"A Question of Honour" is a 1995 single by soprano
Sarah Brightman
Sarah Brightman (born 14 August 1960) is an English classical crossover soprano singer, actress and dancer.
Brightman began her career as a member of the dance troupe Hot Gossip and released several disco singles as a solo performer. In 1981, ...
, from her album ''
Fly
Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwing ...
''. It peaked at No. 15 on the
German Singles Chart
The GfK Entertainment charts are the official music charts in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindust ...
in the last week of 1995, even though it was released over five months earlier. "A Question of Honour" was also the official song of the championship boxing match between
Henry Maske
Henry Maske (, ; born 6 January 1964) is a German former professional boxer and one of Germany's most popular sports figures. He held the IBF light heavyweight title from 1993 until 1996.
Amateur career
Maske was born in Treu ...
and
Graciano Rocchigiani
Graciano Rocchigiani (29 December 1963 – 1 October 2018) was a German professional boxer who competed from 1983 to 2003. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the IBF super-middleweight title from 1988 to 1989, and the ...
in Germany. In Japan,
TV Asahi
JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Compan ...
adopted the song as the
theme music
Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...
of
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
broadcasting since 2002 and plays it in related television programs.
The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy is an English rock band, formed in 1980 in Leeds. After achieving early underground fame there, the band had their commercial breakthrough in the mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasin ...
front man,
Andrew Eldritch
Andrew Eldritch (born Andrew William Harvey Taylor, 15 May 1959) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He is the frontman and only remaining original member of the Sisters of Mercy, a band that emerged from the British post-punk scene, ...
provides backing vocals in the song.
"A Question of Honour" features an excerpt of
Alfredo Catalani
Alfredo Catalani (19 June 1854 – 7 August 1893) was an Italian operatic composer. He is best remembered for his operas ''Loreley'' (1890) and ''La Wally'' (1892). ''La Wally'' was composed to a libretto by Luigi Illica, and features Catalani's ...
's aria "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana" from ''
La Wally
''La Wally'' is an opera in four acts by composer Alfredo Catalani, to a libretto by Luigi Illica, first performed at La Scala, Milan, on 20 January 1892.
The libretto is based on a hugely successful ' by Wilhelmine von Hillern (1836–1916), ' ...
'', a piece which Brightman later recorded in full for her album ''
Time to Say Goodbye''. The extended mix of the song, released on the standard CD single and ''
Harem Tour'' album, was mastered differently from the album version and features additional instrumentation. B-side "On the Nile", a rendition of "
My Own Home" from Disney's ''
The Jungle Book
''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, ...
'' with original lyrics by Brightman, was later made available on the limited edition ''
Fly II''. The "A Whiter Shade of Pale" US single featured all of the "A Question of Honour" remixes from the remix CD.
In 2011 the song was certified by the
Recording Industry Association of Japan
The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969.
The RIAJ's activities include pr ...
as a
Gold single
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
for more than 100,000 digital downloads.
Track listing
CD single
#"A Question of Honour" (radio edit)
#"A Question of Honour" (extended mix)
#"On the Nile"
Remix CD
#"A Question of Honour" (radio edit)
#"A Question of Honour" (PeCh remix)
#"A Question of Honour" (Knock Out remix)
#"A Question of Honour" (Damage Control mix)
#"A Question of Honour" (
Tom Lord-Alge
Tom Lord-Alge (born January 17, 1963) is an American music engineer and mixer. He began his career at The Hit Factory in New York. Subsequently, he was the resident mixer at what used to be known as "South Beach Studios", located on the ground f ...
mix)
A Whiter Shade of Pale/A Question of Honour
Sarah Brightman released her cover of the
Procol Harum
Procol Harum () were an English rock music, rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea, Essex in 1967. Their best-known recording is the 1967 hit single "A Whiter Shade of Pale", one of the few singles to have List of best-selling singles, sold over ...
song "
A Whiter Shade of Pale
"A Whiter Shade of Pale" is a song by the English rock band Procol Harum that was issued as their debut record on 12 May 1967. The single reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart on 8 June and stayed there for six weeks. Without much promotion, i ...
" as a single with "A Question of Honour" in 2001. "A Whiter Shade of Pale" is from her 2000 album ''
La Luna''.
Track listing
#"A Whiter Shade of Pale" (Radio edit)
#"A Whiter Shade of Pale" (
ATB
André Tanneberger (; born 26 February 1973), better known by his stage name ATB, is a German DJ, musician, and producer of trance music. According to the official world DJ rankings governed by ''DJ Magazine'', ATB was ranked No. 11 in 2009 and ...
remix)
#"A Whiter Shade of Pale" (
Delerium
Delerium is a Canadian new-age ambient electronic musical duo that formed in 1987, originally as a side project of the influential industrial music act Front Line Assembly. Throughout the band’s history, their musical style has encompassed a ...
remix)
#"A Whiter Shade of Pale" (Paralyzer remix)
#"A Whiter Shade of Pale" (ATB radio edit)
#"A Question of Honour" (Radio edit)
#"A Question of Honour" (Pech remix)
#"A Question of Honour" (Knock out mix)
#"A Question of Honour" (Damage control mix)
#"A Question of Honour" (Tom Lord-Alge mix)
Charts
Certifications
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Question of Honour, A
1995 singles
2001 singles
Sarah Brightman songs
1995 songs
Song recordings produced by Frank Peterson
East West Records singles
Songs written by Frank Peterson