Songoftheday 10/25/21 - I'm so tired but I can't sleep, standin' on the edge of something much too deep...

 

 

"I Will Remember You (Live)" - Sarah McLachlan

from the album Mirrorball (1999)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #14 (two weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 15

 

Today's song comes from Canadian singer/songwriter Sarah McLachlan, who after years of underground minor successes broke big in 1997 with her fourth studio album Surfacing, which spun off four top-40 pop hits in the U.S. with "Building A Mystery",  "Sweet Surrender", and two top ten singles in "Adia" and "Angel". Sarah embarked on a successful tour behind the album, and it resulted in her next release, the live album Mirrorball. Of course, all four of those aforementioned songs were in the album (which was actually just a little more than half the concert), as well as fan favorites of her past. One of those was a song originally not from one of her first three albums, but from the soundtrack to the low-budget turned critical darling movie The Brothers McMullen. "I Will Remember You", was a gentle ballad played on the end credits of the film and had lyrics from McLachlan and Dave Merenda over a melody from Irish-American banjo/mandolin player Séamus Egan. Sarah seems to be mourning the ending of a relationship, but peppers it with glimmers of light on the past hope, along with her insecurities that may have contributed to its downfall. Its unassuming and comforting tone definitely foretold her success with "Angel"...

First released in 1995, the song was her first hit on Billboard magazine's "easy listening" radio charts, , spending a half year (26 weeks) on the Adult Contemporary format list peaking at #21, while crossing over to the Adult Top-40 radio list at #37. It climbed to #65 on Billboard's Hot 100 pop chart, at the time her best placing there.

On the release of Mirrorball in the summer of 1999, her live take on "I Will Remember You" was promoted to radio as the "single" from the concert album. With fans of "Angel" grasping on to this as well, this time radio was much kinder to the song. The screaming crowd does seem odd against the delicateness of the song, but McLachlan doesn't let it change the quiet energy of her delivery...

The live version of "I Will Remember You" became Sarah's fifth, and so far most recent, top-40 hit on the Hot 100 in July of 1999. The song did even better this time on "easy listening" radio, spending two weeks at #2 on Billboard's Adult Top-40 format chart and nine weeks at #3 on the Adult Contemporary station list. Internationally, the single peaked at #10 in her native Canada (the original spent a week on the British chart at #95). The Mirrorball album, released in June of that year, took a week at #3 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, spending over a year on the chart and selling over three million copies. At the Grammy Awards in 2000, "I Will Remember You (Live)" won the trophy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, her third win and second in that category after "Building A Mystery". Mirrorball was also up for Best Pop Album (a rare feat for a live set), losing to Sting's Brand New Day record. 

A second single from Mirrorball, a live version of her Fumbling Towards Ecstasy album track "Ice Cream" from 1994, climbed to #12 on the Adult Top-40 radio chart, but missed the Hot 100. Another cut from the album, the concert rendition of her 1993 single "Possession" that went to #10 on Billboard's Triple A (Adult Album Alternative) rock radio chart, was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, which went home with Sheryl Crow for her cover of Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child Of Mine". Later in 1999, McLachlan appeared on Sheryl's live Sheryl Crow & Friends: Live In New York concert album, and their duet of "The Difficult Kind" from Crow's Globe Sessions album got them nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals in 2001, which went home with B.B. King and Dr. John for "Is You Is, Or Is You Ain't My Baby". In 2000, Sarah sang on "Silence" from the Canadian ambient house act Delirium, which climbed to #6 on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart, as well as #25 on their Adult Top-40 radio list, and hit #1 in Ireland. Re-released in 2004, "Silence 2004" went on to top the Dance Club Play chart in America. 

After a four year break, during which she had a daughter and lost her mother, McLachlan returned with her fifth studio release, Afterglow, in 2003. The lead single, "Fallen", did well on "adult" radio, rising to #5 on the Adult Top-40 format and #12 on the Adult Contemporary list, but stalled just under the Hot 100 Top-40 at #41 (it'll be in my "robbed hit" series). The dance remix of the song helped it go to #3 on Billboard's Dance Club Play list. It was nominated for a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, which went home with Christina Aguilera for her ballad "Beautiful". Third single "World On Fire", which went to #14 on the Adult Top-40 chart and #2 on the Dance Club Play list, and was up for a Grammy as well in 2006 for Best Short Form Video, which went to Missy Elliott for her "Lose Control" clip. The Afterglow album also got nominated in 2005 for a Best Pop Vocal Album Grammy, which went to Ray Charles for his swan song collab set Genius Loves Company. A second live set from her Afterglow Live tour followed in 2004, which went to #107 on the Billboard 200. 

In 2006, Sarah released her first holiday-themed album, Wintersong, which was the Christmas album of that year, placing three of its songs in the top ten on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart with covers of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" (#5), "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" (#6), and "River" (#8), with the latter song her most recent appearance on the Hot 100 at #71. Wintersong went to #7 on the Billboard 200, selling over a million copies, and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, losing to perennial favorite Tony Bennett for his Duets: An American Classic. 

In 2008, the collection Closer: The Best of Sarah McLachlan, was released, and just missed the top ten on the Billboard 200 at #11. From the set new song "U Want Me 2" "bubbled under" the Hot 100 at #105, while placing at #6 on Billboard's Triple-A Rock chart, #18 on the Adult Contemporary format list, and #34 at Adult Top-40 radio, while just missing the top ten in Canada at #11. After another long break, Sarah re-emerged with her final album on longtime label Nettwerk, Laws Of Illusion, in 2010. The record spent a week at #2 on the Billboard 200, Lead single "Loving You Is Easy", her most jovial (almost Sara Bareilles-like) single, went to #4 on the Triple-A Rock, #14 on the Adult Contemporary and #38 on the Adult Top-40 radio charts. 

Moving to Verve Records, McLachlan put out Shine On in 2014, which climbed to #4 on the Billboard 200 sales list. First single "In Your Shoes" peaked at #21 on the Adult Contemporary radio chart. Her most recent studio album, Wonderland, was her second holiday release, and went to #56 on the Billboard 200. Sarah's version of "Winter Wonderland" went to #23 on the Adult Contemporary radio chart. The album was nominated for a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, again losing to Tony Bennett for his Tony Bennett Celebrates 90 album. She is supposedly working on a new studio album. 

Original: (8/10)    Live: (7/10)

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Here's Sarah performing "I Will Remember You" on her Afterglow tour in 2003...

Up tomorrow: Soul brothers seek legitimacy.