If this world is wearing thin
And you're thinking of escape
I'll go anywhere with you
Just wrap me up in chains [I'll do anything it takes]
But if you try to go alone
Don't think I'll understand
ChorusStay with mex2
In the silence of your room
In the darkness of your dreams [In the darkness of your schemes]
You must only think of me [There among the souvenirs]
There can be no in between [And the useless memories]
When your pride is on the floor
I'll make you beg for more
Chorus
You'd better hope and pray
That you make it safe [That you'll be safe]
Back to your own world [In your own world]
You'd better hope and pray
That you wake one day [That you're gonna awake]
In your own world [Back in your own world]
'Cause when you sleep at night
They don't hear your cries
In your own world
Only time will tell
If you can break the spell
Back in your own world
Chorus
Stay. . .
"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 duos most recognized 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 (formely 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.
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 the Eurythmics (and Fahey's then husband) and Marcella wrote the music and words to the first part and Siobhan wrote those to her lines. Stewart wanted the public to hear Marcella's impressive range.
This is the song that Siobhan had least involvement with and least desire to release - as she felt it "didn't represent Shakespears Sister".
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 U.S. 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"
Shakespears Sister (originally Shakespeare's Sister) was a punk-pop-rock band formed by Irish-born former Bananarama singer/songwriter Siobhan Fahey initially on her own in 1988, the same year which she left Bananarama. Later in 1992 backing vocalist Marcella Detroit was featured more as London Records presented the band as a duo but the relationship was short lived due to misconceptions. The name is taken from the title of the song "Shakespeare's Sister" by The Smiths, which in turn refers to a section of Virginia Woolf's feminist essay A Room of One's Own, in which Woolf argues that if William Shakespeare had a sister of equal genius, as a woman she would not have had the opportunity to make use of it.
The band's name lost its final "e" when a friend making a woodcut logo for Fahey misspelt the most common modern spelling of Shakespeare. The cover of the first album, Sacred Heart, clearly includes an apostrophe (i.e. Shakespear's Sister), but this too was subsequently lost through simple carelessness and apathy
Shakespears Sister released two albums, Sacred Heart and Hormonally Yours.
The band's single "Stay" is their best known work, achieving number one in both the UK (for eight weeks, one of the longest in chart history) and Ireland singles charts. It was their highest entry in the UK charts, being the only time they entered the top five. The single also became their biggest U.S. hit, reaching number four on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1992. The campy, futuristic accompanying music video was also a hit, if somewhat controversial. In it, Fahey portrays Death and fights with Detroit over the fate of her dying lover in an allegory of life and death that mirrored her own internal struggles. Though clearly science fiction in style, the imagery in the video was seen as a depiction of witchcraft/raising the dead and so was banned in Germany, heightening the track's profile.
After a year-long worldwide tour throughout 1992, Fahey cancelled further European touring due to physical and emotional exhaustion and subsequently admitted herself into a psychiatric unit with severe depression.
When the nominations for the 1993 Brit Awards were announced in late 1992, it was clear that Shakespears Sister had had a significant impact on British popular music. Nominations included: Best group, best album, best video, best single and best female (for Siobhan, although she is Irish born). However, out of these they only won Best Video for Stay, which was, more importantly voted for by the British public.
In 1993 one of Fahey's favourite songs "My 16th Apology" was released as a single, but failed to make the UK top 40. Soon after that, at the 1993 Ivor Novello Awards, Fahey announced the split with Marcella Detroit. The pair allegedly haven't spoken since.
Shakespears Sister carried on as Fahey by herself, and in 1994 the project recorded "Prehistoric Daze" for the soundtrack to the film The Flintstones, and "Waiting" for the Sadie Frost/Jude Law film Shopping.
In 1996, Fahey resurfaced again as a reinvented, more glam, Shakespears Sister with the single "I Can Drive", a single picked by the record company instead of Fahey's choice of the arguably superior "Do I Scare You". After the single charted at No 30, London Records refused to release the full album. Fahey later parted company with the label, leaving the album unreleased. This year also marked Fahey's divorce from Dave Stewart - the pair had been married since 1987.
In 2003, Fahey regained the master tapes from those sessions. The album #3, recorded in 1995-1997, was finally given an independent release in 2004 on Fahey's own record label, SF Records.
A greatest hits CD/DVD retrospective (The Best of Shakespears Sister) was also released in late 2004, containing all of the group's singles and music videos, as well as tracks intended for the #3 album. An additional compilation album, Long Live the Queens!, featuring a tracklisting of remixes and b-sides, was released in late 2005.
A recurrent theme of many of the early Shakespears Sister songs involve departure and blame ("You're History", "Goodbye Cruel World", "You Made Me Come to This", "I Don't Care"). In interviews, Bananarama members Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward have alluded to these songs being about them
Marcella Detroit.com
Updated: Jul 27, 2010
Toronto