If You Want Me to Stay

Stone recorded the song without much input from the rest of the band; by the early 1970s, he had begun crafting most of his material by himself. An alternate version of "If You Want Me to Stay", as well as most of the rest of the Fresh album, was completed before Stone decided to scrap the masters and re-record the album. These alternate versions have surfaced in underground markets, online auctions, and specialty shops. However, five bonus tracks are included in Epic's 2007 reissue of Fresh, all of which are directly from the alternate mix of the album.

The lyrics of "If You Want Me to Stay" feature frontman Sly Stone informing his lover that she has to let him be himself, otherwise he feels that he would have to leave. The composition has its origins in an apology Stone wrote to his future wife, Kathleen Silva, after a fight.

"If You Want Me to Stay" was the band's final Top 20 pop hit, and is the best-known of its post-There's a Riot Goin' On recordings. The single reached number 12 on the Pop Chart, and number-three on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart.[1]

• Sly Stone — vocals, guitar, piano, organ, bass guitar
• Rustee Allen — bass guitar
• Andy Newmark — drums
• Cynthia Robinson — trumpet
• Jerry Martini — saxophone
• Pat Rizzo — saxophone

Note: A transcription of the bass part for this song appears in the October 2006 issue of Bass Player magazine (pages 78–81). According to the article accompanying the transcription, written by Chris Jisi:

"The ambitiously named 'Fresh' hit the streets in early July. A stripped-down, more raw outing than previous Sly albums, the 11-track set was boosted by the bass waves of Graham's hand-picked replacement, Rustee Allen. Sly himself laid down some of the album's bass tracks, but it was Rustee whose lilting line drove "If You Want Me To Stay," the disc's hit single (No. 12 on the Pop charts, No. 3 on R & B)"

The song has been covered extensively since its introduction, by artists including Etta James, Eric Benet, Mercury Rev, Victor Wooten, Soulive, Pama International, Ronny, and Kermit Ruffins. The song has also been featured in the movies Made in Heaven, Talk to Me, Dead Presidents, and Money Talks.

Prince recorded a version of "If You Want Me to Stay" for his 2002 live album, One Nite Alone... Live!.

Red Hot Chili Peppers recorded a cover of this song for their 1985 album Freaky Styley. It was also released on their 1992 greatest hits album, What Hits!?.

In 2006, bassist Wayman Tisdale released an album entitled Way Up! which contained a cover of this song.[2]

A cover of the song is featured on A. J. Croce's 2015 rerelease of That's Me in the Bar.

In 2020, Ari Lennox and Anthony Ramos released a cover in partnership with Main Street Alliance — a nonprofit organization committed to supporting small businesses in the United States — and Crown Royal in donation to help the landmark small businesses and communities all over the country.[3]

Mica Paris cover

"Stay"
Single by Mica Paris
Released	1998
Genre	Downtempo soul
Length	4:36
Label	Cooltempo
Songwriter(s)	Sly Stone
Producer(s)	Julian Jackson
Mica Paris singles chronology
"One" (1995) "Stay" (1998) "Carefree" (1998)
Music video
"Stay" on YouTube

British soul singer Mica Paris released a version of "Stay" in 1998, as the lead single from the album Black Angel.[4] Her version spent two weeks on the UK Singles Chart before peaking at number forty on May 16, 1998.[5] It also reached the top forty of the New Zealand Singles Chart.[6]

The song was used in the closing minutes of the series finale of the TV show Medium as the actors said their goodbyes to the camera.

It was also featured in the opening scene of the ER episode "John Carter, M.D."

The song can also be heard in the 1995 film Dead Presidents.

It was also featured in the 2014 film Tammy.

As with most of Sly Stone's work, many songs have sampled the bass line from "If You Want Me to Stay", including:

• Dre' Dog, aka Andre Nickatina, in his 1991 album The New Jim Jones in the song "Summer in Florida".
• Dana Dane from the 1990 album Dana Dane 4 Ever in the song "Tales from the Dane Side".