"I Believe" is a single by the American alternative rock band

Blessid Union of Souls Blessid Union of Souls (sometimes abbreviated to Blessid Union or BUOS) is an American alternative rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio, that was formed in 1990 by friends Jeff Pence and Eliot Sloan. The band's first studio album, ''Home'', had s ...

from their 1995 debut album, ''

Home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...

''. It is one of their most popular songs, and their highest-charting in the United States, reaching number eight on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Vocalist Eliot Sloan wrote the song after the father of his girlfriend "Lisa" forced her to stop dating Sloan because of his race.

History

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

Lyrics

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 Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

themes, as do many of the band's songs, they tried to make it not sound too preachy. On the edited version for radio, the word "nigger" in the third verse is replaced with "brother".

Music video

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

Critical reception

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." In a review by '' Rolling Stone'', staff writer Paul Evans called the song "all righteous, wide-eyed affirmation". In 2003, the song was featured as the ending theme for the '' Cold Case'' episode "Hitchhiker".

Track listing

UK CD single # "I Believe" (Radio Mix) – 3:45 # "Heaven" – 4:33 # "I Believe" (Original Version) – 3:45 # "I Believe" (Blessid Q Mix) – 4:02 US Cassette single Side A # "I Believe" (Original Mix) – 4:37 Side B # "I Believe" (Album Mix) – 4:17 # "Heaven" – 4:33

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

The music video
hosted on YouTube. {{Blessid Union of Souls 1995 singles Blessid Union of Souls songs EMI Records singles Music videos directed by Michael Salomon Songs against racism and xenophobia