"Stay with Me" is a song by English

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

duo

Erasure Erasure may refer to: Arts and media * Erasure (duo), an English pop group * ''Erasure'' (album), 1995, by the British group Erasure * Erasure poetry, a form of found poetry created by erasing words from an existing text * ''Erasure'' (novel), ...

, released in September 1995 by

Mute Records Mute Records is a British independent record label owned and founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller (music producer), Daniel Miller. It has featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Depeche Mode, Erasure (duo), Erasure, Einstürze ...

as the lead single from their self-titled, seventh studio album, ''

'' (1995). Written by

Vince Clarke Vincent John Martin (born 3 July 1960), known professionally as Vince Clarke, is an English synth-pop musician and songwriter. Clarke has been the main composer and musician of the band Erasure since its inception in 1985, and was previously ...

and Andy Bell, it is a slow love

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

. Starting with simple synth chords from Clarke and subdued vocal from Bell, the song builds to a mid-tempo

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

-influenced conclusion, complete with vocal contributions from the

London Community Gospel Choir The London Community Gospel Choir is Britain's first renowned contemporary "performance touring, inspirational gospel choir band", fusing gospel with multi-genres of music, including pop, soul, jazz, R&B, and classical. It was founded in 198 ...

. Like the other two singles from this album, it was edited for its release. The accompanying music video was directed by Mario Cavalli. In an interview with John Marshall from Lincs FM in 2009, Bell stated that "Stay With Me" was one of his favourite Erasure songs. The single's

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 ...

, "True Love Wars", is an extension of the ''Erasure'' album opener "Intro: Guess I'm Into Feeling". Both tracks use the same instrumental track and share several vocal elements, although they are different songs.

Chart performance

"Stay with Me" was not as successful as prior Erasure singles, reaching number fifteen on the UK Singles Chart, and it did not chart in the United States or Germany. In Denmark and Sweden, it peaked at number 10 and 13, respectively. In Czech Republic, it was a top-20 hit and on the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by ''Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately f ...

, the single peaked at number 71 on October 7, 1995.

Critical reception

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the musi ...

from ''

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'' felt 'Stay with Me' stands among the duo's "most enchanting and hitworthy recordings to date." He noted that the music "blends delicate music-box-like keyboards with Andy Bell's gorgeous, theatrical vocal performance", and added further that "this

soars to a beautiful conclusion, as Bell is surrounded by a

choir that adds spiritual depth to the song's sweet, romantic lyrics." Ross Jones from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' named it "one of their best; a salty slowie more beautiful than this world deserves." David Hemingway of ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' called it "a fairly simple ballad juxtaposed with understated squiggly-sguiggy plink-plonk effects that are just slightly and intentionally 'synthetic' or 'artificial'" and added that it's "oddly, vaguely, endearing in its refusal to rock/pop out, in its almost wilful ordinariness". Pan-European magazine ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later m ...

'' wrote, "The question is which version are you going to air? ACE is best advised to take the Guitar Mix of the sad love song, EHR won't have problems with the electronic Flow Mix, while "

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

" can do the rest." ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'' gave it three out of five, naming it "a delicate but powerful electronic ballad, produced by

the Orb The Orb are an English electronic music group founded in 1988 by Alex Paterson and Jimmy Cauty. Known for their psychedelic sound, the Orb developed a cult following among clubbers "coming down" from drug-induced highs. Their influential ...

Thomas Fehlmann Thomas Fehlmann (born 1957) is a Swiss composer/producer who lives in Berlin, Germany, and has been active in electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based m ...

." Paul Gorman added that the "slow-burning" song "is heard best in context, where Clarke's churchy keyboard patterns are played against a classic, impassioned performance by Bell." Angela Lewis of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' noted the "leaden-paced, tinsel and twinkle thang could be a dozy Christmas ballad", with Bell's "words of love" being "as lust free as his voice". She continued, "Nowadays, Erasure still stroke the synth-pop handbook, but their plink-plonkery is dated, and one bets they couldn't honestly put hand on heart and pronounce they care as much as they used to." Another ''NME'' editor, Paul Moody, described it as "a boomy, gloomy ballad for three minutes,

hen Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman. Hen, HEN or Hens may also refer to: Places Norway *Hen, Buskerud, a village in R ...

untwines into a six-minute opus which closes with the ebb'n'flow of the tide (plus a nod to the

Human League The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic music, electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their t ...

's ' Louise' along the way)". A reviewer from ''

People Magazine ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC (company), IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''Peopl ...

'' wrote, "Thanks to an emphasis on gorgeous torch tunes like ' Rock Me Gently' and 'Stay with Me', lead singer Andy Bell's always operatic vocals take on a newfound luster". Mark Sutherland from ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'' gave it three out of five, saying, "This isn't one of their better efforts: a drama-queen ballad that takes far too long to get going and then conks out just as the engine starts revving."

Music video

The music video for "Stay with Me" was directed by Mario Cavalli, depicting Andy Bell alone in an apartment, singing while glancing out the window. It was later made available on Erasure's official

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel in September 2014.

Retrospective response

Ned Raggett from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

described the song as "quietly intoxicating". While reviewing "Erasure's 40 Greatest Tracks" in 2014, Chris Gerard from ''

Metro Weekly ''Metro Weekly'' is a free weekly magazine for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) community in Washington, D.C., United States. It was first published on May 5, 1994. ''Metro Weekly'' includes national and local news, intervi ...

'' wrote, "If anybody ever doubts that Andy Bell is a first-rate vocalist, play them 'Stay with Me' immediately. The layers of sound that he develops, along with Clarke's simple keyboard line, are simply magical."In his 2009 review of Erasure – ''Total Pop!'' Erasure's First 40 Hits", Darren Lee from ''

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quietu ...

'' felt that it "remain serviceable enough" ballad, "but lack the pizzazz and charm of earlier releases."

Track listings

* Cassette single (CMUTE174) # "Stay With Me" (Single Edit) # "True Love Wars" * 12" single (12MUTE174) # "Stay With Me" (NY Mix) # "Stay With Me" (Flow Mix) # "True Love Wars" (Omni Mix) # "Stay With Me" (Guitar Mix) * CD single #1 (CDMUTE174) # "Stay With Me" # "True Love Wars" # "Stay With Me" (Basic Mix) # "True Love Wars" (Omni Mix) * CD single #2 (LCDMUTE174) # "Stay With Me" (Flow Mix) # "Stay With Me" (NY Mix) # "Stay With Me" (Guitar Mix) # "Stay With Me" (Castaway Dub) * US maxi-single (66084-2) # "Stay With Me" (Commercial Mix) # "Stay With Me" (Basic Mix) # "Stay With Me" (Flow Mix) # "Stay With Me" (Guitar Mix) # "Stay With Me" (NY Mix) # "True Love Wars"

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1995 songs 1995 singles Erasure songs Songs written by Vince Clarke Songs written by Andy Bell (singer) Song recordings produced by Gareth Jones Mute Records singles Elektra Records singles 1990s ballads Pop ballads UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles