Earlier entries of this series can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3065&p=45337&hilit=archive#p45337
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“I could be lost inside their lies without a trace / But every time I close my eyes I see your face”
52. Sting – If I Ever Lose My Faith in You
The facts:
Year: 1993.
Genre: Pop.
Country: United Kingdom.
Album: Ten Summoner’s Tales.
Acclaimed Music ranking: #5668.
Song ranking on Acclaimed Music in the artist’s discography: 2nd.
Ranks higher than We Can Be Together by Jefferson Airplane, but lower than Peaches en Regalia by Frank Zappa.
Place in the Acclaimed Music Song Poll 2015: Unranked.
The people:
Produced by Sting & Hugh Padgham
Lyrics by Sting.
Vocals by Sting.
Guitar by Dominic Miller & Sting.
Drums by Vinnie Colaiuta.
Keyboards by David Sancious.
Bass by Sting.
Harmonica by Sting.
The opinion:
Was there ever any sting in Sting? You’d expect it with such a name, yet to me it seems he exhausted all his inner rage when shouting “Roxanne” at the beginning of his career. His early band The Police is sometimes grouped together with the punk bands of the time, but they were always too mellow for that genre. Perhaps it is Sting’s start in jazz as a teenager that made sure there a certain laidback feeling would never be lost. When Sting left that group he seemed to become even more calm. His lyrics frequently reflected politics and might have had a strident side to them, but as a singer and musician Sting seems more happy in the role of a calm musical guru than as a real protest singer with a sting.
Sting’s worldview as presented through his lyrics usually strikes me as naïve and simple, which makes him not too impressive as a social commentator, but it does bring a kind of romantic vision with it that sometimes works very well. By the time Sting came around to work on Ten Summoner’s Tales in 1993 he had abandoned any pretence of rock, embraced pop and given fully into his idealistic viewpoint. Ten Summoner’s Tales is, I think, hated as much as loved, but oddly it seems to me the solo album that is most true to his spirit. Other artists seem to lose something when going pop later in life, but not necessarily Sting. It’s perhaps his best work, not counting The Police.
I should add to that statement that I’ve never been too impressed with Sting or even The Police. They were a fine band, but never struck me as all that unique or brilliant. Sting’s solo career is mostly high quality easy listening. At least on Ten Summoner’s Tales he makes some of the best easy listening recordings ever. Fields of Gold seems to be easy to hate, but I can’t help loving its unashamedly old-fashioned imagery that comes straight out of the 19th century. Love is Stronger than Justice is plain fun, with its hard-boiled romance in the old west. Shape of My Heart tops probably every attempt at love Sting has tried to put to song. If The Police were part of the New Romantics movement, solo Sting should be christened the leader of the Old Romantics movement.
Of course, the most famous song of the album (bar perhaps Fields of Gold) is another love song: If I Ever Lose My Faith in You. In it Sting claims he has lost faith in everything from science to religion, but he still believes in that one person he sings the song to. It’s two birds in one stone: Sting gets to criticize the world for all its failings while extolling his believe in true love. If he could not trust that person anymore he wouldn’t ever be able to trust anything or anyone anymore. Of course, this will not happen: this match is meant to be.
This could easily been seen as Sting’s grandest statement in his believes, but if you ask me he only succeeds from a lyrical viewpoint. The music is pretty lacklustre. The song was a world-wide hit and is a classic of Sting’s solo catalogue so I’m pretty alone in this view. All I can say is that Ten Summoner’s Tales has about seven to nine songs that I like more. This could and should have been the big crowning achievement of Sting’s career, but it is very forgettable to my ears.
Here – almost paradoxically - it are actually Sting’s pop stylings that get in the way. The song sounds like an average crowd pleaser of the 80’s, which is bad enough, but especially disappointing if you see that this came out in 1993. It could have been a subdued recording by Foreigner or a watered-down Toto song. Looking further back it could have been an awesome soul song of the sixties, sung with deep feeling by someone with a rich voice. Sting isn’t that great a singer and doesn’t reach these depths.
What we are left with here are some catchy hooks, but even those don’t seem that memorable. Musically, the stand-out element is the harmonica and even there Sting didn’t exactly push himself to create something memorable. Other tracks of its parent album are greatly enlivened by some strong percussion and piano work, which only play a weak supporting part here. I don’t mean to say If I Ever Lose My Faith in You is really bad. It just comes off as an uninspired Sting track to fill up the album.
It is a song waiting to be rescued by a better singer for a strong cover. Which is what actually happened!
5/10
Other versions:
As I said, this could have been a great sixties soul song. We never got one of the sixties greats performing this in their latter day, but some other artists have taken a more soulful approach to strong effect. With so many songs in this series getting lacklustre covers it’s nice to see an entry actually being outdone by many of its follow-ups.
Natalie Cole takes the soul-route, but in a very modern way and gives the song the emotion it practically begs for. Fay Claassen is more traditional, but in a good way. Laith Al-Deen turns it into a confessional singer-songwriter type of work-out and the song holds up nicely that way. Anette Vedvik basically out-jazzes anything Sting ever did. The group Vitamin Swing actually did a full-blown free jazz variation of the song and it is quite nice, if not exactly essential. There is also the obligatory a-capella version, this time by Stanford Mixed Company. In an odd twist, it sounds more interesting from an “instrumental arrangement” point of view than Sting’s original. And there is also a live-recording by Lady Gaga, see below, that finally and somewhat unexpectedly makes it into a Aretha Franklin (or perhaps Tina Turner) like belter. The sting-puns in her version are a bit much, but it is great nonetheless.
There are also a few forgettable covers, but most songs would already be happy with so many good ones. Perhaps a song that is lacking something special makes it more open to inspired interpretations. But if this is all too much and Sting’s version is also too loud I have good news: there is an actual lounge version included in the playlist below, by a group actually called The Butterfly Chillout Ensemble. Relax and feel the love.
The playlist:
