Love is a universal language, no matter how old you are or where you’re from, we all remember our first love. From a young age, we know what that fluttering feeling in the heart is all about. The way you catch the object of your affection’s attention, then realize you both feel the same way. It’s when the butterflies in your stomach start going haywire, you know you’re onto something!
Oh, puppy love! What a feeling, and it’s made clear in the lyrics of this song. If you don’t know this classic firsthand, I can nearly guarantee it’s crossed your path at one point or another. You’ve heard it in American Graffiti (1973) and Dirty Dancing (1987), long after it came out in 1960. Have you guessed it yet?
In 1960, singer Maurice Williams and his group, the Zodiacs, recorded their doo-wop single, “Stay” that went on to be a commercially successful hit. It was their original but others like The Hollies, The Four Seasons and Jackson Browne followed suit and recorded it after.
Maurice, who wrote the song, penned it about an experience that happened seven years prior, in 1953, when he was only 15. Just like most budding loves, the young man was on a date with the girl he was crushing on. But it was getting late, and they were quickly approaching her curfew of 10 pm when she was supposed to go home. He pleaded with her to stay out just a little bit longer, to which he lost the argument. Not all was lost, however, years later the lyrics to this song “Stay” came to life. Maurice says, “Like a flood, the words just came to me.”
This performance is from a segment on The Village Square, a TV show from Charleston, South Carolina, USA. The video opens up to Maurice and his bandmates standing in a skewed single file, dressed in bright, shamrock green shirts and crisp, white slacks. They’re jamming and snapping their fingers, singing along against a background on stage that’s just as colorful as their clothing… and with the word, “Asbestos” front and center.
Truly a sign of the times, “Asbestos” was the sponsor for the show. Yep, the same asbestos known to cause cancer, aggravate lung tissue and cause shortness of breath which has since been removed from most buildings across North America! Times surely have changed.
Click on the video below to watch this oldie in all of its glory!
