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An NPR Listener Shares His Signature Song

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This summer, we're hearing about your signature song, a song that's become almost a part of you, like BJ Leiderman, who writes our theme music. Today, we hear from one man about a song he calls the warmest blanket that exists.

(SOUNDBITE OF LISA LOEB SONG, "STAY (I MISSED YOU)")

CHRIS BUBENIK: My name is Chris Bubenik. I'm 39 years old, and I live in Asheville, N.C. My signature song is "Stay (I Missed You)" by Lisa Loeb.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "STAY (I MISSED YOU)")

LISA LOEB: (Singing) You say I only hear what I want to.

BUBENIK: The first time I heard it, I might've been in ninth grade. You know, it was very different than what was on the radio at that time. That was when, like, Celine Dion, Shania Twain, Mariah Carey sort of were on the airwaves and everywhere. And it starts out almost in a way where she's defeated.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "STAY (I MISSED YOU)")

LOEB: (Singing) And I thought what I felt was simple. And I thought that I don't belong. And now that I am leaving, now I know that I did something wrong 'cause I missed you.

BUBENIK: I wasn't out. And, you know, I think that all of us have that piece inside of us where we feel a little bit awkward, a little bit on the outside. And this really tapped into that, I think, for me, sort of dealing with a part of me that was private and to myself.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "STAY (I MISSED YOU)")

LOEB: (Singing) I don't understand if you really care. I'm only hearing negative - no, no, no, bad. So I turned the radio on. I turned the radio up. And this woman was singing my song, lovers in love and the other's run away. Lover is crying 'cause the other won't stay.

BUBENIK: I will say I probably listen to this song a few times each week, you know, whether it's in the car or just telling Alexa to play it or - there's a story...

ALEXA: Sorry. I don't know that one.

BUBENIK: Sorry. That was Alexa that just said that.

There's definitely a part of it that brings me back to that time, you know, going to bed, having it on the CD player, feeling like it was a comforting thing, that it was sort of - not really like a wooby or anything like that, but that there was somebody else who's out there who was sort of feeling the same thing that you were, going through that same mix of emotions, living in that situation.

(SOUNDBITE OF LISA LOEB SONG, “STAY (I MISSED YOU)”)

SIMON: Chris Bubenik of Asheville, N.C. - his signature song, "Stay" by Lisa Loeb.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “STAY (I MISSED YOU)”)

LOEB: (Singing) You say I only hear what I want to. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.