Cogaoke 2010 Example Video - Stay (I Missed You) f/ 1997 on Vimeo

Apologies for the awful, awful audio. That’s what leaving a video tape in your garage for ten years will do to your semi-precious memories.

I know what you’re thinking.

“Why would a 6’6”, 275 pound pile of dude want to get up and sing the song that gave us one of the 90’s cutest and daintiest pop princesses?”

The answer takes us back to George’s Stables in Stillwater, OK.

“The Stables” is a cowboy bar that sits across the street from one of Stillwater’s most famous establishments, Eskimo Joe’s. Whereas Eskimo Joe’s is a magnet for the college drinking crowd, The Stables is prime territory for the locals. However, it was one Saturday night in 1997 that a group of us crossed the street and walked into the saloon doors that held my karaoke destiny.

My girlfriend at the time got up to sing “(Stay) I Missed You” by Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories. One verse in, she got stage fright and thrust the microphone into the first hand she could find. That hand happened to be mine. Fueled by $3.00 beer pitchers and invincibility I figured, “what the hell” and hopped up and did my best Lisa Loeb impression.

When the song was over, I expected to get the shit kicked out of me by a group of Bubbas. At the very least I thought I’d be laughed out of the bar, but instead there was a huge ovation. After that, we became regulars at The Stables and people would ask me to sing this song. The DJ (that I went on to replace after he quit) always had a joke that if there were any blind guys in the audience, they needed to know the person on stage was a guy.

My karaoke days are one of the best memories that I have of my college experience. Every time I hear this song I’m taken back. Vote for me so you can see what all the fuss was about so many years ago.