"Building a Mystery" is a song by Sarah McLachlan, from her fourth studio albumSurfacing, first released in 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". The song was an immediate top-forty and adult contemporary hit that paved the grounds for her future songs "Sweet Surrender", "Adia" and "Angel", all from Surfacing, and it has received several awards. Commercially, "Building a Mystery" was Canada's best-selling single of 1997, topping the country's official 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.
Censorship
The album version of "Building a Mystery," and the live albumsAfterglow 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 sings the line "A beautiful messed up man."
Chart performance
"Building a Mystery" became McLachlan's biggest chart hit in Canada, spending eight weeks at number one on the RPM Top Singles chart and was ranked as the number-one single of 1997 on the magazine's year end chart. It also topped the RPMAdult Contemporary 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. In Australia the song gained minor popularity, reaching number 97 in March 1998.
Music video
The music video for the song features Moistfront manDavid 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. Matt Mahurin directed the video, but later disowned it with the Allen Smithee credit.
On October 23, 2001 "Building a Mystery" became the first song ever played on an Apple iPod. Apple founder, chairman and CEO Steve Jobs selected and played a short portion of the song at the iPod Introduction keynote held at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California. The song was the top track in his "Favorites" playlist.
