Published World Copyrights Ltd A-side "Free Four" | Released 10 July 1972 Length 4:07 | |
Recorded February–March 1972
Château d'Hérouville, Pontoise, France Genre Progressive rock, soft rock | ||
"Stay" is a song from Pink Floyd's 1972 album Obscured by Clouds. It is known for being one of the album's particularly slow-moving, lyrical songs. The song was also issued as the B-side of "Free Four".
Contents
Analysis
The lyrics, written by Roger Waters and sung by Richard Wright, vacillate between frustration and indifference felt towards a casual sex partner (perhaps a groupie).
The instrumentation is mostly Wright's piano and Waters' bass guitar, with a solo and other ornamental touches from guitarist David Gilmour making heavy use of a clean wah-wah pedal.
The main musical theme and verse of the song remain on a pedal point of G in the bass, while the chords above it change in a typical I-IV-V progression (G, C, and D major). The D major over the G bass results in the appearance of a G major seventh chord, evoking a "melancholy" or "bittersweet" feeling. The chorus modulates to the parallel minor, with a chord change of G minor to C major, a common progression in Wright's compositions. (See "Pow R. Toc H.", the "Funky Dung" section of the "Atom Heart Mother" suite, or "The Great Gig in the Sky".) This chord change evokes a ii-V-I progression that is left unfinished.