Download Instrumental    You have to love a song that just builds and builds… and then builds some more.  It begins softly with piano and violins, then the lead vocal comes in, more violins and a cello.  Bring in bass, drums and guitars to take it to a smashing crescendo – when it drops to only piano and violins again with an ending so gentle it seems to blow away like a puff of wind.  This is that song.

Michael Buble released “Hold On” in 2009.  He penned the lyrics and his pianist, Alan Chang, created the melody and instrumentation.  It didn’t do all that well commercially – peaking at #9 on Billboard’s “Adult Contemporary” chart – but hardcore Buble fans love it.  If you decide to perform this one (and you should) most of your audience will have never heard of it.  That’s okay… tell ’em you wrote it.

Buble (he called himself Mickey Bubbles at the start of his career) never learned to write or read music and claimed his songwriting abilities came purely from emotion.  That is certainly evident here.  “Hold On” is about two good friends who decide to become lovers.  They quickly realized they were being foolish and were able to get back to “good friend” status, something difficult to do after a love affair.  But people need to hold on to each other – especially family and friends.  “We are stronger here together/than we could ever be alone”.  Good advice for all of us, except you might want to skip the “let’s hop in bed” part.  That never seems to work out…