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"Building a Mystery"
Single by Sarah McLachlan
from the album Surfacing
B-side	"I Will Remember You"
Released	9 June 1997 (1997-06-09)
Length	4:07
Label	Nettwerk
Songwriter(s)	Sarah McLachlan Pierre Marchand
Producer(s)	Pierre Marchand
Sarah McLachlan singles chronology
"I Will Remember You" (1995) "Building a Mystery" (1997) "Sweet Surrender" (1997)
Music video
"Building a Mystery" on YouTube

"Building a Mystery" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan from her fourth studio album, Surfacing (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".

Released on 9 June 1997, the song was an immediate top-40 and adult contemporary hit, and it has received several accolades. Commercially, "Building a Mystery" was Canada's most successful single of 1997, topping the RPM 100 Hit Tracks chart for eight weeks, and peaked at number 13 in the United States. "Building a Mystery" won the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 40th Grammy Awards as well as the Juno Award for Single of the Year in 1998.

Censorship

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 often sings the line "A beautiful messed up man."

Reception

The song won the Juno Award for Single of the Year in 1998. The track also made Sarah 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. It came in at number 91 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the '90s".

Chart performance

"Building a Mystery" became McLachlan's biggest chart hit in Canada, spending eight weeks at number one on the RPM 100 Hit Tracks chart and ranking at number one on the magazine's year-end chart for 1997. It also topped the RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks and Alternative 30 charts. In the United States, it debuted at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early September 1997 and peaked at number 13 a month later. It also spent 10 weeks at number one on Adult Alternative Airplay; in February 2021, for the chart's 25th anniversary, Billboard ranked the song at number 38 on its list of the 100 most successful songs in the chart's history. In Australia, the song reached number 97 in March 1998.

Music video

Directed by Matt Mahurin, the music video for the song features Moist front man David Usher. It features a man, described as McLachlan's boyfriend, taking points of light from wherever he travels and stitching some sort of garment. When McLachlan investigates in his absence, she finds that he has been assembling a skirt so decorated as to be lit with stars.

Legacy

On 23 October 2001, "Building a Mystery" became the first song ever publicly played on an Apple iPod. Apple founder, chairman and CEO Steve Jobs selected and played a short portion of the song during the presentation in which he first introduced the iPod to the public at Apple Campus in Cupertino, California.

Track listings

US CD and cassette single

1. "Building a Mystery" – 4:06
2. "I Will Remember You" – 4:53

US maxi-CD single and Australian CD single

1. "Building a Mystery" – 4:06
2. "I Will Remember You" – 4:53
3. "Possession" – 4:39
4. "Angel" (soft drum mix) – 4:30

Personnel

Personnel are lifted from the Surfacing liner notes.

• Sarah McLachlan – writing, vocals, acoustic and electric guitars
• Pierre Marchand – writing, background vocals, production, recording, mixing
• Michel Pepin – additional electric guitars
• Brian Minato – bass
• Ash Sood – drums

Charts

Release history

See also

• List of RPM number-one singles of 1997 (Canada)
• List of RPM Rock/Alternative number-one singles (Canada)

References

1. "YouTube". YouTube. 28 April 2016. Archived from the original on 28 April 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
2. ""Grammy Awards for Best Pop Female Performance" on Rockonthenet.com". Retrieved 16 July 2015.
3. Ali, Rahsheeda (23 May 2013). "The 100 Greatest Songs Of the '90s". VH1 Music News. VH1. Archived from the original on 17 July 2015. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
4. ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 3288." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
5. ^ "RPM '97 Year End Top 100 Hit Tracks". RPM. Retrieved 4 March 2019 – via Library and Archives Canada.
6. ^ "Top RPM Adult Contemporary: Issue 3282." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
7. ^ "Top RPM Rock/Alternative Tracks: Issue 3295." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
8. ^ "Sarah McLachlan Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
9. ^ "Sarah McLachlan Chart History (Adult Alternative Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
10. Rutherford, Kevin (18 February 2021). "Dave Matthews Band & The Wallflowers' 'One Headlight' Top Greatest of All Time Adult Alternative Charts". Billboard. Archived from the original on 31 May 2023. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
11. "Greatest of All Time Adult Alternative Songs". Billboard. Archived from the original on 11 October 2023. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
12. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 183.
13. ^ LeBlanc, Larry (28 June 1997). "McLachlan Comes to Fore on Arista Set". Billboard. Vol. 109, no. 26. p. 87.
14. Guglielmo, Connie (23 October 2021). "What it was like to watch Steve Jobs introduce the iPod 20 years ago". CNET. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
15. Building a Mystery (US CD single liner notes). Sarah McLachlan. Arista Records. 1997. 07822-13395-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
16. Building a Mystery (US cassette single sleeve). Sarah McLachlan. Arista Records. 1997. 07822-13395-4.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
17. Building a Mystery (US maxi-CD & Australian CD single liner notes). Sarah McLachlan. Arista Records. 1997. 07822-13399-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
18. Surfacing (Canadian CD album liner notes). Sarah McLachlan. Nettwerk Productions. 1997. 0 6700 30116 2 4.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
19. "Íslenski Listinn Topp 40 (2.10 '97 – 9.10. '97)". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 3 October 1997. p. 26. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
20. "Sarah McLachlan Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
21. "Sarah McLachlan Chart History (Adult Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
22. "Sarah McLachlan Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
23. "Sarah McLachlan Chart History (Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
24. "RPM '97 Year End Top 100 Adult Contemporary Tracks". RPM. Retrieved 4 March 2019 – via Library and Archives Canada.
25. "RPM '97 Year End Top 50 Alternative Tracks". RPM. Retrieved 4 March 2019 – via Library and Archives Canada.
26. "Billboard Top 100 – 1997". Archived from the original on 11 June 2009. Retrieved 28 August 2010.
27. "The Year in Music 1997: Hot Adult Top 40 Singles & Tracks". Billboard. Vol. 109, no. 52. 27 December 1997. p. YE-83.
28. "The Year in Music: Hot Modern Rock Tracks". Billboard. Vol. 109, no. 52. 27 December 1997. p. YE-73.
29. "Best of '97: Top 40/Mainstream Singles". Airplay Monitor. Vol. 5, no. 52. 26 December 1997. p. 38.
30. "Best of '97: Triple A Tracks". Airplay Monitor. Vol. 5, no. 52. 26 December 1997. p. 28.
31. "Most Played Adult Top 40 Songs of 1998". Airplay Monitor. Vol. 6, no. 52. 25 December 1998. p. 55.
32. "New Releases". Radio & Records. No. 1206. 18 July 1997. p. 91.

• 1997 singles
• 1997 songs
• Arista Records singles
• Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
• Juno Award for Single of the Year singles
• Music videos credited to Alan Smithee
• Nettwerk Records singles
• RPM Top Singles number-one singles
• Sarah McLachlan songs
• Songs written by Pierre Marchand
• Songs written by Sarah McLachlan