There’s no mystery about it, Sarah McLachlan is a national treasure and there’s little need to recount her history here. Just the music – and what music it is: the classic “Building a Mystery,” rendered at the magnificent Red Rocks amphitheatre near Denver, and with the Colorado Symphony backing to boot.

McLachlan reveals in the clip that it is her first orchestral performance, and the results are spine tingling.

‘Mystery,’ from the Halifax-native’s fourth album Surfacing, was released in 1997 and was the top song in Canada that year. It also earned her a Grammy the following year for best female pop vocal performance.

This performance took place in 2011, and they don’t come any better.

Lyrics

You come out at night
That’s when the energy comes
And the dark side’s light
And the vampires roam
You strut your Rasta wear
And your suicide poem
And a cross from a faith
That died before Jesus came
You’re building a mystery

You live in a church
Where you sleep with voodoo dolls
And you won’t give up the search
For the ghosts in the halls
You wear sandals in the snow
And a smile that won’t wash away
Can you look out the window
Without your shadow getting in the way?
Oh you’re so beautiful
With an edge and a charm
But so careful
When I’m in your arms

‘Cause you’re working
Building a mystery
Holding on and holding it in
Yeah you’re working
Building a mystery
And choosing so carefully

You woke up screaming aloud
A prayer from your secret god
You feed off our fears
And hold back your tears
Oh, give us a tantrum
And a know it all grin
Just when we need one
When the evening’s thin

You’re so beautiful
A beautiful fucked up man
You’re setting up your
Razor-wire shrine

‘Cause you’re working
Building a mystery
Holding on and holding it in
Yeah you’re working
Building a mystery
And choosing so carefully
Ooh, you’re working
Building a mystery
Holding on and holding it in
Yeah you’re working
Building a mystery
And choosing so carefully