Dave's Song of the Day
If You Want Me to Stay – Sly and the Family Stone
Sunday song of the day: Today’s song originated in an argument the singer had with his girlfriend.
The career arc of Sly Stone makes me very sad. Sly, born Sylvester Stewart, reached the highest heights, and then pretty much fell off a cliff due to personal demons. He was responsible for some of the very best music of the late 1960s and early 1970s as the leader of Sly and the Family Stone, producing classics such as
Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),
Family Affair,
Stand!, and
Everyday People. Along with his brother Freddie and sister Rose, he created the first big truly integrated band, with all races and sexes welcome.
By the early 1970s, however, Sly and The Family Stone had more and more become just Sly Stone. Sly played several instruments and wrote the songs, and when tensions within the band grew to include a physical fight with bassist Larry Graham, Sly withdrew. By the time he started work on the band’s sixth album,
Fresh, it almost amounted to a solo project. Sly recorded the album without much input from The Family Stone, playing most of the instruments himself and enlisting some friends such as Billy Preston to fill in other areas. Several members of the Family Stone including Freddie and Rose Stone, trumpet player Cynthia Robinson, and saxophone player Jerry Martini were used in limited capacities. Larry Graham played on two tracks, with his parts presumably recorded before the fight that caused him to quit the Family Stone in 1972.
Fresh, released in June 1973, included what was one of the last great hits for the band,
If You Want Me to Stay. It was in a much heavier funk style than most of the band’s earlier hits, and concerned the singer telling his love interest that she would have to allow him to do as he wanted, or he would leave. The song originated in a fight between Sly and his girlfriend – and future wife – Kathleen Silva. After the fight he wrote her an apology, but the apology included the thought that no matter what, Sly was going to be Sly. One can guess that his growing drug problem at the time played a part in the argument.
As mentioned yesterday, Larry Blackmon based his singing in
Word Up on the exaggerated vocal style Sly used on
If You Want Me to Stay and a few other late-period Family Stone tracks, where Sly almost swallowed the lyrics rather than singing them out clearly.
If You Want Me to Stay was a hit, although not on the scale of the band’s earlier #1 records
Everyday People,
Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),
Family Affair, or the #2
Hot Fun in the Summertime. Still,
If You Want Me to Stay performed more than respectably, reaching #3 on the R&B chart and topping out at #12 on the
Billboard Hot 100. Personally, I feel it rivals
Stand! for the best Sly and the Family Stone track.
After
Fresh, the original Sly and The Family Stone recorded one more album before disbanding in 1975. After that, Sly recorded as a solo act or with a different version of The Family Stone with mostly new personnel. He had only limited success, however, as his drug problems worsened and his behavior became increasingly erratic. By the 1980s, Sly was mostly in seclusion, performing only sporadically. He is 77 years old now, but unfortunately long-term drug use cut short the brilliance of his earlier musical career.
View: https://youtu.be/gZFabOuF4Ps
Tomorrow: Hopin’ that we don’t run out