Stay (Shakespears Sister song)

Infobox Single
Name = Stay


Artist = Shakespears Sister
from Album = Hormonally Yours
Released = 1992
Format = 7", CD, cassette single
Recorded = 1991
Genre = Pop
Length =
Label = London Records
Writer = Siobhan Fahey,
Marcella Detroit,
David A. Stewart (as Manu Guiot)
Producer = Shakespear's Sister,
Alan Moulder
Chart position = *1 (UK)

*1 (Ireland)
*4 (US)
Reviews =
Last single = "Goodbye Cruel World"
(1991)
This single = "Stay"
(1992)
Next single = "I Don't Care"
(1992)

"Stay" is a 1992 single from the album "Hormonally Yours" by Irish/US pop duo Shakespears Sister. "Stay" was the second single release from the second Shakespears Sister album "Hormonally Yours" and is the duo's most recognised song. "Stay" is one of the longest running UK number ones in chart history (it stayed 8 weeks at #1), and the longest by any girl group or duo.

Written by band members Siobhan Fahey (formerly of Bananarama) and American singer/songwriter Marcella Detroit; Fahey's then husband, Dave Stewart, also assisted in the writing (inititaly he used a pseudonym). "Stay" became one of the 90's biggest hits in the UK.

Songwriting

Siobhan Fahey's role in the song was to deliver a short passage to the body of the song - sung by Marcella Detroit. Dave Stewart of Eurythmics (and Fahey's then husband) and Detroit wrote the music and words to the first part and Fahey wrote those to her lines. Stewart wanted the public to hear Detroit's impressive range.

This is the song that Fahey had least involvement with and least desire to release - as she felt it "didn't represent Shakespears Sister"Fact|date=July 2007.

Fahey said in 2002; '....I was like what's going to happen here....but everybody loved the record, so I just had to go with it....!'

This single was the only Shakespears Sister song that featured Marcella Detroit more prominently on vocals than Siobhan Fahey, with Detroit singing the verses and lead chorus and Fahey singing the song's bridge. Reportedly, when the single went on to become the duo's biggest hit internationally, reaching No 1 on the UK singles chart, as well as No 1 in Ireland's Single Chart, and No 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100, this furthered the tension that was mounting between the two musicians. Incidentally, the success of the single and the imagery of its video turned the press focus on Detroit as an "angel with a beautiful voice" and Fahey as a "witch from hell". Fact|date=February 2007

Release

The first single from "Hormonally Yours", "Goodbye Cruel World", was not a success but as soon as a demo was made for "Stay" it was viewed a potential hit by friends of Fahey and Detroit. The song was released on January 25, 1992 and within two weeks reached number one in the UK charts. As a result, there was a rouse of interest in Shakespears Sister, which had not been seen since the success of "You're History" (a song which was often compared to "Stay"). As a result, Fahey and Detroit made numerous TV appearances including "Top of the Pops", the "Chart Show", MTV, and "Late Night with David Letterman".

The song was also released overseas; the US; Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Japan. In all countries, it succeeded well in the charts and certainly made Shakespears Sister well-known worldwide. After a number one focus on Shakespears Sister increased as did the bands credibility. Sell out tours and numerous TV appearances were a regular occurrence throughout 1992 and so subsequent singles were well received by the media. The next single "I Don't Care" was a top 10 hit.

The success of "Stay" prompted a re-issue of the single "Goodbye Cruel World", which had been issued prior to "Stay" as the lead-off single from "Hormonally Yours" but did not fare well.

Following the success of "Stay" and the "Hormonally Yours" album Detroit was forced to leave the band as Fahey wanted to carry on as a solo artist. Neither Fahey nor Detroit have been able to duplicate the success of "Stay".

Special packaging

Assured of the potential success of "Stay", London released the single in a special two-part Digi-pak sleeve. The first part came in the fold-out cardboard digi-pak which featured lyrics and a picture on the inside of Fahey and Detroit from the promo-video. This CD featured "Stay" on tracks one and two and "The Trouble With Andre" on track three. The second CD, issued a week later, featured four tracks including a compilation of various tracks from the album (to aid its promotion). This CD came in a slip-card case and was a picture disc which fitted into the digi-pack. Overseas issues were not in the form of a digi-pak and consisted of the standard CD case with the same three tracks on all issues.

Video

The award-winning Sophie Muller directed the promo video for this track. The concept of the video was inspired by the film "Catwomen From the Moon" and reconstituted and incorporated by Detroit's husband, Lance Aston. It was, however, banned in Germany, due to its resurrection scenes, which further increased attention about the release. Fact|date=February 2007. The male in the video was played by Dave Evans, former boyfriend of Fahey's Bananarama bandmate Keren Woodward. [ [http://www.bananaramauk.com/html/discography/singles/morethanphysical/mtpmain.html Bananaramauk.Com ] ]

The video, which saw Detroit and Fahey fight over an unwell man, was banned in Germany where they believed they were portraying of "raising the dead" and that Detroit and Fahey were witches. This controversy did the song no harm - it climbed to the Top 20 in the German charts.

The video won Best Video at the 1993 Music Week Awards and Brit Awards, and was the subject of many spoofs by UK comedians at the time, such as "French & Saunders". Recently it was featured in the Top 100 Music Videos of all time by Channel 4 [http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/G/greatest/pop_videos/results.html] .

Track listing

Track listing is for the UK two-part CD singles:
# "Stay"
# "Stay" (album version)
# "The Trouble With André"
# "Stay"

# "Run Silent" (Revolution remix)
# "Hormonally Yours" album excerpts

An acoustic version of "Stay" can be found on the album "Long Live the Queens!".

Remixes

* Stay (Album Version)
* Stay (Andre Betts Remix)
* Stay (Acoustic Version)
* Stay (Andre Betts Remix Edit)

Covers

* French and Saunders did a parody of the song and video in their sketch-show in the early nineties called "Dickens' Daughter". The sketch also parodied other videos by the band, including 'I Don't Care' and 'Goodbye Cruel World'
* A dance version by Déjà Vu was released in 2001, but failed to chart.
* On the 24 August 2006, the cult British metal band Februus performed a live cover of "Stay" in Edinburgh, Scotland.
* Cradle of Filth recorded a cover version in 2006, which is featured on their 2008 special edition release of Thornography.
* Pop band Sweetbox covered the song "Stay" and it was released on the "Jade" album in 2002.
* American rock / hardcore band The Distance recorded a cover version in 2006 that was to be included in the European version of their debut album "The Rise, The Fall and Everything in Between", but was left off after they could not get the proper permission to use the song. Their version has appeared on various music sites such as their MySpace and trig.com profiles.
* Italian pop stars Mina and Piero Pelù recorded the song as "Stay with me (Stay)" in 1999 for Mina's album "Olio".
* Germanic darkwave group Blutengel (Blood Angel) recorded a version which includes some rather humorous, but unintentional, mispronunciations. It was on their 2004 Demon Kiss Album.

References