Sumners Tales: Sting talks... It starts off with a flattened fifth. A flat five is an interesting chord because it was banned by the church. Its called a tri-tone, and it was banned by the church - it was the devils 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. Its disconcerting. It puts you ill at ease. So we start that way so that you think its been going on for a while, but it hasnt. The song is in two distinct parts. The first part is about the things Ive lost faith in. Its quite easy to be precise about the things Ive 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 cant define that as easily as I can define what I dont believe in anymore. So I havent defined it, Ive 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 dont define it. I think its important not to define it, because once you can define something it evaporates. I think its 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. 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. Weve 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. Im not sure where that hope is pinned, but its there somewhere. Im 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 Im 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. Its not unmelodic. The song If I Ever Lose My Faith In You is a statement, I suppose, about my beliefs, and that Id 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 its 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. 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 directors idea - Im not really taking much responsibility for that. It was a cool visual image, but it doesnt have any particular meaning. 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 theres a certain latter twentieth century existentialist who believes in nothing and is just a kind of dark figure in a raincoat. Its a kind of romantic image which weve adopted in the cinema and other places, but I dont want to that person. I dont think its particularly helpful. Youve got to believe in something. That song is interesting, because while its very easy to define what one may have lost faith in - and you can list them: governments, the church, all the things youre supposed to have as crutches in our society that have proved to be fake - I found that its not so easy to define what you still have faith in, so the song doesnt. It s very uplifting when you get to the chorus, but I dont state whether its God, self acceptance or romantic love that Im optimistic about. 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. Im 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. https://youtube/watch?v=cye8eT_eoqU
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 02:25:23 +0000
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