Song of the Day 8/19: Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs, “Stay”
Some obituaries for Maurice Williams, who died earlier this month at 86, called him a one-hit wonder. Yes, “Stay,” a No. 1 single in 1960, was his only hit with the Zodiacs, but it was just one of the tunes Williams wrote that reached Billboard’s Top 40.
In 1957, when his group was called the Gladiolas, they recorded the 17-year-old Williams’ composition “Little Darlin’.” Though it made the lower levels of the charts, their single was overshadowed by a better-produced cover by a group of white Canadians, the Diamonds, released just two weeks later. The Diamonds took it to No. 2, and that’s the version used in “American Graffiti.”
In 1965 Williams and the Zodiacs released “May I.” It failed to chart, but in 1969 a cover by Bill Deal & the Rhondells reached No. 39.
Still, “Stay,” written when Williams was just 15, is what he’s remembered for, in large part because it’s been covered by so many performers. In 1963 it was a No. 8 hit in the UK for the Hollies and a No. 16 hit in the U.S for the Four Seasons, a version Williams said he considered the best other than his own.
The song got even greater exposure on Jackson Browne’s 1977 “Running on Empty” album, which closed with a live medley of Browne’s “The Load-Out” and “Stay,” with lyrics altered to address an audience instead of a girlfriend. When the original was featured in the 1987 movie “Dirty Dancing,” the re-released single sold more copies than it had in 1960.
Williams attributed the song’s success in part to its brevity. At 1:36, it remains the shortest song ever to top the charts. “We wanted to make it short so it would get more airplay,” Williams said in a 2018 interview. “It worked.”
Here’s the Gladiolas’ version of “Little Darlin’,” credited here to the Zodiacs, with Williams on the lead vocal. If you’re accustomed to the Diamonds’ cover, it does sound underproduced.
On the other hand, the Zodiacs’ version of “May I” sounds more soulful than Bill Deal’s Carolina beach music cover, mostly because of Henry Gaston’s ethereal falsetto, the same secret ingredient that distinguished “Stay.”
Williams kept various lineups of the group active on the Carolina beach music circuit into the 2020s. He’s survived by his wife of 63 years.
I’ve always preferred the Gladiolas’ version of Little Darlin’. The Diamonds sound a little slick to me by comparison, and the deep voice on the “My darlin’/I need you” part seems a little.gimmicky. The Gladiolas were closer to r&b or doo-wop, the Diamonds to pop. All these years I never knew Maurice Williams was the Gladiolas guy.