Stay Forever
| "Stay Forever" | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
| Single by Ween | |||||
| from the album White Pepper | |||||
| B-side | "Who Dat?"/"The Grobe" (CD release) "Who Dat?" (vinyl release) | ||||
| Released | May 2, 2000 (White Pepper) July 24, 2000 (single) | ||||
| Recorded | c. 1999–2000 | ||||
| Studio | Bearsville Sound Studios (Woodstock, NY) Greene St. Recording (Manhattan, NY) | ||||
| Length | 3:32 | ||||
| Label | Mushroom Records | ||||
| Songwriter(s) | Gene Ween | ||||
| Producer(s) | |||||
| Ween singles chronology | |||||
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| White Pepper track listing | |||||
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"Stay Forever" is a song by Ween from the 2000 album White Pepper.
Song Details[edit | edit source]
Recording and Composition[edit | edit source]
"Stay Forever" is in the key of A major. The lead vocals are sung by Gene Ween. Glenn McClelland plays keyboards, Claude Coleman plays drums, and Dave Dreiwitz plays bass. The song also features pedal steel guitar played by Stu Basore[1], who had previously toured with them as part of the Shit Creek Boys.
"Stay Forever" was written by Gener, who in 2012 clarified that the song is about the cellist Tanya Haden, who later became married to the musician and actor Jack Black.[2] It was written in 1997, after Ween had recorded The Mollusk. They felt the album was one album short, and so Gener wrote the chorus to "Stay Forever" with intentions to record it for the album. Shortly thereafter, they ultimately decided the album was fine as-is and didn't recorded a studio version. The original demo was recorded at Dean Ween' house on a four track tape recorder, and according to Deaner, it was recorded with the thought process of "let’s just play it like its a Beatles song".[3]
The studio version was recorded with the idea of making it "sound like George Harrison", and had some lyrical changes from the original demo.[3] A demo of "Stay Forever" was included on the White Pepper Demos bootleg.
Single release[edit | edit source]
"Stay Forever" was released as the first United Kingdom single from White Pepper on July 24, 2000.[4] The CD release includes "Who Dat?" and "The Grobe" as B-sides, and the 7" vinyl single only includes "Who Dat?".
Live Performances[edit | edit source]
The song dates back at least to the summer of 1998, when it was played live for the first time, nearly two years before the release of White Pepper. Ween played the song somewhat frequently during the first few months of the White Pepper tour, and have played it less commonly since then.[5] A 7/22/2003 sound-studio performance from a live Internet stream was released on the All Request Live album.
In addition, "Stay Forever" has been played numerous times separately by Gene Ween, including solo-acoustic shows and with his band Freeman.[6]
Lyrics[edit | edit source]
In the morning sun, I couldn't tell you
I couldn't tell you so many things
About how much I really love you
About how much you really mean
So far away, but it's so easy to see you
When I'm away I want to put my arms around you
And I want to know - do you feel the same way?
'Cause if you do I wanna stay forever
And I want to know - do you feel the same way?
'Cause if you do I wanna stay forever with you
So many colors that surround you
Some so bright I can hardly see
A light reflects on all the things that make you real
Things that make you truly free
So far away, but it's so easy to see you
When I'm away I wanna put my arms around you
And I want to know - do you feel the same way?
'Cause if you do I wanna stay forever
And I want to know - do you feel the same way?
'Cause if you do I wanna stay forever
With you [7]
Song Themes[edit | edit source]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ White Pepper liner notes
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7VbwPex5RY Gene: "Here's a song that I wrote about Jack Black's wife, a long time ago."
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20001116205100/http://www.nudeasthenews.com/sections/features/qanda/story/060300aaa.html
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20000816154830/http://www.nme.com/newsdesk/20000614174129.html
- ↑ https://brownbase.org/every_time_played.php?band=all%20bands&song_id=189
- ↑ https://brownbase.org/every_time_played.php?band=all%20bands&song_id=189
- ↑
