90s Stand Out Singles: Lisa Loeb, “Stay (I Missed You)”(1994)
My wife is not a music freak like myself. But she was growing up in the 90s and gosh darnit, she had a heart. So naturally she asked me about the song “Stay (I Missed You)” and why I hadn’t included Lisa Loeb on my list of 90s album reviews.
I have a heart too, but here’s the thing. This song wasn’t originally on an “album” (unless you consider the Reality Bites soundtrack an album). So what happened? Well it kinda went like this.
In the early 90s Lisa Loeb lived across the hall in NYC from actor Ethan Hawk. For years she had written songs for the plays he performed in and directed. One day Lisa and Ethan were hanging out while he was filming Reality Bites and she played him a recording of “Stay”. Ethan liked it so much he played it for the Ben Stiller who was directing Reality Bites. Ben ended up using the song for the film’s ending credits. And that was essentially how the song came to light.
Following his time in Reality Bites, Ethan filmed and directed a music video for “Stay” on the cheap. It got on MTV. The song went to radio and eventually reached # 1 on The Billboard charts. And then, then, Lisa Loeb received a recording contract from Geffen Records.
“Stay” was attached to her major label debut album “Tails” (1995) as the last track. But at that point its height of popularity was over. It was almost included as a bonus track. I couldn’t tell you a single song from that debut album. But I can sing “Stay (I Missed You)” back to front. And I bet you could do the same.
When people say the name Lisa Loeb, this song pops in their head. When I saw Lisa Loeb appear on a GEICO commercial a few weeks ago, I knew what was going to happen next. Nowadays, when we hear the acoustic arpeggio that opens the song, we do what we did back then. We “turn the radio on, turn the radio up” and listen to Lisa sing her song.
