New Order – "True Faith" (1987)

When I was a very small boy,

Very small boys talked to me

Now that we've grown up together

They're all taking drugs with me

You won't hear that last line when you listen to "True Faith."  That's because Stephen Hague, the producer of this song, was afraid it would never get played on the radio if it included that line.  So he persuaded New Order's lead singer, Bernard Sumner, to change "They're all taking drugs with me" to "They're afraid of what they see" when he recorded it.

In a live performance in 1993, Sumner sang these lines instead:

When I was a very small boy

Michael Jackson played with me

Now that we've grown up together

He's playing with my willy

I don't remember if I heard this song on the radio when it was originally released (as a single) in 1987.  And I don't remember what brought it to my attention recently.  But it ended up on my iPod, and now it has ended up on 2 or 3 lines.  

I find "True Faith" totally irresistible despite the fact that it's a twitchy synthpop song that sounds sooooo dated.

But as bad as the music is, the lyrics are even worse.

Here's the first verse:

I feel so extraordinary
Something's got a hold on me
I get this feeling I'm in motion
A sudden sense of liberty

I don't care 'cause I'm not there
And I don't care if I'm here tomorrow
Again and again, I've taken too much
Of the things that cost you too much

(Say what?)

Ending both of last two lines of that verse in "too much" is a particularly inartful touch.  ("Inartful" is a particularly inartful word.)

New Order

I could quote the second and third verses, which are equally pointless.  But why take the time?

Here's the chorus:

I used to think that the day would never come

I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun

My morning sun is the drug that brings me near

To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear

I used to think that the day would never come

That my life would depend on the morning sun

(Is it the morning sun or the shade of the morning sun that is so significant to the singer?  Those are two very different things, aren't they?)

Despite all that, I will probably listen to "True Faith" about five times in a row on my walk tomorrow morning.  I guess you could say it does something to me . . . something that simply mystifies me.  (Tell me – why should it be that "True Faith" has the power to hypnotize me?)

Click here to watch the truly bizarre music video for "True Faith."  It's the best music video ever!

Click below to buy the song on Amazon.