Sumner's Tales: Sting talks...

"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."
'Ten Summoner's Tales' Promotional Interview Disc, '93

"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."
'Ten Summoner's Tales' Promotional Interview Disc, '93

"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. I'm not sure where that hope is pinned, but it's there somewhere. I'm never specific, in the song, about what I have faith in still. It could be in romantic love, it could be in another person, it could be in myself, it could be in God. And yet I'm very specific about the things I have lost faith in. I think that captured a mood, and people responded to it. Or maybe they just responded to the melody. It's not unmelodic."
Independent On Sunday, 11/94

"The song 'If I Ever Lose My Faith In You' is a statement, I suppose, about my beliefs, and that I'd lost a lot of faith in institutions, institutions that were designed to sustain us, like government, church, and television. And yet I still maintain faith in life itself, I still have a sense of hope and of optimism even though it's harder to define the things I have lost faith in. I define very carefully the things I have lost faith in and then define very vaguely what I keep faith in."
'All This Time' CD-Rom, 1995

On the promotional video for the song...
"As I was making the video for 'If I Ever Lose My Faith In You', I was on this wheel, kind of whirling around, and there were crucifixes going around my head, and I was wondering what the hell does this mean I had no idea. I think this was the director's idea - I'm not really taking much responsibility for that. It was a cool visual image, but it doesn't have any particular meaning."
'All This Time' CD-Rom, 1995

"The song 'If I Ever Lose My Faith in You', I knew it had a hook. I thought it could be a flagship. Once you've got a flagship, you can sail, but until you've got one of those, there's not really much point in putting a record out."
Rolling Stone, 5/93

"I think to have faith in nothing at all is to run pretty close to madness. I think insanity is very close behind if you are totally nihilistic about everything. I mean there's a certain latter twentieth century existentialist who believes in nothing and is just a kind of dark figure in a raincoat. It's a kind of romantic image which we've adopted in the cinema and other places, but I don't want to that person. I don't think it's particularly helpful. You've got to believe in something."
'All This Time' CD-Rom, 1995

"That song is interesting, because while it's very easy to define what one may have lost faith in - and you can list them: governments, the church, all the things you're supposed to have as crutches in our society that have proved to be fake - I found that it's not so easy to define what you still have faith in, so the song doesn't. It s very uplifting when you get to the chorus, but I don't state whether it's God, self acceptance or romantic love that I'm optimistic about."
Billboard, 2/93

"There are things that are sacred, There are also things that are so strong and powerful that any amount of irreverence will not damage them one bit. I'm always suspicious about organisations that seem very brittle and very reactive to criticism, and I think, 'How strong is your faith if you think a little pin prick like this can destroy you' I like being irreverent but I also like being reverent - everything has a time and place."
'All This Time' CD-Rom, 1995

'If I Ever Lose My Faith In You' was the first single to be taken from 1993's 'Ten Summoner's Tales' album, reaching the #14 position in the UK and #17 in the States. The song has, rightly, been ever present in Sting's set list since 1993, and has gradually moved from set opener in '93 to encore on the last two major tours. A couple of remixes of the track, the 'Miracle Of Science Edit' and the 'Hoax Mix' appeared in early 1994 and live versions also exist from several official sources. The song was also accompanied by a memorable video that was shot at Glastonbury Tor in Somerset and on the South Coast. All the UK single releases featured a live version of 'Every Breath You Take' recorded for MTV's "Unplugged" show, with the CD singles featuring five other tracks from the same programme.