Songoftheday 7/2/13 - Since you've been gone I shut my eyes and I fantasize that you're here with me...

Paul Young - "Come Back And Stay"
from the album No Parlez (1983)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #22 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 8

Today's Song of the Day is by British pop singer Paul Young, who grew up in southeastern England, and was a member of a few bands in the 70s and early 80s, including Streetband, where he sang on the top-20 novelty hit "Toast". After leaving his most high-profile gig as the singer in the Q-Tips, Paul released his debut solo album in 1983. The third single from the set, a cover of Marvin Gaye's "Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)", became Paul's first to chart in the UK, and went to #1 in the summer of 1983, and also was a minor hit in the later that year.

The next release from the album was "Come Back And Stay", a midtempo pop number written by Jack Lee (who also penned Blondie's "Hanging by The Telephone") and produced by Laurie Latham. The prominent bass (like on his Gaye cover) was the big initial draw, then Young's raspy Stewart-lite vocals, and the video again is pretty well-filmed for the time...

"Come Back And Stay" became Young's first top-40 hit in American, reaching the top-30 in April of 1984. The record also made the top-40 of the adult-contemporary and rock radio format charts, and as a double-sided single with "Love Of The Common People" reached #42 on the dance chart in Billboard magazine. It continued his success in Europe, reaching #4 in the UK, and topping the singles charts in Germany and Switzerland, while making the top-10 in the rest of the continent.

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In 2007, James Morrison covered the song for a BBC compilation...

and lastly, here's Paul performing the song at Live Aid in 1985, which features his great backing singers who will play a big part of his next album's success...

Up tomorrow: The Live Aid masters with an ode to transmission.