I Believe (Blessid Union of Souls song)

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"I Believe"
Single by Blessid Union of Souls
from the album Home
ReleasedFebruary 1995
Length4:27
LabelEMI
Songwriter(s)Eliot Sloan
Producer(s)Emosia
Blessid Union of Souls singles chronology
"Let Me Be the One"
(1995) 		"I Believe"
(1995) 		"All Along"
(1996)
Audio
"I Believe" on YouTube

"I Believe" is a single by the American alternative rock band Blessid Union of Souls from their 1995 debut album, Home. Vocalist Eliot Sloan wrote the song after the father of his girlfriend "Lisa" forced her to stop dating Sloan because of his race. "I Believe" is the band's highest-charting single in the United States, reaching number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, and it became a top-20 hit in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

History[edit]

According to the "I Believe Story" from Blessid Union of Souls's compilation album Almost Acoustic (Volume 1), the song was written by vocalist Eliot Sloan in the early morning when he imagined the main piano sample which would be used in the song and then played it.

I always tell people, and it's the truth, 'I Believe' was written in the middle of the night at about three in the morning. I always used to live in downtown Cincinnati, a really cool spiral staircase up to my bedroom, which kind of ended up as my studio. I kept a piano there that my mother got me when I was nine. In the middle of the night I was hearing the melody and I thought, 'this is pretty.' I just had to get up and play it.

Eliot Sloan stated in an interview with The Celebrity Cafe that he wrote the song about his relationship with "Lisa", a girl he once dated. Lisa's father allegedly threatened to cut off her college tuition if she continued to see Eliot. They said good-bye and went their separate ways. He said that he still very much missed her, and placed a message in the liner notes of Home: "Lisa, give me a call sometime just to say hello, my number is still the same."[1][2]

In the 2001 compilation album, Blessid Union of Souls: The Singles, the song was re-recorded in a punk-reggae style.[3]

Lyrics[edit]

In an interview with thecelebritycafe.com, Eliot Sloan said "when I sing 'Love will find a way,' I mean 'God will find a way,'" and that he has always believed that "God is love". While the song uses fairly subtle Christian themes, as do many of the band's songs, they tried to make it not sound too preachy.[4]

Well, it's like... when we did that song, we were just like... there were so many things going on in society. We just wanted to do something positive. We just wanted to touch on a lot of points that society seems to be having a little trouble with as a whole. Racism was one of the things we wanted to distill in the song. So we were like, wanted to mention something about a relationship that I was in that people could relate to. It's really cool because a lot of people have been really relating to that. A lot of people have been in relationships where their parents or their friends didn't want them seeing this other person for whatever reason, whether it was race, religion or background, or whatever. We just really believe that love is the answer to this stuff. Without it trying to sound hokey or whatever that's just the honest to good answer. I'm a witness to that. I get along with anybody who's open minded, and who has an open heart to things. That's the same with everybody in this band. We've all got different backgrounds and we all agree on the same things. This is just one of them. There doesn't have to be this much tension out there. There really doesn't. We feel like it's very unnecessary in a lot of situations. We just wanted to install some hope in people and hopefully people will listen to the lyrics and get that out of the song."

— Eliot Sloan, in an interview with the Celebrity Cafe.[1]

On the edited version for radio, the word "nigger" in the third verse is replaced with "brother".

Critical reception[edit]

In a review of Home by AllMusic, staff writer Tom Demalon said that the song "revealed the band to have more of a social conscience than similar acts such as Hootie & the Blowfish through the spiritually tinged lyrics."[5] In a review by Rolling Stone, staff writer Paul Evans called the song "all righteous, wide-eyed affirmation".[6]

Music video[edit]

The music video, directed by Michael Salomon, shows the band members singing the song, interspersed with footage representing the ideas of the song.

Track listings[edit]

  • UK CD single
  1. "I Believe" (radio mix) – 3:45
  2. "Heaven" – 4:33
  3. "I Believe" (original version) – 3:45
  4. "I Believe" (Blessid Q mix) – 4:02
  • US cassette single
A1. "I Believe" (original mix) – 4:37
B1. "I Believe" (album mix) – 4:17
B2. "Heaven" – 4:33

Charts[edit]

Release history[edit]

Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref.
United States February 1995 Cassette EMI
United Kingdom May 15, 1995
  • 7-inch vinyl
  • CD
  • cassette
 [26]
Japan June 16, 1995 Mini-CD [27]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Miserandino, Dominick A. "Blessid Union of Souls Eliot Sloan". The Celebrity Cafe. Archived from the original on September 26, 2008. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
  2. ^ Home liner notes
  3. ^ Matuszewska, Anna Maria (October 10, 2001). "Blessid Union of Souls to perform at OU" (PDF). Oakland University. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
  4. ^ "T&T Management and Booking Agency - Blessid Union of Souls". Tbtbooking.com. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
  5. ^ Demalon, Tom. "allmusic (((Home > Overview)))". AllMusic. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
  6. ^ Evans, Paul (February 2, 1998). "Blessid Union of Souls: Home : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on July 24, 2008. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
  7. ^ "Blessid Union of Souls – I Believe". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  8. ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 8998." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  9. ^ "Top RPM Adult Contemporary: Issue 9223." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  10. ^ "European Dance Radio" (PDF). Music & Media. June 10, 1995. p. 22. Retrieved April 23, 2023.
  11. ^ "Blessid Union of Souls – I Believe" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  12. ^ "Íslenski Listinn Topp 40 (25.3. '95 – 31.3. '95)". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). March 25, 1995. p. 26. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  13. ^ "Blessid Union of Souls – I Believe". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  14. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  15. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
  16. ^ "Billboard Hot 100". Billboard. June 10, 1995. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
  17. ^ "Adult Contemporary". Billboard. July 8, 1995. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
  18. ^ "Adult Pop Airplay". Billboard. October 7, 1995. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
  19. ^ "Pop Airplay". Billboard. May 6, 1995. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
  20. ^ "Rhythmic Airplay". Billboard. June 24, 1995. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
  21. ^ "RPM Top 100 Hit Tracks of 1995". RPM. Retrieved May 20, 2020 – via Library and Archives Canada.
  22. ^ "RPM Top 100 Adult Contemporary Tracks of 1995". RPM. Retrieved May 20, 2020 – via Library and Archives Canada.
  23. ^ "Billboard Top 100 – 1995". Archived from the original on August 15, 2009. Retrieved August 27, 2010.
  24. ^ "The Year in Music: Hot Adult Contemporary Singles & Tracks" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 107, no. 51. December 23, 1995. p. YE-80. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 28, 2021. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
  25. ^ "The Year in Music 1995: Top 40/Mainstream Top Titles". Airplay Monitor. Vol. 3, no. 51. December 15, 1995. p. 8.
  26. ^ "New Releases: Singles". Music Week. May 13, 1995. p. 39.
  27. ^ "アイ・ビリーブ | ブレシッド・ユニオン・オブ・ソウルズ" [I Believe | Blessid Union of Souls] (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
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