I Figured It Out: Random Song Edition



So, way back in the day- I'm talking late 80s, early 90s, when music was incredible and I would spend the days of halcyon youth listening to things like Open House Party with John Garabetian on my trusty old stereo (complete with tape deck and CD player) I heard a song. For years I've had snatches of this song in my head-- just the refrain, "You'd better hope and pray that you make it safe back to your own world."

Never known the band. Never known the song title. Never in all these years of having a smartphone bothered to run it down on the old Googles, until last night, on a whim, as I was folding some laundry, I decided to give it an old Google and you know what, dear reader? The internet provided. Behold, 'Stay' from a band named Shakespear's Sister.

A little excavation on the Wikipedia revealed the following: it's a British-Irish/American pop and alternative rock duo. (Okay then. Bit of a mouthful, but okay.) And it was formered by singer-songwriter Siobhan Fahey (formerly of Bananarama, which is a fun word to say) and she added on a duo in the form of American musican Marcella Detroit. Here's the crazy thing: they had two top ten albums, a string of Top 40 hits and pretty much flamed out as a duo by 1993. And before yesterday I couldn't have told you this band's name with a gun to my head.

The music video is... well, I don't know how to feel about it. Detroit is sitting by the bed side of a dude (presumably a paramour of some kind) on an alien planet of some kind? Then Fahey comes in presumably as an alien/Death/grim reaper figure coming to steal the dude. After a bit of a struggle, the dude stays. There's really a number of ways you could feel about the video: on the one hand, it seems like she wants to hang on to someone she really loves and doesn't want him to die. Romantic. Loving. Kind of beautiful.  On the other hand, there's something a little possessive about it that makes it seem a little... well, creepy.

I'm also not a musical expert, but the structure of the song seems a little off as well. It starts, it's sweet, etc. There's the interlude/refrains. Then...  it just sort of fades out. Seem more like an ellipsis than a period to end the song- which is fine, I guess. It just struck me as a little odd.

Well, to paraphrase Paul Harvey, this is how I found out...  the rest of the story. And figured out what the hell that song was rattling around in my brain all these years.

I figured it out.  Good day.

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