"Stay" is a

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a subgenre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, ...

song written by Maurice Williams and first recorded in 1960 by Williams with his group the Zodiacs. Commercially successful versions were later also issued by

the Hollies The Hollies are an English rock and pop band formed in Manchester in 1962. One of the leading British groups of the 1960s and into the mid-1970s, they are known for their distinctive three-part vocal harmony style. Singer Allan Clarke and ...

, the Four Seasons and

Jackson Browne Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American rock musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 30 million albums in the United States. Emerging as a teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he had his ...

Maurice Williams original version

The song was written by Williams in 1953 when he was 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 an eight-year-old heard it and impressed the band members with her positive reaction to the tune. The band's producer, Phil Gernhard, took it along with some other demos to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and played them for all the major record producers that they could access. Finally, Al Silver of

Herald Records Herald Records was an American record label of the 1950s and 1960s. Herald was founded in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1952 by Fred Mendelsohn. He teamed up with Al Silver and Silver's brother-in-law, who continued Herald Records after Mendelsohn lef ...

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 Herald Records and was picked up by

CKLW CKLW (800 AM) is a commercial radio station in Windsor, Ontario, serving Southwestern Ontario and Metro Detroit. CKLW is owned by Bell Media and has a news/talk radio format. It features local hosts in morning and afternoon drive times, with ...

radio. It entered the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on October 3, 1960, and reached the number one spot on November 21, 1960. It was dislodged a week later by

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

's "

Are You Lonesome Tonight? "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" (sometimes stylized as Are You Lonesome To-night?) is a song written by Roy Turk and Lou Handman in 1926. It was recorded several times in 1927, first by Charles Hart, but also with successful versions by Vaughn De ...

". On the Herald recording, Williams sang lead and Henry Gaston sang the falsetto chorus. The original recording of "Stay" was the shortest single ever to reach the top of the American record charts at that time, at 1 minute 36 seconds. By 1990, it had sold more than 8 million copies. Its popularity revived when the ''Dirty Dancing'' soundtrack included it.

Chart history

Weekly charts

;Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs

Year-end charts

The Hollies version

In November 1963, the song was released by British band

, whose version reached No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart. It remained on the chart for a total of 16 weeks. The song is from their debut album '' Stay with The Hollies''.

The Four Seasons version

The Four Seasons' version was first released on their June 1963 album ''The 4 Seasons Sing Ain't That a Shame and 11 Others''; it was later released as a single in December 1963. Vee Jay originally released it as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

of "Peanuts" in December, but when

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

s started to "turn the single over" to play "Stay" on the air, the record company superseded the single with a new one with "Stay" as the A-side and " Goodnight My Love" as the new B-side. It peaked at number 16 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in April 1964. In

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

it reached number 12.

Jackson Browne version

A version of the song with revised lyrics is the last track on

's 1977 album '' Running on Empty''. The song, which follows on the heels of Browne's " The Load-Out" begs the audience to stay for an encore and includes an extensive playout. It includes backing contributions from David Lindley and

Rosemary Butler Rosemary Butler may refer to: * Rosemary Butler (politician) Dame Rosemary Janet Mair Butler (''née'' McGrath; born 21 January 1943) is a British politician who served as Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales (now Llywydd of ...

. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' described this version as "spirited and gospel-like". ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said that it has "effective guitar and keyboard solos and an easy beat" and "pleasing lead vocals", and that "David Lindley draws appreciation from the audience with his teasing falsetto". ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' said that "David Lindley's falsetto vocals and guitar lend an able hand, and the live quality is appealing." Browne, Butler and Lindley each contribute a similar verse in turn in ascending vocal ranges. It was released as a single and reached number 20 in the U.S. as well as number 12 in the UK.

Charts

Dreamhouse version

British

reggae fusion Reggae fusion is a Music_genre#Subtypes, fusion genre of reggae that mixes reggae and/or dancehall with other genres, such as pop music, pop, rock music, rock, hip hop music, hip-hop/rap, Contemporary R&B, R&B, jazz, funk, soul music, soul, disco ...

pop/dance trio Dreamhouse released their version of "Stay" as their debut single in 1995, which reached No. 62 on the UK Singles Chart. In the United States, it was released in 1998 as the lead single from the U.S. album ''Dreamhouse''. In a positive review for the 13 June 1998 issue of ''

'' magazine, the song was featured in the "New & Noteworthy" section, saying "This wildly appealing working-class UK trio is poised to seriously penetrate the stateside market with an instantly infectious dance rendition of Maurice Williams' pop chestnut... Pop music doesn't get much more obvious than this single, which is destined to become the guilty top 40 pleasure of the summer season."

Cyndi Lauper version

"Stay" was the third and final single from

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper ( ; born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Known for her distinctive image, featuring a variety of hair colors and eccentric clothing, and for her powerful four-octave vocal range;Jerome, ...

's 2003 album '' At Last''. It was a promo-only single, released only in the U.S., Australia and France. The video that accompanied it is rarely seen but is commercially available as a special feature on the

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

, ''Live at Last''. The single peaked at No. 64 on the French Singles Chart.

Other versions

*In 1960, the song was covered by Little Joe and the Thrillers. *In 1964, the song was recorded by

the Dave Clark Five The Dave Clark Five, also known as the DC5, were an English rock and roll band formed in 1958 in Tottenham, London. Drummer Dave Clark was the group's leader, producer and co-songwriter. In January 1964, they had their first UK top-ten single, ...

on their studio album ''

Glad All Over "Glad All Over" is a song written by Dave Clark and Mike Smith and recorded by the Dave Clark Five. Released in 1963, it was a hit and in the United States formed part of the early British Invasion, becoming the first hit of the movement by a ...

''. *In 1966, the Virginia Wolves released a soul version of the song. *The song was recorded in 1968 by Jan & Dean for release on their album ''Carnival of Sound'' but the album was not released until 2010. *Singer-songwriter

Andrew Gold Andrew Maurice Gold (August 2, 1951 – June 3, 2011) was an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who influenced much of the Los Angeles-dominated pop rock, pop/soft rock sound in the 1970s. Gold performed on s ...

recorded a version of "Stay" for his 1976 album '' What's Wrong with This Picture?''. * Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band recorded a version with

Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the leader and frontman of the Rock music, rock bands Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Mudcrutch and a member of the late 1980s sup ...

and

for the '' No Nukes'' album in September 1979. *In 1980, Austrian singer Georg Danzer wrote a German text to the Jackson Browne medley "The Load Out"/"Stay". It was performed live on the album ''Direkt'' as "Roadie Song". *

Italo disco Italo disco (variously capitalized, and sometimes hyphenated as Italo-disco) is a music genre which originated in Italy in the late 1970s and was mainly produced in the 1980s. Italo disco evolved from the then-current underground dance, pop, ...

duo Marx & Spencer released their version in 1983. *In 1984,

P.D.Q. Bach P. D. Q. Bach is a fictional composer created by the American composer and musical satirist Peter Schickele for a five-decade career performing the "discovered" works of the "only forgotten son" of the Bach family. Schickele's music combines p ...

(a.k.a. Peter Schickele) lampooned the song in his opera '' The Abduction of Figaro'' in the aria "Stay with Me". *Lyrics from the song were interpolated on reggae artist

Buju Banton Mark Anthony Myrie (born 15 July 1973),Larkin, Colin (1998) "The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae", Virgin Books, known professionally as Buju Banton, is a Jamaican dancehall, ragga, and reggae singer. He is one of the most significant and well-re ...

's song "Hush Baby Hush" on his 1995 album '' 'Til Shiloh''. *Australian group

Human Nature Human nature comprises the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of Thought, thinking, feeling, and agency (philosophy), acting—that humans are said to have nature (philosophy), naturally. The term is often used to denote ...

included their version of the song on the 2014 album ''

Jukebox A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that plays a user-selected song from a self-contained media library. Traditional jukeboxes contain records, compact discs, or digital files, and allow user ...

''.

References

{{Authority control 1953 songs 1960 singles 1963 singles 1978 singles 1995 debut singles Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs songs The Hollies songs The Four Seasons (band) songs Jackson Browne songs Dreamhouse (band) songs Cyndi Lauper songs Jan and Dean songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Vee-Jay Records singles Asylum Records singles Ariola Records singles Trauma Records singles Sony Music singles Song recordings produced by Bob Crewe Song recordings produced by Jackson Browne