You just can't understand
This is not your friendship
You just can't understand
Please Stay with me a while
There is nothing but hatred between us
Please Stay with me a while
"Stay" is a great lead off track for the record. I wrote it when I was a Senior in high school, as with most of the songs. I was self-conscious about the song for sometime because I thought I had ripped off Live’s "Pain Lies on the Riverside." Some of the chords were similar, but other than that they really don’t have much in common. Years later I would learn exactly how lax copyright law is when it comes to stuff like that. I mean, c’mon, we live it a world where Pearl Jam’s "Given to Fly" is NOT considered a plagiarizing of Led Zeppelin’s "Going to California." As much as that is unfortunate, it also means that there’s a lot of leeway when it comes to "artistic license." The song was written days after I got home from Governor’s School near the end of the summer before my Senior year in high school. I think I had just gone to see Lollapalooza, so I was all about "the grunge." I’m just thankful that I made it my own and wasn’t blatant in my stylistic lifting. It’s fun to sing aggressively and I think I did a good job on this track. The line "I know it’s hard to stand by yourself" says a lot about who I was when I wrote and recorded this album.
This is not your mommy
Talking down to you
This is not your father figure
Telling you what you can not do
This is not your brother
I sure as hell don't love you
This is not your sister
Cause I just don't have the time
And this just ain't the place for you
I spent my life oh feeding your hands
Hey man you'd better got your feet down on the ground
Before you walls come tumbling down
I don't buy what you wear
This is not your enemy
I don't laugh because you stare
This is not your lover
I just don't want to
This is not your everything
I just don't have the time
And this just aint the place for you
I spent my life oh feeding your hands
Hey man you'd better got your feet down on the ground
Just past me
The things you'd be
And Stay with me a while
I know it's hard
Stand by yourself
Stay with me a while
I hope your walls come tumbling down
These things you'd be
And Stay with me a while
These things you'd be
I know it's hard
Stand by yourself
Just Stay with me a while
I know it's hard to stand by
Must stand by your
Yourself
Yourself
Yourself
Just ask me please
Please Stay
Mike Garrigan on
"Stay":
Lyrics gathered by M. Gross
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