No. 940 – Hold On

Performer: Sarah McLachlan

Songwriter: Sarah McLachlan

Original Release: Fumbling Towards Ecstasy

Year: 1993

Definitive Version: No Alternative, 1993

By the fall of 1993, going over to Doug’s house after softball to hang with him and his (now ex) wife, Teresa, and have a few drinks after he’d put his kid to bed was becoming a regular occurrence. Sometimes we’d deconstruct the various softball teams that we played on. Sometimes we’d talk shop.

Most of the time, we talked music. Doug almost always would have something brand new on the stereo. And why not? As the Journal's music writer, he got CDs to review all the time, so there was always something new—and lots of it.

Every once in a while, he’d fire up MTV just to see what was on—back then it still played music videos regularly—and one night the video for Possession came on. Fumbling Towards Ecstasy had just come out, and Sarah McLachlan was starting to blow up on Alternative Nation. We watched the Canadian chanteuse warble about her seductive charms, when Doug opined: “Sarah McLachlan is hot.” I couldn’t agree more.

But I don’t know whether his opinion of this song agrees with mine: I prefer the No Alternative version, which, coincidentally was released the same day as Fumbling. It’s a little jammier and smokier. Yes, definitely hot.