Linger (The Cranberries song)

"Linger"
File:CranberriesLinger.jpg Artwork for the 1994 European re-release (UK CD single pictured)
Single by the Cranberries
from the album Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?
B-side	"Reason", "Liar", "Them" (1993) "Pretty" (1994)
Released	15 February 1993 (1993-02-15)
Genre	Alternative rock pop
Length	4:34
Label	Island
Songwriter(s)	Dolores O'Riordan Noel Hogan
Producer(s)	Stephen Street
singles chronology
"Dreams" (1992) "Linger" (1993) "Zombie" (1994)
Audio sample
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Music video
"Linger" on YouTube

"Linger" is a song by Irish alternative rock band the Cranberries from their debut studio album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? (1993). Composed by band members Dolores O'Riordan and Noel Hogan, and produced by Stephen Street, "Linger" was first released as the second and final single from the album on 15 February 1993 by Island Records. It was later re-released on 31 January 1994.

"Linger", which has an acoustic arrangement featuring a string section, became the band's first major hit, peaking at number 3 in their native Ireland, number 8 in the United States, and number 14 in the United Kingdom. The single remained on the US Billboard Hot 100 for 24 weeks. Additionally, "Linger" was voted by Australian Triple J listeners as number 3 on the Triple J Hottest 100, 1993 chart.

In 1990, "Linger" was released on a demo tape with "Dreams" in Ireland only in the middle of that year under their initial band name, the Cranberry Saw Us. In 2017, an acoustic, stripped-down version of "Linger" was released as the lead single from the band's seventh studio album Something Else. "Linger" is written in the key of D major.

Background

When O'Riordan was auditioned as the lead singer for the band, she wrote the lyrics, turning it into a song of regret based on an experience with a 17-year-old soldier she once fell in love with. Drummer Fergal Lawler recalled the process in an interview, saying:

It was a Sunday afternoon. She arrived with a keyboard under her arm, just set it up and played a few songs. We couldn't really hear her because she was singing through a guitar amp or something. I gave her a lift up to the bus stop and I was saying, 'Will we see you next week?' We gave her a tape of the music for 'Linger', which she took with her. The following week she came back, and she had lyrics written out and melodies and she sang along to what we were playing, and it was like, 'Oh, my God. She's great'.

In the documentary '99 Love Life & Rock 'n' Roll, O'Riordan says that the song is about her first serious kiss.

"Linger" has since become one of the band's most famous songs, though O'Riordan noted that the band did not expect the song to reach the level of commercial success that it did. In a 2012 interview, O'Riordan commented, "I remember when MTV first put 'Linger' in heavy rotation, every time I walked into a diner or a hotel lobby, it was like, 'Jesus, man, here I am again'. It was trippy, like Jacob's Ladder. I didn't even have to take drugs".

In an interview for NME, guitarist Noel Hogan said of the song:

It's only really since Dolores passed away that I've grown a proper appreciation for songs like 'Linger' and 'Dreams'. They were just songs in the set list for us; everybody else was losing their mind about them. And when I listen to them now I realise how great they are for someone so young, which I never, ever appreciated until a year ago. We must have played it a gazillion times in our lives and it just becomes a part of the set, but it's different now. We're so lucky to have left that behind, to have that legacy.

Critical reception

Jason Elias of AllMusic described "Linger" as "a song of regret, epic in scope and sweeping", praising the instrumentation and O'Riordan vocals: "While this isn't lyrically novel, the full-on emotionality of lead singer Dolores O'Riordan makes this stand out. Singing in a strong Irish brogue she comes off both needy and detached here. It's that emotion that powers this track". David Stubbs from Melody Maker commented, "Fragile, underwhelming acoustic thing with strings in which the girl, in prim, unsullied Irish vowels, pleads for her partner to put her out of her misery and end the relationship he's no longer interested in. Don't all rush to Virgin Megastore at once." Upon the 1994 re-release, the magazine's Caitlin Moran, concluded, "Good songs never disappear; they just keep getting released and re-released until you capitulate and buy the f***er." A reviewer from Music & Media wrote, "Currently on tour with the Hothouse Flowers, these fellow Irishmen deserve your attention. Don't hang round the bar, but move forwards to the stage to check out their alternative pop with shades of folk."

Martin Aston from Music Week rated it four out of five, adding that it "combines a gorgeous, melting vocal from Dolores with a delicate folky melody." Another editor, Alan Jones, deemed it a "delightful single", noting that "floating in on a breeze, it has a haunting, fragile quality and an almost country feel." Amanda Petrusich of The New Yorker described the song as "a hazy, sentimental song about realizing that you're on the bummer end of a lopsided relationship". Tony Cross from Smash Hits gave it five out of five, naming it Best New Single. He added, "Delores O'Riordan's voice comes straight from the chill out room and oils the song's creaky form into fabulous, delicious and delicate motion. Settle back into an old leather sofa for a long, long time and let it linger." "Linger" was ranked at number 86 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the '90s.

Music video

The accompanying music video for "Linger", shot in grayscale, was directed by Melodie McDaniel and based loosely on Jean-Luc Godard's 1965 science fiction noir film Alphaville—a "film that considers the potency of desire". In one of the rooms of the hotel, a silent film is being shown which features 1950s stripper Blaze Starr.

"Linger" received heavy rotation on MTV in 1993.

Track listings

• UK 7-inch and cassette single

1. "Linger" (album version) – 4:33
2. "Reason" – 2:01

• UK 12-inch and CD single

1. "Linger" (single version) – 4:33
2. "Reason" – 2:01
3. "How" (Radical mix) – 2:56

• US and Canadian CD single

1. "Linger" – 4:34
2. "Liar" – 2:21
3. "Them" – 3:44
4. "Reason" – 2:01

• US cassette single

1. "Linger" – 4:34
2. "How" – 2:51

• UK 7-inch and cassette single (1994)

1. "Linger"
2. "Pretty"

• UK 10-inch EP (1994)

A1. "Linger" (live at The Record Plant, Hollywood)

A2. "I Still Do" (live at The Record Plant, Hollywood)

B1. "Waltzing Back" (live at The Record Plant, Hollywood)

B2. "Pretty" (live at The Record Plant, Hollywood)

• UK CD single (1994)

1. "Linger" (LP version) – 4:33
2. "Pretty" – 2:16
3. "Waltzing Back" (live at The Record Plant, Hollywood) – 4:01
4. "Pretty" (live at The Record Plant, Hollywood) – 2:11

Charts

Weekly charts

1993–1994 weekly chart performance for "Linger"

Chart (1993–1994)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)	33
Canada Top Singles (RPM)	4
Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM)	5
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100 Singles)	26
Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)	6
Ireland (IRMA)	3
Netherlands (Dutch Single Tip)	7
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)	38
Scotland (Official Charts Company)	8
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)	14
US Billboard Hot 100	8
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)	18
US Alternative Songs (Billboard)	4
US Mainstream Top 40 (Billboard)	7

2018 weekly chart performance for "Linger"

Chart (2018)	Peak position
Ireland (IRMA)	11
Italy (FIMI)	89
100
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)	47
US Digital Songs (Billboard)	12
US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard)	6
US Rock Digital Song Sales (Billboard)	2
US Rock Streaming Songs (Billboard)	9

Year-end charts

Year-end chart performance for "Linger"

Chart (1994)	Position
Canada Top Singles (RPM)	47
Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM)	68
Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)	68
UK Singles (OCC)	74
US Billboard Hot 100	49

Certifications

Certifications for "Linger"

Region	Certification	Sales/shipments
Portugal (AFP)	Gold	20,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	Platinum	600,000
United States (RIAA)	Gold	500,000
^shipments figures based on certification alone xunspecified figures based on certification alone sales/streaming figures based on certification alone