SONG OF THE DAY

“If You Want Me To Say” by Sly & The Family Stone (Fresh, Epic Records, 1973). Written and produced by Sly Stone.

MY TAKE

Well, it’s hard to say anything profound about as critically-acclaimed a song and album as this, but I’ll tell you how it fits into my world and maybe that will add something to your understanding of the song. I didn’t discover this song until recently, but, as it turns out, I have been listening to the music it influenced all my life. This is the ORIGINAL of some of my favorite music. I have ALWAYS loved bass lines, they’re the groove, they’re the movement, they’re what I sing along to/ point out to people/ play over and over again/ attempt to dance to—in fact, I have this ongoing list of amazing bass lines that serves as my way of cataloging those amazing moments of bass genius for me. I bet that 100% of the songs on my list were directly influenced by this band, maybe even by this song. I mean, this is a CRITICAL point in the history of the bass guitar. The more I delve into Sly & The Family Stone, the more they are truly becoming one of my favorite bands. It’s sick how good they were, and genre-creating, discrimination-fighting, funk-making, to boot. This band just screams top 10 all-time favorite songs list, so I’ll give in.

MY TOP 10 ALL-TIME FAVORITE Sly & The Family Stone SONGS

1. “If You Want Me To Stay”
2. “Dance To The Music”
3. “Family Affair”
4. “Hot Fun In The Summertime”
5. “Thank You (For Letting Me Be Myself)
6. “Stand!”
7. “I Want To Take You Higher”
8. “Everyday People”
9. “Life”
10. “Are You Ready?”

INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)

– “If You Want Me to Stay” is a 1973 hit single by Sly & the Family Stone, from their album Fresh. The single was the band’s final Top 20 pop hit, and is the best-known of its post-There’s a Riot Goin’ On recordings.

– 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, in Epic’s 2007 reissue of Fresh, 5 bonus tracks are included, all of which are directly from the alternate mix of the album.

– “If You Want Me to Stay” reached #12 on the Pop Chart, and #3 on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart.

– The song has been covered extensively since its introduction, by artists ranging from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, to Etta James, to Eric Benet, to Victor Wooten, to Soulive. The song has also been featured in the movies Made in Heaven, Talk to Me and Dead Presidents.

– 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. However, the message of the song is also considered to be pointed commentary from Stone towards detractors who had begun to criticize his then-recently public problems of drug abuse and professional unreliability.

– During the 1970s, Sly or one of the band members would often miss the gig, refuse to play, or pass out from drug use. This had an adverse effect on their ability to demand money for live bookings; live bookings also declined as a result. At many of these gigs, concert-goers rioted if the band failed to show up, or if Sly walked out before finishing his set.

– 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”

– Sly and the Family Stone are an American rock, funk, and soul band from San Francisco, California. Active from 1966 to 1983, the band was pivotal in the development of soul, funk, and psychedelic music.

– This collective recorded five Billboard Hot 100 hits which reached the top 10, and four ground-breaking albums, which greatly influenced the sound of American pop music, soul, R&B, funk, and hip hop music.

– In the preface of his 1998 book For the Record: Sly and the Family Stone: An Oral History, Joel Selvin sums up the importance of Sly and the Family Stone’s influence on African American music by stating “there are two types of black music: black music before Sly Stone, and black music after Sly Stone”.

– In 1987, Sly Stone was arrested and sentenced for cocaine use, after which he went into effective retirement. However, Sly and The Family Stone were announced as being in the line-up for the 2010 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, CA., USA.

- The lyrics for the band’s songs were usually pleas for peace, love, and understanding among people. These rallies against vices such as racism, discrimination, and self-hate were underscored by the lineup for and on-stage appearance of the band. Caucasians Gregg Errico and Jerry Martini were members of the band at a time when integrated performance bands were virtually unheard of; integration had only recently become enforced by law. Females Cynthia Robinson and Rosie Stone played instruments onstage, rather than just providing vocals or serving as visual accompaniment for the male members. The band’s gospel-styled singing endeared them to black audiences; their rock music elements and wild costuming—including Sly’s large Afro and tight leather outfits, Rose’s blond wig, and the other members’ loud psychedelic clothing—caught the attention of mainstream audiences.

– The work of Sly and the Family Stone was also a significant influence on the music of Michael Jackson, George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic, Arrested Development, The Black Eyed Peas, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, and even John Mayer.

– Despite the loss of the original rhythm section and Sly’s escalating cocaine use, the band’s next album, Fresh, was released in 1973. By this time, Sly’s sound had become more stripped down, yet more syncopated and rhythmically complex. Sly obsessively overdubbed the masters, as he had done with Riot.

– Although the record received mixed reviews at its release and did not receive the attention that the band’s earlier work had, Fresh has become recognized as one of the most important funk albums ever made.

VIDEO OF THE DAY