Music Monday: Stay

Every Most Mondays I'm sharing songs from my Who I Am playlist. If you have favorite songs that inspire you to live a fabulous life, please feel free to share in the comments!

The other night, my boyfriend asked me why women ever get involved with married guys. We were talking about Tiger Woods but his question wasn't so much about why women are willing to sleep with married celebrities, but why women would get involved with men that they know can't/won't give them what they want. I didn't really know what to tell him, except that a lot of people a) are good at deluding themselves and b) are willing to put up with less than they deserve. I should know; I've definitely been there (though not with someone who was married!).

So today, I'm cheating a bit with my Music Monday pick (pun intended) - Sugarland's Stay isn't actually on my "Who I Am" playlist right now but a couple years ago, I did play it ad nauseum to remind me why I needed to get the hell out of my last relationship. I mentioned in my last Music Monday post that country songs often tell stories or at least have a clear message. This song also employs a device that I always think is cool - it uses the same phrase in different contexts so that the meaning in the last verse/chorus is different from in the beginning of the song.



I've been sitting here staring at the clock on the wall
And I've been laying here praying, praying she won't call
It's just another call from home
And you'll get it and be gone
And I'll be crying

And I'll be begging you, baby
Beg you not to leave
But I'll be left here waiting
With my Heart on my sleeve
Oh, for the next time we'll be here
Seems like a million years
And I think I'm dying

What do I have to do to make you see
She can't love you like me?

[chorus] Why don't you stay
I'm down on my knees
I'm so tired of being lonely
Don't I give you what you need
When she calls you to go
There is one thing you should know
We don't have to live this way
Baby, why don't you stay

You keep telling me, baby
There will come a time
When you will leave her arms
And forever be in mine
But I don't think that's the truth
And I don't like being used and I'm tired of waiting
It's too much pain to have to bear
To love a man you have to share

[chorus]

I can't take it any longer
But my will is getting stronger
And I think I know just what I have to do
I can't waste another minute
After all that I've put in it
I've given you my best
Why does she get the best of you
So next time you find you wanna leave her bed for mine

Why don't you stay
I'm up off my knees
I'm so tired of being lonely
You can't give me what I need
When she begs you not to go
There is one thing you should know
I don't have to live this way
Baby, why don't you stay, yeah