Stay. Stay was a huge #1 song for Maurice and the Zodiacs. It was Number One the weeks of October 17 AND 24, 1960. Along with signature recording by Jackson Browne, Stay was part of the
Dirty Dancing soundtrack that sold over 20 million copies worldwide.
Lyrics to Stay
Recorded on Herald Records
Stay
Just a little bit longer
Please, please, please, please, please
Tell me you're going to
Now, your daddy don't mind
And your mommy don't mind
If we have another dance
Just one more
One more time
Oh, won't you stay
Just a little bit longer
Please let me hear
You will say that you will
Won't you press your sweet lips
To mine
Won't you say you love me
All of the time
Stay
Just a little bit longer
Please, please, please, please, please
Tell me you're going to
Come on, come on
Come on and stay
The Gladiolas on Excello - The Story of Lil' Darlin'.
In 1957, an Excello group (the Gladiolas), featuring a lead singer
named Maurice Williams, recorded an original song, "Little Darlin'",
in a fairly uptempo R&B arrangement. The song sold well enough to
make #11 on the R&B charts, but it was "covered" for the pop market
by a Canadian quartet called the Diamonds on Mercury Records. The
Diamonds, with a slight change of wording and a lean toward parody,
propelled the song to a major pop hit. Today, the original Excello
record is obviously worth more to collectors. Williams changed the
name of the group to Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs in 1960, and
had a top-ten pop hit with "Stay" (on the Herald Label).
In addition to his two huge hits "Little Darlin'" and "Stay,"
Maurice's tunes such as "May I" and others have become the foundation
for the repertoire of such Carolina Beach Music groups as Bill Deal
and the Rhondels.
In 1957, Nashville-based Excello Records released a doo-wop record
called "Little Darlin'" by five-member vocal group the Gladiolas.
Written by the group's soon-to-be semi-famous leader, Maurice
"Stay" Williams, "Little Darlin'" was built around a cacophonous,
faintly Latin rhythm that sounds something like a symphony of
wooden crickets. Just missing the pop Top 40 but going all the
way to #11 on the R&B charts, it was a real good record.
Good enough, in fact, that the song was quickly covered by the
Diamonds, whose version soared all the way to #2, R&B and pop.
Though they stuck to the original's basic arrangement, swiping
everything from the woodblock and castanets to Williams'
exaggerated pronunciation, the Diamonds also elevated the song's
recitation from cutesy to dramatic, shoved the la-la-las way out
front in the mix in a voice so piercing it sounds maniacal, and
made all that rhythm explode out of the speakers rather than
just click. The Diamonds turned a good record into a great one.
