Country Ireland Language English Lyricist(s) Rowland Soper | Artist(s) Dickie Rock Composer(s) Rowland Soper Conductor Noel Kelehan | |
"Come Back to Stay" was the Irish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1966, performed in English by Dickie Rock.
The song is a ballad, with Rock pleading with a former lover to return to him. He tells her that he is lonely without her and promises that "I'll be true/And that I'll never make you blue", as well as telling her how special she was to him.
This entry was the first ever Eurovision song to be conducted by Noel Kelehan. 28 more would follow, the last one being "Is always over now" by Dawn Martin in 1998. Because in 1965 the RTÉ had not sent its own conductor to the Eurovision Song Contest, Kelehan was to become both the first and the last ever Irish conductor in the Eurovision Song Contest. The Birmingham contest in 1998 was the last up to date to be accompanied by a live orchestra.
It was performed seventeenth on the night, following the Netherlands' Milly Scott with "Fernando en Filippo" and preceding the United Kingdom's Kenneth McKellar with "A Man Without Love". At the close of voting, it had received 14 points, placing 4th in a field of 18.
It was succeeded as Irish representative at the 1967 contest by Sean Dunphy with "If I Could Choose".
The song is noted for its similarities to "Unchained Melody".