"Hold On" is a song by the band

Triumph The Roman triumph (Latin triumphus) was a celebration for a victorious military commander in ancient Rome. For later imitations, in life or in art, see Trionfo. Numerous later uses of the term, up to the present, are derived directly or indirectl ...

. It appeared on their album '' Just a Game'' (1979) and was also released as a single. The single was released in June 1979 and rose to number 38 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song was written by

Rik Emmett Richard Gordon Emmett (born July 10, 1953) is a vocalist, guitarist, and member of the Canadian hard rock band Triumph (band), Triumph. Career In Toronto, during the mid 1970s, several local musicians formed a progressive rock group called Act ...

History

Rik Emmett said the song started as he was singing open vowels over some chord changes, and then he started saying the words "Hold on, hold on" out of holding the open vowel notes. "So now I was going to say, "Okay, so the song's going to be called 'Hold On.' What am I going to hold on for? Well, I'm going to hold on to my dreams." Then the lyrics grew backwards out of the hook," he said. “I would look at people going apeshit at our concerts and think: ‘What are we offering them?’ If we’re going to be called Triumph, we need to give them some inspiration, something positive. When I wrote ''Hold On'' it was like: ‘Okay, maybe this is why I’m doing this. Maybe I can write songs that make people feel better about themselves.’” The introduction's verses were a poem Rik Emmett had written for English class in high school. Emmett often sings the second verse after the bridge in live performances, and wishes he would have done so on the original recording. The disco breakdown was inspired by the R&B scene in Toronto in the late 1970s, and the post-breakdown guitar chords had up to 24 tracks layered on top of each other. The song, like " Lay It on the Line" from the same album, was written two years before the release of the album. After failing to be noticed as an acoustic track in concert the band decided to make it a rock song and placed it at the end of the concept song, ''The Twisted Maze'' which compasses the entire second side of the vinyl. The song was rarely performed by the entire band in concert, due to its broad and complex arrangements. The live version from

Stages Stage, stages, or staging may refer to: Arts and media Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly Brit ...

, which is the only official live version, was done acoustically. The

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is the title track for the album. The single version of the song was cut up and altered to help its chart potential, where it became only a two-minute-and-fifty-nine-second track. The edit did not include the acoustic folk section of the beginning or the disco-styled breakdown at the end.

Track listing

# "Hold On" (Rik Emmett) – 2:59 # "Just a Game" (Rik Emmett) – 5:48

Personnel

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guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

Mike Levine Michael Levine may refer to: * Michael Levine (DEA) (born 1939), former senior United States law enforcement agent * Michael E. Levine (1941–2017), US legal scholar and airline executive * Mike Levine (musician) (born 1949), bassist of Triumph * ...

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bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

Gil Moore Gil Moore is a Canadian musician. Born in Toronto, Moore is the drummer and co-vocalist (sharing vocal duties with guitarist/vocalist Rik Emmett) of the power trio Triumph. Before Moore was in Triumph he was in a band called Sherman & Peabody w ...

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drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

Charts

References

{{Triumph Triumph (band) songs 1979 singles Songs written by Rik Emmett RCA Records singles