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

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

About how a hit was created "Hold the Line."What message did the musicians reflect in it, how did the band's debut track make its way to the top charts, and what was farther with the fate of the team will be discussed in this article.

Process of creation

Keyboarder David PachHe, who was a serious session musician before the group was formed, was the author of the first single released by Toto. He often mentioned that the song appeared quite quickly: For several days, Pach played the riff that would soon open the beginning of the song and lead in the chorus, and picked up the first lines to the resulting melody. Then David, a couple of hours later, sketched out the full lyrics for the song, thus creating the song that became start of the group's great journey.

The musician was helped to create the track quickly and efficiently an experienceThe success of the song was the result of the work with the other artists. awaiting. The band's drummer Jeff Porcaro also noted a good start with this song, saying that with it the band managed to rip the boundaries of music in the late '70s.

Lyrical meaning and unique sound

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

In writing the text, David happened to find these deep lines, having extracted from his memory the moment when three girls called him at home at the same time, and each of them he asked "hold the line" - to wait for an answer and not hang up. 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 line" or "stay put.", and this interpretation of the beginning of the chorus takes on a very other meaning in context:

Hang in there,

It's not always the love of time

Here the hero convinces his other half hold off with words about love, because such a complicated feeling may not be born in the soul at once. If you think about the fact that the musicians were quite young at the time of recording this track, like Lucaster, you could say a vivid love or even falling in lovethat has enveloped the song hero's partner, so he tries to tell her that the problem is in himself, and he has not yet felt such strong emotions:

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 it is his lack of sympathy that prevents them from being together. Despite the fact that the story seems sad, we can discern a real acknowledgementThe hero may not be aware of it and is trying to reject the girl. Just saying that her love gives him freedom can be thought of as highest manifestation of deep feelings, because the girl almost saves him. However, the hero is still unable to recognize his tender feelings, and continues to reject his beloved.

Great success

The success of the song came almost immediately after its release in October 1978. It was a precursor to the band's debut album called Toto and was the beginning of extensive of the collective's discography. Thanks to the skills of the members, six musicians with experience working on studio sessions with various artists, the track went down in history as hit and elevated the band to the top. "Hold the Line" reached the top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and was also placed at No. 14 on the British music chart.

Despite the fact that the musicians had plenty of chances for the track to conquer the charts in more than 12 countries, their enthusiasm was huge. Steve and his colleagues, hearing themselves on the radio for the first time, were shocked by the event and that the success had reached them so 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 special charm. Many music magazines have noted Bobby Kimball's vocals and named the song one of greatest in the history of the band.

Further ProspectsWillows

After the success of their debut studio, the band released several more albums before exploding the charts again in 1982 with the songs "Africa." and "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 group on the stage, but nothing has kept it from shifts line-up. After a while the band was left without a bass player and a vocalist, but none of the new musicians stayed for long. At the beginning of the 90s Porcaro died, and from that moment the popularity of the band went down. The new decade brought several fresh records that did not become iconic.

As of today, the team still exists with two original Toto is a member of the band, but does not play many concerts and does not release any new songs. In Toto's discography there are about 14 studio records and eight live records, as well as one title song to the movie.