Wait

written by: Sarah McLachlan

Lyrics

Under a blackened sky
Far beyond the glaring streetlights
Sleeping on empty dreams
The vultures lie in wait
You lay down beside me then
You were with me every waking hour
So close I could feel your breath

When all we wanted was the dream
To have and to hold that precious little thing
Like every generation yields
The new born hope unjaded by their years

Pressed up against the glass
I found myself wanting sympathy
But to be consumed again
Oh I know would be the death of me
And there is a love that’s inherently given
A kind of blindness offered to appease

And in that light of forbidden joy
Oh I know I won’t receive it

When all we wanted was the dream
To have and to hold that precious little thing
Like every generation yields
The newborn hope unjaded by their years

You know if I leave you now
It doesn’t mean that I love you any less
It’s just the state I’m in
I can’t be good to anyone else like this

When all we wanted was the dream
To have and to hold that precious little thing
Like every generation yields
The new born hope unjaded by their years

 

Appears on

Versions

Album Version
from “Fumbling Towards Ecstasy”
Track length: 4:09

Live: Fumbling Towards Ecstasy Live
from “Fumbling Towards Ecstasy Live DVD”
Track length: ???

Live: Mirrorball The Complete Concert
from “Mirrorball: The Complete Concert”
Track length: 5:44

Live: Afterglow Live
from “Afterglow Live DVD”
Track length: ???

Live: Acoustic
from “Murmurs 1”
Track length: ???

 

Compilations

Album Name
Track length
Version

 

Credits

Vocals, Guitar: Sarah McLachlan
Bass, Shaker: Pierre Marchand
Hammond B3: David Kershaw
Drums: Ash Sood

 

Collaborations

 

Trivia/Notes

 

Sarah says

“Wait is another song describing love’s contradictions: “There is a love that’s inherently given/The kind of love offered to deceive. ” “It’s about how love is set up to be this high-falutin’ unconditional love, and that just doesn’t really exist,” Sarah says. “But it’s offered up as this ideal that you can have. There’s no perfect love. You can get damn close, but there’s going to be something…”
– Impact magazine, December 1993

“It’s sort of about loss of innocence and the feeling that for every generation, with every generation, there is a group of individuals who will go outside of the norm and outside of society. We’ll be the outcasts, and we’ll try to make a difference. But it seems, eventually, they all get sucked back in, or they lose their minds completely, so it was kind of a sad thing for me. But I still have that idealism.”
– World Cafe Radio interview in March 1994

 

Video