Building a Mystery
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Building a Mystery" | |||||
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| Single by Sarah McLachlan | |||||
| from the album Surfacing | |||||
| Released | 1997 | ||||
| Format | CD single | ||||
| Recorded | Morin Heights | ||||
| Genre | Pop | ||||
| Length | 4:07 | ||||
| Label | Nettwerk Records, Arista Records | ||||
| Writer(s) | Sarah McLachlan, Pierre Marchand | ||||
| Producer | Pierre Marchand | ||||
| Sarah McLachlan singles chronology | |||||
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"Building a Mystery" is a song by Sarah McLachlan, from her multi-platinum album Surfacing, first released in 1997. At a live performance, Sarah explains the song as being "basically about the fact that we all... have insecurities to hide, and we often do that by putting on a facade." She also goes on to say that "unfortunately, if we just be who we are, that's usually the more attractive and beautiful thing".[1]
A fan favourite, the song was an immediate Top-40, Soft AC, and Hot AC hit which paved the grounds for her future songs "Sweet Surrender", "Adia", and "Angel", all from the Surfacing album. It peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The album version of "Building a Mystery," and the live albums "Afterglow Live" and "Mirrorball" contain the line, "A beautiful fucked up man". The radio version replaces this line with "A beautiful but strange man" or the original lyric garbled beyond recognition, and during performances on radio or television, Sarah sings the line "A beautiful messed up man."
The song was her biggest chart hit in Canada, spending eight weeks at #1 on the RPM charts and ranking as the #1 single of the year in the magazine's year end chart. It won the Juno Award for Single of the Year in 1998.
The track also made McLachlan the recipient of the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the Grammy Awards of 1998, beating Mariah Carey, Shawn Colvin, Paula Cole and Jewel [2].
The video for the song features former Moist frontman David Usher.
[edit] Charts
| Chart (1997) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada RPM | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[3] | 13 |
| U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary[3] | 28 |
| U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks[3] | 3 |
| Chart (1998) | Peak position |
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart[4] | 97 |
[edit] External links
- Building a Mystery at YouTube (licensed content by Sony BMG)
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6wzUAwrcHQ
- ^ ""Grammy Awards for Best Pop Female Performance" on Rockonthenet.com". http://www.rockonthenet.com/grammy/popfemale.htm. Retrieved on 1998-02-25.
- ^ a b c "Sarah McLachlan - Billboard Singles Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
- ^ "ARIA Chartifacts Week Commencing ~ 13th October 2008 ~ Issue #972". ARIA Charts. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
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