All about the song "Hold the Line": history, meaning, sound

There are many songs in music that touch on the theme of loves. Artists always convey its meaning or effect on people differently in their compositions, and the Californian band . Toto gave the music world an unusual track, bringing new meanings to the subject.

About how the hit was created "Hold the Line."what message the musicians reflected in it, how the band's debut track made its way to the top charts, and what happened further with the fate of the team will be discussed in this article.

Creation process

Keyboardist David PaichHe was a serious session musician before the band was formed and wrote the first single released by Toto. He often mentioned that the song had appeared quite quickly: Over the course of several days, Pach played the riff that would soon open the song and lead into the chorus, and picked out the first lines of the resulting melody. Then, a couple of hours later, David sketched out the full lyrics for the song, creating the composition that would become beginning of the group's long journey.

The musician was helped to quickly and qualitatively create the track expertiseI had learnt from working with other artists, so the success of the composition was pending. The band's drummer Jeff Porcaro also celebrated a good start with this song, saying that from it the band managed to tear the boundaries of late '70s music.

Lyrical meaning and unique sound

When the composition was in the development stage, the musicians experimented with styles, and by Porcaro's own admission, "Hold the Line" became a breakdown unique direction of the band, combining distinctly heavy metal guitar riffs, lightened by a dense piano sound and tricky rhythm. Another important the song's hallmark becomes an emphatically hard and heavy solo on guitar by Steve Lukather, which intertwines several playing techniques.

While writing the text, David accidentally found these deep lines, picking out from his memory the moment when three girls called him at home at the same time on the telephone, and each one asked him to "hold the line" - to wait for an answer and not to hang up the phone. However, this explanation of the meaning of the main lines does not become the only one.

The expression "hold the line" also means "hold the defence" or "stay put"and this interpretation of the beginning of the chorus takes on an entirely other meaning in context:

Hang in there,

It's not always the love of time

This is where the hero convinces his other half take your time with lyrics about love, as such a complex feeling may not be born in the soul immediately. If you think about the fact that the musicians were quite young at the time of recording this track, like Lukaster, you can say about a vivid love or even a crushesthat has enveloped the hero's partner, so he tries to tell her that the problem is in himself, and he hasn't yet felt such a strong of emotion:

It's not about what you told me,

It's not about how you say you're mine,

It's not about how you came back to me,

It's not that your love makes me free,

It's not about how you look or what you promise to do.

Repeating the beginning of each line only increases the hero's desire to prove to the girl that their lack of sympathy on his part prevents them from being together. Despite the fact that the story seems sad, one can recognise the real thing in the text recognitionwhich the hero may not realise and tries to reject the girl. The mere words that her love gives him freedom can be conceived of as a highest a manifestation of deep feelings, for the girl almost saves him. However, the hero is still unable to recognise the tender feelings in himself, and continues to reject his beloved.

A great success

The song was a success almost immediately after its release in October 1978. It preceded the band's debut album entitled "Toto." and was the beginning extensive of the collective's discography. Thanks to the skills of the members, six musicians with experience of working on studio sessions with various artists, the track went down in history as a hit and took the band to the top. "Hold the Line" reached the top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and also reached number 14 on the UK music chart.

Although the musicians had plenty of chances for the track to conquer the charts in over 12 countries, their delight was a huge. Steve and his colleagues, hearing themselves on the radio for the first time, were shocked by the event and that success had reached them so much quickly.

Critics agreed that the composition is built on an expressive keyboard part and a good rhythm, and combined with the powerful chorus of "Hold the Line" acquires a particular charm. Many music magazines have honoured Bobby Kimball's vocals and named the song one of the greatest in the history of the band.

Further perspectiveswillows

After success with their debut studio album, the band released a few more albums before blowing up the charts again in 1982 with the songs "Africa." и "Rosanna."which rose to number one and number two on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. It was these tracks that helped the team win worldwide recognition and become the best-selling band of the era.

The worldwide success established the band on the scene, though nothing has kept them from the shifts line-up. After a while the band was left without a bassist and vocalist, but none of the new musicians stayed for long. In the early 90's Porcaro died, and from that moment the popularity of the band went down. The new decade brought several fresh of records that didn't become iconic.

As of today, the team still exists with two original Toto's discography has 14 14 albums in total, but he does not perform many concerts and does not release any new releases. There are about 14 in Toto's discography studio records and 8 live records, as well as one title song for the film.