I Will Remember You (Sarah McLachlan song)


"I Will Remember You" is a song written by Sarah McLachlan, Séamus Egan and Dave Merenda. The original inspiration came from Seamus Egan's instrumental song, "Weep Not for the Memories", which appeared on his album A Week in January. McLachlan and Merenda added lyrics and modified the melody for her version. The song first appeared on the soundtrack for the movie The Brothers McMullen in 1995 and was released the same year, when it peaked at number 65 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 10 in Canada. It was also featured on McLachlan's 1996 remix album, Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff. The Rarities version of the song has three verses, the first of which is omitted during live performances, as heard on her 1999 album Mirrorball.
In 1999 McLachlan released the live version of the song from Mirrorball; this release peaked at number 14 in the United States on July 20, 1999, and number 10 in Canada on July 26, topping the country's adult contemporary chart on August 16 and August 23. The live version went Gold in the United States and earned McLachlan her second Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 2000. McLachlan performed the song during an "in memoriam" slide show at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards, held on September 20, 2009.

Reception

On the week ending January 20, 1996, the original recording of the song peaked at number 54 on the Billboard Hot 100 Single Sales chart and number 65 on Hot 100 Singles chart.
The live rerecording of the song peaked number three at the Adult Top 40 chart in July and August 1999 and also number three at the Adult Contemporary chart in August and September 1999.
On the week ending July 31, 1999, it peaked at number fourteen on the Hot 100 chart and number seven at the Hot 100 Airplay chart.
The song has sold more than two million copies worldwide as of February 2000.
Billboard reviewer Brett Atwood praised the vocal delivery on the studio version along with the "detailed" guitar and piano lines.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
Canada Top Singles 63
Canada Adult Contemporary 9
US Billboard Hot 10070
US Adult Top 40 13

Certifications

Covers

This song was covered by Kenny Rogers on his 1999 album, She Rides Wild Horses.
Séamus Egan's band Solas included a version of the song on their 2000 album The Hour Before Dawn.
Andy Bernard sings an acoustic version of the song on the ninth-season episode of The Office entitled "Livin' the Dream".
This song opened the series finale of Melrose Place "Ashes to Ashes" in 1999.