> Lal Waterson > Songs > To Make You Stay

To Make You Stay

[Lal Waterson]

Lal Waterson sang To Make You Stay, acompanide by Richard Thompson and Martin Carthy, acoustic guitars, and Ashley Hutchings, bass guitar, in 1972 on Lal & Mike Waterson’s album Bright Phoebus. This recording was included in 2005 in the anthology Never the Same: Leave-Taking From the British Folk Revival 1970-1977.

Charlotte Greig sang To Make You Stay on her 1999 album Down in the Valley.

Nanca Wallace sang To Make You Stay with The Memory Band in 2007 on the anthology Migrating Bird: The Songs of Lal Waterson.

Tinkerscuss sang it in the same year on their CD Mythago.

Olivia Chaney sang To Make You Stay in 2017 with Offa Rex on their CD The Queen of Hearts.

Diana Collier sang To Make You Stay unaccompanied on her 2020 bonus EP So Dearly I Loved My Love.

Lyrics

Lal Waterson sings To Make You Stay

To make you stay, dear girl, to make you stay,
I’ll hide you away in the night time.
No one will find you under my right arm.

Don’t you feel happy when it’s all done?
Don’t you feel sad when you’ve lost someone?
Dear, dear, stay till the dawn comes in;
Teach me to be a summer’s morning.

Don’t say no, don’t smile now and say no;
Give me a smile when the night is gone;
Teach me to be a winter’s blossom.

Dear, dear, dear, I once had a starling;
Dear, dear, dear, a pretty little darling;
Dear, dear, dear, but she flew away in the night time,
From under my right arm.