Lorraine Ellison - "Stay With Me"
Now, I have heard this song many times, but I'm not sure I had really heard it, you know? Her plea got to me in a way it hadn't before, and I could feel the waterworks coming. There's a pretty interesting backstory to "Stay With Me." In 1966, Frank Sinatra cancelled his recording session at the last minute, leaving a 46-piece orchestra with nothing to do. Warner Bros. put in a call to producer and songwriter Jerry Ragovoy to see if he wanted to do anything with them. Ragovoy and writer George David Weiss quickly arranged "Stay With Me" and had the virtually unknown Ellison come down to sing it. Happy accident, indeed. I have read in places it was done in one take. Ellison's delivery produced many wet eyes in the orchestra that day. If you're not careful, you may need a tissue too.
7 comments:
Love this song. About 20 years ago during the Edinburgh Festival, L bought tickets for super smug and incredibly irritating Jools Holland and his excellent rhythm and blues orchestra at the Playhouse. It was okay then Sam Brown sang Stay With Me and I had a moment that doesn't happen very often my whole body was tingling and I had goosebumps on top of my goosebumps. Even now I am smiling thinking about it.
This is a CC-worthy track, for sure.
I didn't know the Sinatra-related backstory Brian, that's fascinating. What a stunning piece of music.
I've heard that Sinatra story before, but I thought it was for a different track. Maybe he did it all the time!
Gorgeous song though: epic performance.
Majestic
Toptastic. I was going to ask if she was related to the woman from Jesus Christ Superstar. But that would be Yvonne Elliman not Ellison.
A song that I think all of us that night sitting round the table at King Tut's would have unanimously agreed was damn near perfect.
Didn't know the Sinatra story until now, so thanks for the info.
Post a Comment