"Stay" is a song by English musician

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

, released on his 1976 album '' Station to Station''. The song was recorded in late 1975 at

Cherokee Studios Cherokee Studios is a recording studio facility in Hollywood founded in 1972 by members of 1960s pop band The Robbs. Cherokee has been the location of many notable recordings by such artists as Steely Dan, David Bowie, Journey, The Cars, Foreign ...

in Los Angeles. Co-produced by Bowie and

Harry Maslin Harry Maslin is an American record producer, recording/mixing engineer, and studio owner/designer. In the mid-1970s, he engineered No. 1 hits for Barry Manilow (" Mandy"), and Dionne Warwick & The Spinners (" Then Came You"). As a producer, his c ...

, the recording featured guitarists

Carlos Alomar Carlos Alomar (born 7 May 1951) is a Puerto Rican guitarist. He is best known for his work with David Bowie from the mid-1970s to the early 2000s, having played on more Bowie albums than any musician other than pianist Mike Garson. He has als ...

and

Earl Slick Earl Slick (born Frank Madeloni in Brooklyn, New York, October 1, 1952) is a guitarist best known for his collaborations with David Bowie, John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Robert Smith. He has also worked with other artists including John Waite, Tim ...

, bassist George Murray, drummer

Dennis Davis Dennis Davis (August 28, 1949 – April 6, 2016) was an American drummer and session musician best known for his work with David Bowie, playing on ten albums - including seven successive studio albums - during the singer's classic mid- and la ...

, pianist Roy Bittan and Warren Peace on percussion. The track features prominent dual guitar work from Slick and Alomar, who mostly composed it in the studio. Based on the chord structure of " John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)", a

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mi ...

reworking of "John, I'm Only Dancing" (1972), "Stay" emulates

funk rock Funk rock is a fusion genre that mixes elements of funk and rock. James Brown and others declared that Little Richard and his mid-1950s road band, The Upsetters, were the first to put the funk in the rock and roll beat, with a biographer stat ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...

and

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest ha ...

. Lyrically, the song is about a character who begs his lover to stay, fearing she will leave him for the last time. Bowie debuted the song on the variety show '' Dinah!'' on 3 January 1976. In July the same year,

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also ...

released "Stay" 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 "

Suffragette City "Suffragette City" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was originally released in April 1972 as the B-side of the single " Starman" and subsequently appeared on his fifth studio album ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust a ...

" and again as an A-side in edited form in the United States; both failed to chart. The track has received positive reviews from music critics and biographers, with many praising the performance of the band. "Stay" was a live staple throughout Bowie's concert tours, performances of which have appeared on numerous

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

s. The song was remixed by Maslin in 2010 for reissues of ''Station to Station'' and remastered in 2016 for the '' Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976)'' box set. Bowie recorded a new version of "Stay" in 1997 during the rehearsals for the

Earthling Tour The Earthling Tour was a concert tour by British musician David Bowie, in promotion of his album '' Earthling'', released in 1997, The tour started on 7 June 1997 at Flughafen Blankensee in Lübeck, Germany, continuing through Europe, North Am ...

, which appeared on the 2020 EP ''

Is It Any Wonder? "Is It Any Wonder?" is a song written and performed by English alternative rock band Keane, released as the second single from their second studio album, ''Under the Iron Sea''. The single was released to the iTunes Store on 16 May and to sho ...

'' as "Stay '97".

Recording

After completing his work on ''

The Man Who Fell to Earth ''The Man Who Fell to Earth'' is a 1976 British science fiction drama film directed by Nicolas Roeg and written by Paul Mayersberg. Based on Walter Tevis's 1963 novel of the same name, the film follows an extraterrestrial (Thomas Jerome Newt ...

'' in September 1975,

returned to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

to begin recording his next album. Personnel-wise, Bowie brought back the same team used for " Fame": co-producer

, guitarists

and

, drummer

and Bowie's old friend Geoff MacCormick (credited as Warren Peace), while bassist George Murray was recruited to play bass; pianist Roy Bittan, a member of

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originato ...

E Street Band The E Street Band is an American rock band, and has been musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. For the bulk of Springsteen's recording and performing caree ...

, joined the sessions in mid-October. For the studio, Bowie and Maslin chose Los Angeles's

, which featured five different studio rooms, 24-track

mixing consoles Mix, mixes or mixing may refer to: Persons & places * Mix (surname) ** Tom Mix (1880-1940), American film star * nickname of Mix Diskerud (born Mikkel, 1990), Norwegian-American soccer player * Mix camp, an informal settlement in Namibia * Mix, ...

, 24-hour session times, and a lounge bar. Recording for the new album began in late September 1975 and ended in late November. According to biographer Chris O'Leary, recording for "Stay" began sometime in October. Like the majority of the album, the song's elements were primarily built in the studio rather than written before. Due to Bowie's heavy

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Am ...

use during the sessions, he later recalled remembering almost nothing of the album's production. Alomar recalled the song was recorded "very much in a cocaine frenzy":

'Stay' was basically done with the rhythm section. It was pretty funky and pretty much straight ahead. I wrote out a chart and said this was pretty much what we wanted to do. That song I think David did on the guitar. He strummed a few chords for me, and then we gave it back to him. The rhythm section really liked that one, and then Earl Slick covered some of the lines I had laid down with a thicker sound.

Bowie later acknowledged that the song initially began as an attempt at " John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)", a

reworking of Bowie's 1972 track "John, I'm Only Dancing" that was recorded during the sessions for ''

Young Americans ''Young Americans'' is the ninth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 7March 1975 through RCA Records. The album marked a departure from the glam rock style of Bowie's previous albums, showcasing his interest in soul ...

'' (1975) and later released as a single in 1979. Alomar and Slick experimented with a slightly varied "(Again)"

chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...

, sped up the tempo and, after days or weeks of studio jamming, the band, in Alomar's words, "gave he songback to

owie An injury is any physiological damage to living tissue caused by immediate physical stress. An injury can occur intentionally or unintentionally and may be caused by blunt trauma, penetrating trauma, burning, toxic exposure, asphyxiation, or o ...

" According to O'Leary, Bowie pitted Alomar and Slick against each other, repeating what he did on the latter half of the

Diamond Dogs Tour The Diamond Dogs Tour was a concert tour by English singer-songwriter David Bowie in North America in 1974 to promote the studio album ''Diamond Dogs'' (1974). The first leg of the tour utilized a rock opera-style stage show format with multi ...

(known as the Soul tour). Slick recalled in 2014: "He had polar opposites, and he allowed those differences to shape the guitar sound on the album." On "Stay", Slick recorded a solo, which Alomar then

overdubbed Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...

, repeating the process. O'Leary calls the final mix "the record of their war, underpinned by a George Murray bassline that could support a

Buick Buick () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American marques of automobiles, and was the company that established General ...

Composition

The musical style of both "Stay" and " Golden Years" are built upon the funk and

of ''Young Americans'' but with a harsher, grinding edge. Biographer

Nicholas Pegg Nicholas Pegg is a British actor, writer and director. Educated at Nottingham High School and graduating with a Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of Exeter, Pegg subsequently trained at the Guildford School of Acting. Ac ...

describes it as a simultaneous hybrid of funk, soul and

, while James Perone argues that "Stay" represents a merge of hard rock and blue-eyed funk. Author

Marc Spitz Marc Spitz (October 2, 1969 – February 4, 2017) was an American music journalist, author and playwright. Spitz's writings on rock and roll and popular culture appeared in ''Spin'' (where he was a Senior Writer) as well as ''The New York Times' ...

analyses "Stay" as "urban funk sped up for against-the-wall fucking, as opposed to the horizontal quiet storms of ''Young Americans''". Writing for

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 Music ...

, Ned Raggett found a combination of the "dramatic rock" of '' Diamond Dogs'' (1974) and the "funk and soul" of ''Young Americans''. He writes that compared to tracks like "

", "Stay" contains a "chiller" arrangement, which he believes "manages to sound like something that could easily fit into a 1976-era nightclub though still somehow standing apart from it". In 2010, Frank Mojica of ''

Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...

'' classified the song as

. The song begins with the band assembling itself. Slick starts on guitar on his D string—mixed right and echoed left—before oppressing two G9 chords. Author

Peter Doggett Peter Doggett (born 30 June 1957) is an English music journalist, author and magazine editor. He began his career in music journalism in 1980, when he joined the London-based magazine ''Record Collector''. He subsequently served as the editor ...

describes an "effortless self-confidence" in Slick's introduction. From there, bass and drums join, followed by percussion and keyboards. The instruments play off one another until settling into a restless groove. O'Leary writes that in the intro, Slick is playing lead and Alomar supports but, by the verses and

refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the v ...

s, the roles are swapped: Alomar's rhythm guitar paces the track while Slick echoes it. In the closing solo, the two duel ferociously, with Slick playing variations of his opening riff and Alomar working around that. Bowie, whose vocals are absent past the four-minute mark, matched the guitars in the refrains with what O'Leary calls a "low-sung 'voice of reason. Spitz interprets '' Station to Station'' as "an album of love songs", specifically "the kind you write when you have no love in your own life". As such, the abstract lyrics of "Stay" have been interpreted as reflecting on "the uncertainty of sexual conquest", which '' NME'' editors Roy Carr and

Charles Shaar Murray Charles Shaar Murray (born Charles Maximillian Murray; 27 June 1951) is an English music journalist and broadcaster. He has worked on the ''New Musical Express'' and many other magazines and newspapers, and has been interviewed for a number of ...

believe is an example of owie's character

the Thin White Duke The Thin White Duke was the persona and character of the English musician David Bowie during 1975 and 1976. He is primarily identified with Bowie's 1976 album ''Station to Station'' and is mentioned by name in the title track, although Bowie h ...

's "spurious romanticism". Pegg describes the lyrics as "an anxious confessional about the inscrutability of ships that pass in the night", evident by the line "You can never really tell when somebody wants something you want too", which he believes epitomises "the combination of racking self-doubt and confidently stylish production found throughout the album". In the song, Bowie's character begs his lover to stay, as he knows that if she leaves this time it could be the last. Biographer David Buckley calls Bowie's emotions "pure shellac, brittle, yet simultaneously claustrophobically contrived and alienated". Perone writes that Bowie would revisit similar themes on his 1977 album '' "Heroes"'' (particularly "

Joe the Lion "Joe the Lion" is a song written by David Bowie in 1977 for the album '' "Heroes"''. It was produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti and features lead guitar by Robert Fripp. Like the album as a whole, the song demonstrates the influence of German ...

") and later on various tracks of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Release and reception

On 3 January 1976, Bowie and his band appeared on the

Dinah Shore Dinah Shore (born Frances Rose Shore; February 29, 1916 – February 24, 1994) was an American singer, actress, and television personality, and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during ...

-hosted variety show '' Dinah!'' where they performed "Stay", marking the song's public debut. Writer

Rob Sheffield Robert James Sheffield (born February 2, 1966) is an American music journalist and author. He is a long time contributing editor at ''Rolling Stone'', writing about music, TV, and pop culture. Previously, he was a contributing editor at '' Ble ...

calls the performance the debut of Bowie's character

and further noted Bowie's dancing while on stage. Compared to other appearances on television during this period, particularly when he performed "Golden Years" on ''

Soul Train ''Soul Train'' is an American musical variety television show. It aired in syndication from October 2, 1971, to March 25, 2006. Across its 35-year history the show primarily featured performances by R&B, soul, and hip hop artists. The series ...

'', Bowie was more relaxed and coherent during his ''Dinah!'' interview. RCA issued ''Station to Station'' later that month on 23 January, with "Stay" sequenced as the second track on side two of the original LP, between "

TVC 15 "TVC 15" is a song by English musician David Bowie, released on his 1976 album ''Station to Station''. RCA Records later released it as the second single from the album on 30 April 1976. The song was recorded in late 1975 at Cherokee Studios i ...

" and Bowie's cover of "

Wild Is the Wind ''Wild is the Wind'' is a 1957 film directed by George Cukor and starring Anna Magnani, Anthony Quinn, and Anthony Franciosa. It tells the story of an American rancher who, after his wife dies, goes to Italy to marry her sister, but finds that s ...

". In July, the full-length six minute album version of "Stay" appeared as the

of the "

" single, which was issued to promote the '' Changesonebowie'' compilation. It failed to chart. "Stay" was then issued as an A-side in the US the same month in heavily edited form—running 3:21—with the catalogue number PB 10736 and fellow album track " Word on a Wing" as the B-side. It failed to chart. "Stay" has received positive reviews from music critics and biographers, with many highlighting the performance of the band. In a review of the album on release, John Ingham of ''

Sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

'' magazine gave immense praise to ''Station to Station'', naming "Golden Years", "TVC 15" and "Stay" some of Bowie's best songs up to that point. Pegg calls the song "one of Bowie's classic usicalhybrids" and finds the rhythm guitar riff one of the finest in Bowie's entire catalogue. Mojica and Raggett similarly praise the guitar work as one of Bowie's best, with the latter calling it one of the album's standouts. Doggett commends the band's performance on the track, writing that despite recording it in a "cocaine frenzy", they performed "with utter conviction and a staggering command of dynamics". Buckley calls Bowie's vocal performance one of his "most insecure and helpless". ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: *Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * '' ...

'' magazine later listed it as Bowie's 32nd greatest song in 2015. In a 2016 list ranking every Bowie single from worst to best, ''

Ultimate Classic Rock Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wi ...

'' placed "Stay" at number 51, calling the single edit inferior to the album version.

Live versions and subsequent releases

"Stay" remained a concert staple throughout Bowie's career, being performed on the 1976 Isolar I, 1978 Isolar II, 1983 Serious Mooonlight, 1990 Sound+Vision, 1997 Earthling, 1999

Hours An hour (symbol: h; also abbreviated hr) is a unit of time conventionally reckoned as of a day and scientifically reckoned between 3,599 and 3,601 seconds, depending on the speed of Earth's rotation. There are 60 minutes in an hour, and 24 hou ...

, 2000

Mini The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...

, and 2002

Heathen __NOTOC__ Heathen or Heathens may refer to: Religion *Heathen, another name for a pagan *Heathen, an adherent of Heathenry Music *Band of Heathens, a North American rock and roll band *Heathen (band), a North American thrash metal band * The He ...

tours. Due to the song's extended outro, Bowie added bursts of "stay" tags throughout during live performances, including "stay—why don't you" tags with

Gail Ann Dorsey Gail Ann Dorsey (born November 20, 1962) is an American musician. With a long career as a session musician mainly on bass guitar, she is perhaps best known for her lengthy residency in David Bowie's band, from 1995 to Bowie's death in 2016. Asid ...

in the 1990s. O'Leary notes that Bowie sometimes simply stared at the players in bemusement. A recording from the Isolar tour at the Nassau Coliseum on 23 March 1976 was first released as a bonus track on the 1991

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first CD-only independent record la ...

reissue of ''Station to Station'', and again in remixed form on ''

Live Nassau Coliseum '76 ''Live Nassau Coliseum '76'' is a live album by David Bowie recorded on 23 March 1976 during Bowie's Isolar Tour in support of the album ''Station to Station''. The recording was first released in September 2010, as part of special and deluxe ed ...

'' (2010). A performance from the Isolar II tour was included on the expanded reissues of the 1978 live album '' Stage'' in 2005 and 2017. Another performance from the same tour was later included on '' Welcome to the Blackout'' (2018). Bowie's performance of the song at the

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

on 25 June 2000 was released in 2018 on '' Glastonbury 2000''. A couple days after Glastonbury on 27 June, Bowie performed "Stay" at the

BBC Radio Theatre The BBC Radio Theatre (originally named The Concert Hall) is a theatre situated within the BBC's Broadcasting House complex. It is used for live broadcast and audio recordings. History Originally named The Concert Hall, the theatre was desi ...

in London. This performance was released on the bonus disc accompanying the first releases of ''

Bowie at the Beeb ''Bowie at the Beeb'' is a compilation album by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, first released in 2000. Originally, it came in a three-CD set, the third, bonus CD being a live recording made on at the Portland BBC Radio Theatre. Later ...

'' (2000). The single edit of "Stay" appeared on the ''Christiane F.'' soundtrack in 1981. According to Pegg, this is one of few CD sources for the single edit. The song, and its parent album, was remastered in 2016 for the '' Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976)''

box set A box set or (its original name) boxed set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists and bands ...

, with an individual CD release made available the following year. Both the original mix and 2010 Maslin mix were included, while the single edit was included in ''Re:Call 2''. Bowie rerecorded "Stay" in 1997 during the rehearsals for the Earthling Tour. Bowie wanted to update some of his live staples to better fit the material of his then-recent albums '' Outside'' (1995) and '' Earthling'' (1997). The new version was rehearsed at The Factory in Dublin with Mark Plati and

Reeves Gabrels Reeves Gabrels (born June 4, 1956) is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. A member and guitarist of British band the Cure since 2012, Gabrels worked with David Bowie from 1987 to 1999, and was a member of the band Tin Machine. ...

before it was properly recorded at New York's Right Track Recordings between May and June 1997. Initially intended for release as a B-side, it remained unreleased until 2020, when it was included on the EP ''

'', titled "Stay '97". Jon Blistein of ''Rolling Stone'' described it as "an extremely nineties update" of the original, describing elements of

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial ...

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie ...

industrial rock Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. It initially originated in the 1970s, and drew influence from early experimental and industrial acts such as Cromagnon, Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten ...

and

techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

Personnel

According to biographer Chris O'Leary: *

lead and backing vocals,

Minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first pop ...

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. ...

* Warren Peace percussion *

lead guitar *

lead and rhythm guitar * George Murray bass *

drums,

cowbell A cowbell (or cow bell) is a bell worn around the neck of free-roaming livestock so herders can keep track of an animal via the sound of the bell when the animal is grazing out of view in hilly landscapes or vast plains. Although they are t ...

Production * David Bowie producer *

producer

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * {{Authority control 1976 singles David Bowie songs Songs written by David Bowie Song recordings produced by David Bowie 1976 songs Funk rock songs British hard rock songs British soul songs