S.A.D. mix) – 4:29
2. "Stay Another Day" (less sad mix) – 4:44
3. "Stay Another Day" (more sad mix) – 8:34
4. "Stay Another Day" (not so sad mix) – 6:16

CD single

1. "Stay Another Day" (S.A.D. mix) – 4:29
2. "Stay Another Day" (less sad mix) – 4:42

Charts and sales

Chart successions

Girls Aloud version

Background

Girls Aloud were formed through the show by a public vote on 30 November 2002.^[25] The concept of the programme was to produce a boyband and a girlband who would be "rivals" and compete for the Christmas number one single in 2002. Girls Aloud competed against One True Voice, managed by music producer Pete Waterman. Girls Aloud recorded a cover version of "Stay Another Day" as their debut single,^[26] with Cheryl Cole providing lead vocals. After Girls Aloud recorded "Sound of the Underground", "Stay Another Day" was instead released as its B-side. The release was originally meant to be a double A-side,^[27][28] and it is often mistakenly labelled as such.^[29][30] "Stay Another Day" was performed on This Morning, Top of the Pops and Top of the Pops Saturday to promote its parent single.^[31][32][33]

Girls Aloud gave the song a "romantic slant," which surprised East 17's Mortimer since it is about his brother's suicide.^[34] Mortimer said, "I found it really odd they were singing a song about my dead brother. It should've been left alone for a few years," adding that he did like Girls Aloud.^[34]

Reception

Colin Paterson of The Guardian remarked on the unoriginality of Girls Aloud's cover: "A group formed on a TV show by a phone poll and then doing a cover of a former Christmas No 1. Life seldom gets less imaginative."^[28]

Other versions

In 2007 the band Maps covered the song and gave it away as a free mp3 download online.^[35]

In 2003 at Keele University Students' Union, Chesney Hawkes and his band performed an (intentionally farcical) punk rock version of "Stay Another Day" in response to East 17 cancelling their appearance later in the night. The song was not performed in full as the band could not stop laughing when they tried to perform it.^{[citation needed]}

References

External links

• Full lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics