Stay (Sugarland song)

Infobox Single
Name = Stay


Caption =
Artist = Sugarland
from Album = Enjoy the Ride
Released = 2007
Format = CD single
Digital download
Recorded =
Genre = Country
Length = 4:44
Label = Mercury Nashville
Writer = Jennifer Nettles
Producer = Byron Gallimore
Kristian Bush
Jennifer Nettles
Certification = Gold (U.S.)
Last single = "Everyday America"
(2007)
This single = "Stay"
(2007)
Next single = "All I Want to Do"
(2008)"Stay" is the title of a song recorded by American country music duo Sugarland. Released in September 2007, it is the fourth and final single from their 2006 album "Enjoy the Ride" (see 2006 in country music). Overall, the song is the group's eighth single to enter the "Billboard" Hot Country Songs charts, where it reached a peak position of #2. The music video for "Stay" was ranked #10 on CMT's 100 Greatest Videos.

Written entirely by lead vocalist Jennifer Nettles, it is the first song in Sugarland's career to be composed entirely by her.cite web |url=http://www.cmt.com/artists/news/1578707/20071228/sugarland.jhtml |title=The story behind Sugarland's "Stay" |accessdate=2008-01-11 |last=Roznovsky |first=Lindsey |date=2008-01-02 |work=Country Music Television]

About the song

"Stay" is a ballad of infidelity, taking the perspective of a mistress to a man who is cheating on his wife. It begins with the mistress' insistence that the man stay with her — even if his wife should call and ask where he is — because she (the mistress) is "so tired of being lonely". Although the man tells her that he will leave his wife for her, she refuses to believe him, telling him that "it's too much pain to have to bear / To love a man you have to share".

In the third verse, the mistress then changes her mind; according to Nettles, she (the woman in the song) "has her own sense of redemption and realizes she deserves more than being with someone who will never be fully hers".cite journal |last=Gallagher |first=Pat |date=2008-02-11 |title=Story Behind the Song |journal=Country Weekly |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=64 |accessdate= 2008-02-16] This change is revealed in the final chorus::"Why don't you stay?:"I'm up off my knees:"I'm so tired of being lonely:"You can't give me what I need:"When she begs you not to go:"There is one thing you should know:"I don't have to live this way:"Baby, why don't you stay?"

In the song, Nettles' vocals are accompanied by Kristian Bush (Sugarland's other member) on acoustic guitar; unlike most other Sugarland songs, Bush does not sing harmony vocals. The only other instrumentation in the song is an organ, played by Bush's brother Brandon. [cite album-notes |title=Enjoy the Ride |albumlink=Enjoy the Ride (Sugarland album) |bandname=Sugarland |year=2006 |publisher=Mercury Records |publisherid=B0007411-02]

Inspiration

"Stay", according to Nettles, was inspired by Reba McEntire's 1986 single "Whoever's in New England", a ballad in which a wife addresses her unfaithful husband. After hearing the song, Nettles thought that it would be an original approach to take the perspective of the "other woman", as very few country songs had ever done so; Once she decided to take that perspective, the song "practically wrote itself".

Peak chart positions

References