Songfacts®:

• "If You Want Me to Stay" is a classic Sly & the Family Stone funk and soul number, written and produced by Sly Stone (Sylvester Stewart). The song was released in 1973 as part of the album Fresh.
• The lyrics are about a relationship where Sly Stone tells his partner that if they want him to stay, they need to accept him for who he is and not try to change him. The song originated from an apology Sly wrote to his future wife, Kathleen Silva, after a fight.
  
  "A lot of things that Sly used to do would end up in a song," Silva recalled in Joel Selvin's Sly and the Family Stone: an oral history. "People around him would end up being his new material for writing. It was amusement for him and I don't think that he meant to hurt anyone... I used to wait for him and he would come home, be tired, and want to go to bed because he had been recording all night. I would be upset: I don't like this. He made a song up: 'If you want me to stay, I'll be around today, I'll be available.'"
• Some interpretations suggest the lyrics could also be a metaphor for Stone's struggle within the band. Facing internal tensions and a changing music scene, the song might be his plea to the band to accept his creative vision. Stone wrote in his autobiography, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)::
  
  "'If You Want Me to Stay,' made live in the room with me singing and playing organ, was straightforward in some ways. If you want me to stay, tell me. Otherwise, I'm gone. But people couldn't decide how wide a lens to view it through. Was it a love song? Was I singing it to my audience?"
• By the early 1970s, Stone was crafting most of his material by himself, and for "If You Want Me to Stay" he played guitar, piano, organ, and bass guitar. The other musicians were band members:
  
  Cynthia Robinson: trumpet
  Jerry Martini: saxophone
  Pat Rizzo: saxophone
  Andrew Newmark: drums
• Artists who have covered the song include:
  
  1985 Red Hot Chili Peppers for their funk album Freaky Styley, produced by Parliament-Funkadelic founder George Clinton
  1996 Eric Benet for his True To Myself album
  1998 British soul singer Mica Paris released a version titled Stay" in 1998, which peaked at #40 on the UK Singles chart
  1998 Etta James for her Life, Love & the Blues album
  2021 Peter Frampton for his Frampton Forgets The Words album
• The song was used in these movies:
  
  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2017)
  Tammy (2014)
  Talk To Me (2007)
  Money Talks (1997)
  Dead Presidents (1995)
  
  And these TV shows:
  
  Ten Days In The Valley ("Breaking The Story" - 2017)
  Medium ("Me Without You" - 2011)
  Secret Diary Of A Call Girl (Episode 3:8 - 2010)
  Cold Case ("The Runner" - 2003)
  ER ("John Carter, M.D." - 1996)
• "If You Want Me to Stay" was the band's final Top 20 pop hit, peaking at #12. It is considered one of Sly & the Family Stone's most enduring songs and exemplifies their innovative blending of funk, soul, and rock.