"If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" is a song by English singer-songwriter Sting, released on 1 February 1993 by A&M Records as the lead single from his fourth studio album, Ten Summoner`s Tales (1993). The song reached number 17 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the top 40 in several European countries. In Canada, the song reached number one, spending three weeks atop the RPM 100 Hit Tracks chart and finishing 1993 as Canada`s fourth-most-successful single.

In 1994, the song won Sting a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, while it was also nominated for both Record of the Year and for Song of the Year.[2][3] It has been included on all of Sting`s compilation albums since its release, namely Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984–1994 and The Very Best of Sting & The Police.

Composition

The song, in the key of A major, is played in swing time. According to Sting, the song was written on the piano, and contains a flattened fifth in the song`s intro,[a] which he says was banned in the churches due to its dissonant sound:

It starts off with a flattened fifth. A flat five is an interesting chord because it was banned by the church. It`s called a tri-tone, and it was banned by the church – it was the devil`s music. Blues music is based on the tri-tone, and in sacred music from the middle-ages, the Pope banned the tri-tone, the flattened fifth. It`s disconcerting. It puts you ill at ease. So we start that way so that you think it`s been going on for a while, but it hasn`t.[4]

The "You" in the song`s title is not identified by Sting, as he felt it was important not to point out what it is specifically so that the listeners could connect more with the song:

The song is in two distinct parts. The first part is about the things I`ve lost faith in. It`s quite easy to be precise about the things I`ve lost faith in – politics, media, science, technology, the things that everybody has, and yet I along with most other people have a great deal of hope, and a feeling that things will and can get better. So what do we place our faith in I can`t define that as easily as I can define what I don`t believe in anymore. So I haven`t defined it, I`ve just said if I ever lose my faith in you, and "You" could be my producer, it could be faith in God, it could be faith in myself, or it could be faith in romantic love. It could be all of those things, I don`t define it. I think it`s important not to define it, because once you can define something it evaporates. I think it`s important in this day and age when we are dictated to by music television what a particular song is about, that the old ambiguity that songs had can be retained.[4]

Critical reception

Alan Jones from Music Week gave the song three out of five, writing, "Less gloomy and more immediate commercial than some of his solo material, though it won`t hit the high numbers."[5] In his review of the Ten Summoner`s Tales album, Andrew Collins from Select said, "The manifesto pension-plan-advert love anthem `If I Ever Lose My Faith in You` is typical of this down-to-earthness."[6]

After the dark vision presented on the album The Soul Cages, Sting wanted to "make a pop record in the truest sense" stating, "Being on the rebound from that very dark record, this time I wanted to make one for the fun of it, the craft of it – to engage the band musically."[7]

Sting was surprised by how popular the song became, stating: "I got a prize for this. It was the most played record on American radio in 1993, which kind of surprised me. But I suppose it captured a mood. We`ve lost faith in a lot of institutions, our government, our churches – most things. And yet we still maintain a sense of hope about the future."[8]

Track listings

Credits

• Sting – bass, vocals, guitar, harmonica; producer on track 1
• Dominic Miller – guitars
• David Sancious – keyboards; piano on tracks 2-4
• Vinnie Colaiuta – drums
• Vinx – percussion and backing vocals on tracks 2-4
• Hugh Padgham – producer on track 1
• Joel Gallen – executive producer on tracks 2-4
• Alex Coletti – producer on tracks 2-4

Charts

Cover versions

Jazzist Greg Adams composed an instrumental cover of the song, which was featured on his 2006 album, Cool to the Touch.[59] In 2009, trumpeter Chris Botti covered the song featuring Sting on vocals. The song was released from the album Chris Botti in Boston.[60][61] American singer Lady Gaga also performed the song at the 2014 Kennedy Center Honors, where Sting was an honouree.[62] American heavy metal band Disturbed released a cover of "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" in 2020.[63] "We have loved this song for a long time, and even though it was released in 1993, it seems strangely applicable to today`s world," stated the band. "The song is about losing faith, and might initially sound pessimistic, but it`s about the importance and power of personal relationships, and how they can save you and provide solace in an increasingly confusing world."[64]