Hanging By A Moment - Background and Composition

Background and Composition

"I was eight songs into finishing the record, doing a vocal, and I heard the melody in my head before it was written. I couldn't tell if it was a song on the radio that I had heard or if it was a song my friend wrote or something. I picked up a guitar and it was kind of creepy, because the song was almost already written by itself. Within five minutes, the lyrics and everything else were finished. We tracked it the next week and it ended up being the first single. It was funny, because I felt there was another song that needed to be written during the project that was more upbeat and less moody."

—Wade talking about the development of "Hanging by a Moment".

The song was written by Lifehouse lead singer Jason Wade. It was produced by American record producer Ron Aniello and was mixed by Brendan O'Brien. When asked about the song in an interview with Billboard, Wade said, "It was the most uptempo, radio-friendly song. We all decided it was the right choice to release it as the first single." He went on to describe his expectations when writing songs, saying, "My ultimate goal in writing songs is to connect with people. In the lyrics, you don't tell the whole picture: You give a road to start on that people can relate to. We're honest, nice guys and I hope that comes across in everything we do." After being asked how he wrote the song in an interview with Launch, Wade explained, "I wrote that song without thinking about what was gonna happen to it and then it just kinda took over from there." He also said in the interview that he wrote "Hanging by a Moment" in about five minutes.

"Hanging by a Moment" was described as a post-grunge and alternative rock song that contains a strong melody. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, the song is set in common time with a "moderate rock" tempo of 124 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of D major with Wade's vocal range spanning from the low-note of A₃ to the high-note of G₅. In an interview with Billboard, lead singer and guitarist of Lifehouse, Jason Wade, described the song as an "uptempo, radio-friendly song". Bill Lamb of About.com called the song "one of the biggest rock hits ever by a Contemporary Christian band crossing over into the mainstream. The song was the biggest hit of summer 2001 and was eventually named the most played song of the year on the radio." The song was described by John DiBiase of Jesus Freak Hideout as "a song clearly a cry out to God". Sean Rizzo of Sputnikmusic says that the song "presents one of the best with the guitar’s plucking during the verses and a chorus infectious enough to infiltrate your brain for a few days."