Hold On (Triumph song)
"Hold On" is a song by the band Triumph. It appeared on their album Just a Game (1979) and was also released as a single. The single was released on August 6, 1979 and rose to number 38 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written by Rik Emmett. History Rik Emmett said the song started as he was singing open vowels over some chord changes, and then he started saying the words "Hold on, hold on" out of holding the open vowel notes. "So now I was going to say, "Okay, so the song's going to be called 'Hold On.' What am I going to hold on for? Well, I'm going to hold on to my dreams." Then the lyrics grew backwards out of the hook," he said. The introduction's verses were a poem Rik Emmett had written for English class in high school. Emmett often sings the second verse after the bridge in live performances, and wishes he would have done so on the original recording. The disco breakdown was inspired by the R&B scene in Toronto in the late 1970s, and the post-breakdown guitar chords had up to 24 tracks layered on top of each other.