Favorite Song #2

Building a Mystery by Sarah McLachlan (from Surfacing, 1997)

Building a Mystery is a song that sneaked by me when it came out in 1997. It had a lot of cross-over appeal and was played on radio stations of widely different formats, from pop-rock to contemporary adult to alternative rock. It wasn’t until early in 1998 when it hit me like a rock how incredibly good this song was. And I had heard it many times before! I think that tastes in music do change over time, which may account for part of my turn toward liking Building a Mystery, but also this song has, in my view, many interesting elements to it. The narrative has Sarah singing to her lover, a man who has charted his own path of spiritual discovery that captivates, and at times, bewilders and frustrates her. The melody is beautiful in itself, and the instrumental accompaniment is appropriate to the song’s mood. And Sarah McLachlan’s voice, to me, is matchless: she is one of today’s very few performers whom I actually would look forward to seeing in a live concert (and I despise concerts as a rule of thumb). But more than any one contributing factor, it was the combined effect of everything just mentioned that created a feeling of eeriness along with sweet intimacy that sold me on Building a Mystery. And I bought the album Surfacing as a result. It contains some other good tunes, most notably Sweet Surrender and Adia. Sarah McLachlan led a very successful concert tour series in the late 1990s called the Lilith Fair, which spotlighted female performing artists such as Sheryl Crow, Jewel, Fiona Apple, the Indigo Girls, Paula Cole, and Lisa Loeb, among many others. Sarah has come out with some other songs I like, such as I Will Remember You and Fallen. A couple of years ago, I saw her compelling performance of Fallen on one of the late night network shows. She is, to me, the greatest popular singer around today. And I just love Building a Mystery more and more each new time that I hear it!

Next favorite song: #1 !