Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?
| "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by She & Him | ||||
| from the album Volume One | ||||
| B-side | "Lotta Love" | |||
| Released | January 2008 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Length | 2:30 | |||
| Label | Merge | |||
| Writer(s) | Zooey Deschanel | |||
| Producer(s) | M. Ward | |||
| She & Him singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?" is a song by American duo She & Him, written by Zooey Deschanel for their first album, Volume One.
Critical reception
Rolling Stone magazine ranked this song 64th in its list "The 100 Best Singles of 2008", considering it "a retro-pop duet with sweetly plaintive vocals".[1] For MTV News, James Montgomery ranked the song the 18th best song of 2008 out of 33 and commented "it's Deschanel's big, bell-clear vocals (and that "uh-huh!") that make this one truly special."[2] In his review of Volume One, Grayson Currin of Pitchfork Media considered the song to be "built around black-and-white, simplistic emotions and dotted with vintage sexual innuendo."[3]
Music videos
Two different music videos of this song were produced. The first video, directed by Ace Norton, featured Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward in a semi-animated enactment that premiered on MTV's program FNMTV on July 11, 2008.[4]
The second video, released in 2009, was a collaboration of talent from the film (500) Days of Summer, including co-stars Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt with director Marc Webb, choreographer Michael Rooney, and producer Mason Novick.[5] It begins with Gordon-Levitt walking into a bank with dark sunglasses on. He silently demands money from Deschanel who removes his glasses, and they begin to dance. At the end, she is shown putting the glasses back on his face and he takes the money and leaves.
Personnel
- Zooey Deschanel – vocals, piano
- M. Ward – guitars
- Mike Coykendall – percussion/bass
- Engineered by Mike Coykendall
- Mixed by Mike Mogis
References
- ↑ "The 100 Best Singles of 2008". Rolling Stone. December 25, 2008. Archived from the original on May 3, 2009.
- ↑ Montgomery, James (December 10, 2008). "The Best Songs Of 2008, In Bigger Than The Sound". MTV News. Retrieved April 22, 2011.
- ↑ Currin, Grayson (March 10, 2008). "She & Him: Volume One". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved April 22, 2011.
- ↑ Winistorfer, Andrew (July 14, 2008). "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? (Video)". Prefix. Retrieved April 22, 2011.
- ↑ Breznican, Anthony (August 5, 2009). "Zooey and Joe are out to steal hearts with a music video". USA Today. Retrieved April 22, 2011.