"If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" is a song by English singer-songwriterSting, released on 1 February 1993 byA&M Records as the leadsingle from his fourth studio album,Ten Summoner's Tales (1993). The song, written by him and co-produced with Hugh Padgham, reached number 17 on the USBillboard Hot 100 and the top 40 in several European countries. In Canada, the song reached number one, spending three weeks atop theRPM 100 Hit Tracks chart and finishing 1993 as Canada's fourth-most-successful single.
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 atri-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.[3]
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.[3]
Alan Jones fromMusic 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."[4] In his review of theTen Summoner's Tales album,Andrew Collins fromSelect said, "The manifesto pension-plan-advert love anthem 'If I Ever Lose My Faith in You' is typical of this down-to-earthness."[5]
After the dark vision presented on the albumThe 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."[6]
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."[7]
JazzistGreg Adams composed an instrumental cover of the song, which was featured on his 2006 album,Cool to the Touch.[64] In 2009, trumpeterChris Botti covered the song featuring Sting on vocals. The song was released from the albumChris Botti in Boston.[65][66] American singerLady Gaga also performed the song at the 2014Kennedy Center Honors, where Sting was an honouree.[67] Americanheavy metal bandDisturbed released a cover of "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" in 2020.[68] "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."[69]
^The song begins with a chromatic sequence up from the minor third (C) of A to the flat 5th (E♭), with A minor, A major (C♯), A suspended 4th (D), and A flattened 5th (E♭) chords.
^If I Ever Lose My Faith in You (UK CD1 liner notes).Sting.A&M Records. 1993. AMCD 0172, 580 175-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^If I Ever Lose My Faith in You (UK CD2 liner notes). Sting. A&M Records. 1993. AMCDR 0172, 580 173-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^If I Ever Lose My Faith in You (UK 7-inch single sleeve). Sting. A&M Records. 1993. AM 0172, 580 172-7.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^If I Ever Lose My Faith in You (UK cassette single sleeve). Sting. A&M Records. 1993. AMMC 0172, 580 172-4.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^If I Ever Lose My Faith in You (European CD single liner notes). Sting. A&M Records. 1993. 580 172-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^If I Ever Lose My Faith in You (Australian cassette single sleeve). Sting. A&M Records. 1993. 580 190-4.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^If I Ever Lose My Faith in You (Japanese mini-CD single liner notes). Sting. A&M Records. 1993. PODM-1008.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^If I Ever Lose My Faith in You (European maxi-CD single liner notes). Sting. A&M Records. 1993. 580 201-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^If I Ever Lose My Faith in You (US maxi-CD single liner notes). Sting. A&M Records. 1993. 31458 0111 2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^If I Ever Lose My Faith in You (US cassette single cassette notes). Sting. A&M Records. 1993. 31458 0111 4.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^If I Ever Lose My Faith in You (Australian CD single liner notes). Sting. A&M Records. 1993. 580 191-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^If I Ever Lose My Faith in You (Japanese maxi-CD single liner notes). Sting. A&M Records. 1993. POCM-1022.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^ab"The Year in Music 1993"(PDF).Billboard. Vol. 105, no. 52. 25 December 1993. p. YE-39.Archived(PDF) from the original on 27 June 2021. Retrieved31 March 2025.
