Hold On

Album: 1.0 (2012)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Sad Robot is the Los Angeles-based trio of Katherine Pawlak (vocals, keyboards), Nick Perez (guitar), and Jake Hogenson (drums). An unsigned act, they got some attention when this song was played on the LA radio station KROQ and used in a promo for the TV show Bones.

    Pawlak, who wrote the lyrics to this song, told us: "Everybody always told me I couldn't write a happy song or an inspiring song to save my life. So lyrically that was my first attempt to try to write something that makes people feel like they can take a bad situation and make it better."
  • The lyrics were written before the music for this song. When they put a track to it, the song was very spare at first. "It was like a two chord song, it sounded like a polka to me at the time," Nick Perez told us. "So we took the song and I added two more chords to it, and then helped arrange it for the band. Then when we all started playing it, it turned into that. But the song in its infancy was pretty sparse."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

The Untold Story Of Fiona Apple's Extraordinary Machine

The Untold Story Of Fiona Apple's Extraordinary MachineSong Writing

Fiona's highly-anticipated third album almost didn't make it. Here's how it finally came together after two years and a leak.

Brian Kehew: The Man Behind The Remasters

Brian Kehew: The Man Behind The RemastersSong Writing

Brian has unearthed outtakes by Fleetwood Mac, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Costello and hundreds of other artists for reissues. Here's how he does it.

Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket

Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet SprocketSongwriter Interviews

The "All I Want" singer went through a long depression, playing some shows when he didn't want to be alive.

Marvin Gaye

Marvin GayeFact or Fiction

Did Marvin try out with the Detroit Lions? Did he fake crazy to get out of military service? And what about the cross-dressing?

Steve Morse of Deep Purple

Steve Morse of Deep PurpleSongwriter Interviews

Deep Purple's guitarist since 1994, Steve talks about writing songs with the band and how he puts his own spin on "Smoke On The Water."

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s Edition

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s EditionMusic Quiz

You know the scenes - Tom Cruise in his own pants-off dance off, Molly Ringwald celebrating her birthday - but do you remember what song is playing?