Stay Another Day

"Stay Another Day"
Single by East 17
from the album Steam
B-side	Remix
Released	21 November 1994 (UK)
Format	CD single CD maxi cassette
Genre	Pop, Christmas
Length	4:29
Label	London (UK)
Writer(s)	Tony Mortimer Rob Kean Dominic Hawken
Producer(s)	Phil Harding Ian Curnow
East 17 singles chronology
"Steam" (1994) "Stay Another Day" (1994) "Let It Rain" (1994)

"Stay Another Day" is a 1994 pop song recorded by British boy band East 17. It was released in late 1994 and became their only number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the Christmas number one of 1994, and also topped the charts in Sweden, Ireland and Denmark. To this day, it remains their biggest hit.

The song was used in the pilot episode of the BBC drama series Dirk Gently.

Background and release

"Stay Another Day" was the third single from East 17's second album Steam, following up "Around The World" and the album's title track. It was their first ballad, written by the band's lead songwriter Tony Mortimer and said to be about his brother Ollie,^[1] who committed suicide. Mortimer was aided in the composition by his co-manager Rob Kean and songwriter Dominic Hawken, who had once been Boy George's keyboard player.^[2] Christmas bells were included towards the end of the song to appeal to the lucrative Christmas singles market. The most familiar arrangement is unusual among pop records in that it uses almost no drums, apart from some timpani during the introduction to and towards the end of the track.

Music videos

Two music videos were made for the song. One video features the band singing the song in a studio. The other video features the band in a black background. The group are seen wearing white furry parkas and black leather jackets. A woman wearing a dress and veil also appears whilst it snows. The latter video is shown usually around Christmas.

Commercial reception

In November 1994, "Stay Another Day" entered at number seven on the UK Singles Chart. The following week it climbed to its peak of number one on the chart, where it remained for 5 weeks,^[3] thus becoming the 1994 Christmas number-one and Britain's third best-selling single of 1994.^[4] It was also the 4th biggest selling boy band single of the 1990s in the United Kingdom. It has sold 910,000 copies and has received a Platinum sales status certification.

Tony Mortimer won an Ivor Novello songwriting award for this song. The single was also nominated for 'Best Single' at the 1995 Brit Awards.

Track listings

CD maxi - UK [LONCD354]

1. "Stay Another Day" (S.A.D. mix) – 4:29
2. "Stay Another Day" (less sad mix) – 4:44
3. "Stay Another Day" (more sad mix) – 8:34
4. "Stay Another Day" (not so sad mix) – 6:16

CD single

1. "Stay Another Day" (S.A.D. mix) – 4:29
2. "Stay Another Day" (less sad mix) – 4:42

Charts and sales

Peak positions Chart (1994–95) Peak position Australia (ARIA)[5] 3 Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[6] 2 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[7] 3 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[8] 2 Denmark (IFPI)[9] 1 Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[10] 2 Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[11] 15 France (SNEP)[12] 7 Germany (Official German Charts)[13] 4 Ireland (IRMA)[14] 1 Israel (Media Forest)[15] 1 Italy (FIMI)[16] 21 Japan (Oricon)[17] 12 Latvia (EHR)[18] 1 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[19] 6 Norway (VG-lista)[20] 2 Scotland (Official Charts Company)[21] 1 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[22] 1 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[23] 2 UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)[24] 1 Zimbabwe Singles (ZIMA)[25] 1

End-of-year charts End-of-year chart (1994) Position Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[26] 87 UK Singles Chart 3 End-of-year chart (1995) Position Australian Singles Chart[27] 28 Austrian Singles Chart[28] 14 Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart[29] 41 Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart[30] 27 Dutch Top 40[31] 51 Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[32] 17 French Singles Chart[33] 57 German Singles Chart[34] 36 Norwegian Singles Chart (Vinter Period)[35] 4 Swiss Singles Chart[36] 17 Certifications Country Certification Date Sales certified Australia[37] Gold 1995 35,000 Austria[38] Gold 27 March 1995 15,000 Germany[39] Gold 1995 250,000 Sweden[40] Gold 29 March 1995 10,000 Switzerland[41] Gold 1995 15,000 UK[42] Platinum 1 December 1994 910,000

Chart successions

Girls Aloud version

"Stay Another Day"
Song by Girls Aloud
Released	16 December 2002
Format	CD single
A-side	Sound of the Underground
Genre	Pop
Length	4:24
Label	Polydor

Background

Girls Aloud were formed through the show by a public vote on 30 November 2002.^[43] The concept of the programme was to produce a boyband and a girlband who would be "rivals" and compete for the Christmas number one single in 2002. Girls Aloud competed against One True Voice, managed by music producer Pete Waterman. Girls Aloud recorded a cover version of "Stay Another Day" as their debut single,^[44] with Cheryl Cole providing lead vocals. After Girls Aloud recorded "Sound of the Underground", "Stay Another Day" was instead released as its B-side. The release was originally meant to be a double A-side,^[45][46] and it is often mistakenly labelled as such.^[47][48] "Stay Another Day" was performed on This Morning, Top of the Pops and Top of the Pops Saturday to promote its parent single.^[49][50][51]

Girls Aloud gave the song a "romantic slant," which surprised East 17's Mortimer since it is about his brother's suicide.^[52] Mortimer said, "I found it really odd they were singing a song about my dead brother. It should've been left alone for a few years," adding that he did like Girls Aloud.^[52]

Reception

Colin Paterson of The Guardian remarked on the unoriginality of Girls Aloud's cover: "A group formed on a TV show by a phone poll and then doing a cover of a former Christmas No 1. Life seldom gets less imaginative."^[46]

Other versions

In 2007 the band Maps covered the song and gave it away as a free mp3 download online.^[53]

In 2003 at Keele University Students' Union, Chesney Hawkes and his band performed an (intentionally farcical) punk rock version of "Stay Another Day" in response to East 17 cancelling their appearance later in the night. The song was not performed in full as the band could not stop laughing when they tried to perform it.

In 2012 metal band THE HELL covered the song as a Christmas single and is offered as a free download on their bandcamp account.^[54]

In 2013, Bastille included it in their BBC Radio 1 Christmas mashup.^[55]

In 2016, Kylie Minogue covered the song for her album Kylie Christmas: Snow Queen Edition.

References

1. "Essex - Features - Essex at 20: Tony Mortimer". BBC. 2006-12-20. Retrieved 2014-03-31.
2. 1000 UK Number One Singles by Jon Kutner & Spencer Leigh, page 402
3. "UK Singles Chart runs". Polyhex.com. 18 March 2014. Retrieved 2014-03-31.
4. Archived 1 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
5. "Australian-charts.com – East 17 – Stay Another Day". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
6. "Austriancharts.at – East 17 – Stay Another Day" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
7. "Ultratop.be – East 17 – Stay Another Day" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
8. "Ultratop.be – East 17 – Stay Another Day" (in French). Ultratop 50.
9. Billboard 21 January 1995. Billboard. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
10. Billboard 28 January 1995. Billboard. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
11. source: Pennanen, Timo: Sisältää hitin - levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972. Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava, 2006. ISBN 9789511210535. page: 280
12. "Lescharts.com – East 17 – Stay Another Day" (in French). Les classement single.
13. "Musicline.de – East 17 Single-Chartverfolgung" (in German). Media Control Charts. PhonoNet GmbH.
14. Irish Singles Chart Irishcharts.ie (Retrieved 30 March 2009)
15. "East 17". Swisscharts.com.
16. "Hit Parade Italia - Indice per Interprete: E". Hit Parade Italia. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
17. Oricon Singles Chart Oricon Singles Chart (Retrieved 2 November 2012)
18. "M-1 TOP 40". M-1.fm. Retrieved 2014-03-31.
19. "Nederlandse Top 40 – East 17 search results" (in Dutch) Dutch Top 40.
20. "Norwegiancharts.com – East 17 – Stay Another Day". VG-lista.
21. "Archive Chart: 1994-12-04". Scottish Singles Top 40.
22. "Swedishcharts.com – East 17 – Stay Another Day". Singles Top 100.
23. "Swisscharts.com – East 17 – Stay Another Day". Swiss Singles Chart.
24. "Stay Another Day", UK Singles Chart Chartstats.com (Retrieved 30 March 2009)
25. • Zimbabwe. Kimberley, C. Zimbabwe: singles chart book. Harare: C. Kimberley, 2000
26. url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ugsEAAAAMBAJ&lr=&rview=1
27. 1995 Australian Singles Chart aria.com (Retrieved 30 March 2009)
28. 1995 Austrian Singles Chart Austriancharts.at (Retrieved 30 March 2009)
29. 1995 Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart Ultratop.be (Retrieved 20 May 2009)
30. 1995 Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart Ultratop.be (Retrieved 30 March 2009)
31. "Single top 100 over 1995" (PDF) (in Dutch). Top40. Retrieved 17 April 2010.
32. Billboard - Google Books. 2000-01-01. Retrieved 2014-03-31 – via Google Books.
33. "Snepmusique.com, le site du Snep". Disqueenfrance.com. Retrieved 2014-03-31.
34. "INFINITY CHARTS: German Top 20". Ki.informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de. 1997-11-28. Retrieved 2014-03-31.
35. http://lista.vg.no/liste/topp-20-single/1/dato/1995/periode/vinter
36. Steffen Hung. "Swiss Year-End Charts 1995". swisscharts.com. Retrieved 2014-03-31.
37. Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988-2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
38. "IFPI Austria - Verband der Österreichischen Musikwirtschaft" (in German). Ifpi.at. Retrieved 2014-03-31.
39. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank ('Stay+Another+Day')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 30 March 2009.
40. Archived 11 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
41. Steffen Hung. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community". Swisscharts.com. Retrieved 2014-03-31.
42. Archived 24 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
43. "Popstars girl group picked". BBC News. BBC. 2 December 2002. Retrieved 28 February 2009.
44. "Blobby voted worst Christmas hit". BBC News. 3 December 2002. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
45. "Derry's Nadine wins Popstars place". RTÉ.ie. 2 December 2002. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
46. Colin Paterson (7 December 2002). "The real meanie of Christmas". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
47. "Girls Aloud's year at the top". BBC News. 20 October 2003. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
48. "Girls Aloud to pop into Playhouse on first tour". The Scotsman. 4 December 2004. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
49. girls aloud stay another day this morning dec 02 on YouTube
50. Girls Aloud: Top Of The Pops 10.01.2003 - Stay Another Day on YouTube
51. Girls Aloud - Stay Another Day (Live @ TOTP's Saturday 21/12/2002) on YouTube
52. Fiona Edwards (11 May 2006). "Mortimer shocked at Girls Aloud cover". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
53. "Maps covers East 17 for free Christmas download | News | NME.COM". nme.com. 14 December 2007. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
54. "STAY ANOTHER DAY - THE HELL". bandcamp.com. 12 December 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
55. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8be3MuRF_k

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics