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"If You Want Me to Stay" | ||||
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Single by Sly and the Family Stone | ||||
from the album Fresh | ||||
B-side | "Babies Makin' Babies" | |||
Released | June 7, 1973 [1] | |||
Recorded | 1972–1973 | |||
Genre | Funk | |||
Length | 3:01 / 2:40 (alternate take) | |||
Label | Epic 11017 | |||
Songwriter(s) | Sly Stone | |||
Producer(s) | Sly Stone | |||
Sly and the Family Stone singles chronology | ||||
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"If You Want Me to Stay" is a 1973 hit single by Sly and the Family Stone, from their album Fresh .
Stone recorded the song without much input from the rest of the band; by the early 1970s, he had begun crafting most of his material by himself. An alternate version of "If You Want Me to Stay", as well as most of the rest of the Fresh album, was completed before Stone decided to scrap the masters and re-record the album. These alternate versions have surfaced in underground markets, online auctions, and specialty shops. However, five bonus tracks are included in Epic's 2007 reissue of Fresh, all of which are directly from the alternate mix of the album.
Record World said that it "is as bizarre as his other outings and just as commercial." [2]
The lyrics of "If You Want Me to Stay" feature frontman Sly Stone informing his lover that she has to let him be himself, otherwise he feels that he would have to leave. The composition has its origins in an apology Stone wrote to his future wife, Kathleen Silva, after a fight.
"If You Want Me to Stay" was the band's final Top 20 pop hit, and is the best-known of its post- There's a Riot Goin' On recordings. The single reached number 12 on the Pop Chart, and number three on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart. [3]
Note: A transcription of the bass part for this song appears in the October 2006 issue of Bass Player magazine (pages 78–81). According to the article "Rustee Allen’s Complete Bass Line: Sly & The Family Stone's 'If You Want Me To Stay'" accompanying the transcription, written by Chris Jisi:
"The ambitiously named 'Fresh' hit the streets in early July. A stripped-down, more raw outing than previous Sly albums, the 11-track set was boosted by the bass waves of Graham's hand-picked replacement, Rustee Allen. Sly himself laid down some of the album's bass tracks."
"Stay" | ||||
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Single by Mica Paris | ||||
from the album Black Angel | ||||
Released | May 11, 1998 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 4:36 | |||
Label | ||||
Songwriter(s) | Sly Stone | |||
Producer(s) |
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Mica Paris singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Stay" on YouTube |
British soul singer Mica Paris released a version of "Stay" in 1998, as the lead single from her fourth album, Black Angel (1998). [4] Her version spent two weeks on the UK Singles Chart before peaking at number forty on May 16, 1998. [5] It also reached the top forty of the New Zealand Singles Chart. [6]
British magazine Music Week wrote, "Paris adds characteristic — if slightly mannered — vocal swoops to a faithful rendition of the Sly & The Family Stone classic. Still, it's a welcome return for one of the best soul voices the UK has yet produced and provides a taste of her long-delayed forthcoming album Black Angel ." [7]
CD single [4]
No. | Title | Lyrics | Producer | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Stay" (Original Edit) | Sly Stone |
| 4:20 |
2. | "Stay" (Blacksmith Club Rub featuring Know ?uestion) | Sly Stone |
| |
3. | "Stay" (Brooklyn Funk R'n'B Mix) | Sly Stone |
| |
4. | "Stay" (Booker T's Vocal Lick) | Sly Stone |
| |
5. | "Stay" (K-Klassic Mix) | Sly Stone |
| |
6. | "Stay" (B Drop Radio Edit) | Sly Stone |
|
Performers [8]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
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The song has been covered extensively since its introduction, by artists including Etta James, Eric Benet, Mercury Rev, Victor Wooten, Soulive, Pama International, Ronny, Kermit Ruffins, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The song has also been featured in the movies Made in Heaven , Talk to Me , Dead Presidents , and Money Talks .
In 2020, Ari Lennox and Anthony Ramos released a cover in partnership with Main Street Alliance — a nonprofit organization committed to supporting small businesses in the United States — and Crown Royal in donation to help the landmark small businesses and communities all over the country. [16]
As with most of Sly Stone's work, many songs have sampled the bass line from "If You Want Me to Stay", including:
Sly and the Family Stone was an American band originating from San Francisco, California. Active from 1966 to 1983, they were pivotal in the development of funk, soul, R&B, rock, and psychedelic music. Their core line-up was led by singer-songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone, and included Stone's brother and singer/guitarist Freddie Stone, sister and singer/keyboardist Rose Stone, trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, drummer Greg Errico, saxophonist Jerry Martini, and bassist Larry Graham. The band was the first major American rock group to have a racially integrated, mixed-gender lineup.
Forty Licks is a double compilation album by the Rolling Stones. A 40-year career-spanning retrospective, Forty Licks is notable for being the first retrospective to combine their formative Decca/London era of the 1960s, now licensed by ABKCO Records, with their self-owned post-1970 material, distributed at the time by Virgin/EMI but now distributed by ABKCO's own distributor Universal Music Group. Four new songs are included on the second disc. The album was a commercial success, as it reached No. 2 on both UK and US charts. Concurrently with the album's release, the Stones embarked on the successful, year-long international Licks Tour, which would result in the subsequent Live Licks album being released in 2004.
"Everyday People" is a 1968 song composed by Sly Stone and first recorded by his band, Sly and the Family Stone. It was the first single by the band to go to number one on the Soul singles chart and the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. It held that position on the Hot 100 for four weeks, from February 9 to March 8, 1969, and is remembered as one of the most popular songs of the 1960s. Billboard ranked it as the No. 5 song of 1969.
Stand! is the fourth album by soul/funk band Sly and the Family Stone, released in April 1969. Written and produced by lead singer and multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone, Stand! is considered an artistic high-point of the band's career. Released by Epic Records, just before the group's celebrated performance at the Woodstock festival, it became the band's most commercially successful album to date. It includes several well-known songs, among them hit singles, such as "Sing a Simple Song", "I Want to Take You Higher", "Stand!", and "Everyday People". The album was reissued in 1990 on compact disc and vinyl, and again in 2007 as a remastered numbered edition digipack CD with bonus tracks and, in the UK, as only a CD with bonus tracks.
"Can't Buy Me Love" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in March 1964 as the A-side of their sixth single. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The song was included on the group's album A Hard Day's Night and was featured in a scene in Richard Lester's film of the same title. The single topped charts in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, the Netherlands, France and Sweden. In the UK, it was the fourth highest selling single of the 1960s.
Rustee Allen is an American musician best known as the bass guitar player for the influential funk band Sly and the Family Stone from 1972 to 1975. Allen replaced founding Family Stone member Larry Graham, who was forced out of the band and went on to start his own, Graham Central Station.
Fresh is the sixth album by American funk band Sly and the Family Stone, released by Epic/CBS Records in June 1973. Written and produced by Sly Stone over two years, Fresh has been described as a lighter and more accessible take on the dense, drum machine-driven sound of its landmark 1971 predecessor There's a Riot Goin' On. It was the band's final album to reach the US Top 10, entering the Billboard Album Chart on June 30, and their last of three consecutive number-one albums on the R&B chart. In 2003, the album was ranked number 186 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
"I Want You Back" is the first national single by the Jackson 5. It was released by Motown in October 1969, and became the first number-one hit for the band on January 31, 1970. It was performed on the band's first television appearances, on October 18, 1969, on Diana Ross's The Hollywood Palace and on their milestone performance on December 14, 1969, on The Ed Sullivan Show.
"Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" is a 1969 song recorded by Sly and the Family Stone. The song, released as a double A-side single with "Everybody Is a Star", reached number one on the soul single charts for five weeks, and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1970. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 19 song of 1970.
"The Tears of a Clown" is a song written by Hank Cosby, Smokey Robinson, and Stevie Wonder and originally recorded by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles for the Tamla Records label subsidiary of Motown, first appearing on the 1967 album Make It Happen. The track was re-released in the United Kingdom as a single in July 1970, and it became a number-one hit on the UK Singles Chart for the week ending September 12, 1970. Subsequently, Motown released a partially re-recorded and completely remixed version as a single in the United States as well, where it quickly became a number-one hit on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B Singles charts.
"I Want to Take You Higher" is a song by the soul/rock/funk band Sly and the Family Stone, the B-side to their Top 30 hit "Stand!". Unlike most of the other tracks on the Stand! album, "I Want to Take You Higher" is not a message song; instead, it is simply dedicated to music and the feeling one gets from music. Like nearly all of Sly & the Family Stone's songs, Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart was credited as the sole songwriter.
"Hot Fun in the Summertime" is a 1969 song recorded by Sly and the Family Stone. The single was released just prior to the band's high-profile performance at Woodstock, which greatly expanded their fanbase. The song peaked at number 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart, kept out of the number 1 spot by "I Can't Get Next to You" by The Temptations. "Hot Fun in the Summertime" also peaked at number 3 on the U.S. Billboard soul singles chart in autumn 1969. It is ranked as the seventh biggest U.S. hit of 1969, and the 65th in Canada.
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