"Stay" is a

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre 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, Chica ...

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 a British pop rock band, formed 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. Allan Clarke (singer), Allan Clarke and Graham ...

, the Four Seasons and

Jackson Browne Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 18 million albums in the United States. Emerging as a precocious teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he h ...

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 Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

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 producer,

Phil Gernhard Phillip Arnold Gernhard (February 5, 1940 – February 22, 2008) was an American record producer, record label executive, and songwriter. He is best known for his successful collaborations in the 1960s and 1970s with Maurice Williams and the Zod ...

, took it along with some other demos to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

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 left ...

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 has a news/talk format. It features local hosts in morning and afternoon drive times, with syndicated Canadian hosts in midd ...

. 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), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

's " Are You Lonesome Tonight?". On the Herald recording, Williams sang lead and Henry Gaston sang the falsetto chorus. The original recording of "Stay" remains the shortest single ever to reach the top of the American record charts, 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 The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. It remained on the chart for a total of 16 weeks. The song is from their debut album ''

Stay with The Hollies ''Stay with The Hollies'', also known by its American release title ''Here I Go Again'', is the debut album by the British rock band the Hollies and was released in January 1964 on Parlophone Records (''see'' 1964 in music). In Canada, it was re ...

''.

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 records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

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 a nightclub or music f ...

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.

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 ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

" begs the audience to stay for an encore and includes an extensive playout. It includes backing contributions from David Lindley and

Rosemary Butler Rosemary Ann Butler (born April 6, 1947) is an American singer. She began her career playing bass guitar and singing in an all-female band named the Ladybirds while attending Fullerton Union High School in Fullerton, California. The band appeared ...

. ''

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

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

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was 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". 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 genre of reggae that mixes reggae and/or dancehall with other genres, such as pop, rock, hip hop, R&B, jazz, funk, soul, disco, electronic and latin. Origin Although artists have been mixing reggae with other genres from as ...

pop/dance trio Dreamhouse released their version of "Stay" as their debut single in 1995, which reached No. 62 on the

. 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 ''

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 advertise ...

'' 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 Thornton (born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. Her career has spanned over 40 years. Her album ''She's So Unusual'' (1983) was the first debut album by a female artist to achi ...

's 2003 album ''

At Last "At Last" is a song written by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren for the musical film '' Sun Valley Serenade'' (1941). Glenn Miller and his orchestra recorded the tune several times, with a 1942 version reaching number two on the US '' Billboard'' ...

''. 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 kin ...

, ''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 served as the group's leader, producer and co-songwriter. In January 1964 they had their first UK top ten sin ...

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. Overview "Glad All Over" featured Smith leading unison group vocals, often in call and response style, a saxophone line used not for solo decor ...

''. *In 1966, the Virginia Wolves released a soul version of the song. *The song was recorded in 1968 by

Jan & Dean Jan and Dean was an American rock duo consisting of William Jan Berry (April 3, 1941 – March 26, 2004) and Dean Ormsby Torrence (born March 10, 1940). In the early 1960s, they were pioneers of the California Sound and vocal surf music styles ...

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 played on scor ...

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 musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the lat ...

and

for the '' No Nukes'' album in September 1979. *In 1980, Austrian singer

Georg Danzer Georg Franz Danzer (7 October 1946, in Vienna – 21 June 2007, in Asperhofen, Lower Austria) was an Austrian singer-songwriter. Although he is credited as one of the pioneers of Austropop (most famous are his comic songs "Jö schau" (about a str ...

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 early 1980s. Italo disco evolved from the then-current underground dance, p ...

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

P.D.Q. Bach P. D. Q. Bach is a fictional composer invented by the American musical satirist Peter Schickele, who developed a five-decade-long career performing the "discovered" works of the "only forgotten son" of the Bach family. Schickele's music combines ...

(a.k.a.

Peter Schickele "Professor" Peter Schickele (; born July 17, 1935) is an American composer, musical educator, and parody, parodist, best known for comedy albums featuring his music, but which he presents as being composed by the fictional P. D. Q. Bach. He also ...

) lampooned the song in his opera ''

The Abduction of Figaro ''The Abduction of Figaro'' is a comic opera in three acts, described as "A Simply Grand Opera by P. D. Q. Bach", by Peter Schickele. It is a parody of opera in general, and the title is a play on two operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: ''Die Entf� ...

'' 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, professionally known by his stage name Buju Banton, is a Jamaican reggae dancehall musician. He is considered to be one of the most ...

's song "Hush Baby Hush" on his 1995 album ''

'Til Shiloh ''Til Shiloh'' is the fourth album by Jamaican dancehall artist Buju Banton, released in 1995 by Loose Cannon Records, a short-lived subsidiary of Island Records.Cooke, Mel (2015)Two Decades Since Til Shiloh, ''Jamaica Gleaner'', July 19, 2015. Re ...

''. *Australian group

Human Nature Human nature is a concept that denotes the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—that humans are said to have naturally. The term is often used to denote the essence of humankind, or ...

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 will play a patron's selection from self-contained media. The classic jukebox has buttons, with letters and numbers on them, which are used to selec ...

''.

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