Feel No Pain
{{Short description|1992 single by Sade}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Feel No Pain
| cover = Sade - Feel No Pain.png
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Sade
| album = Love Deluxe
| B-side = "Love Is Stronger Than Pride" (Mad Professor remix)
| released = {{Start date|1992|11|16|df=yes}}{{cite magazine|title=New Releases: Singles|magazine=Music Week|page=25|date=14 November 1992}}
| recorded =
| studio =
| genre = *Funk{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/25/arts/recordings-view-with-a-quiet-empathy-sade-creates-small-gems.html|title=Recordings View; With a Quiet Empathy, Sade Creates Small Gems|first=Stephen|last=Holden|date=25 October 1992|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=9 February 2025|quote="It is not the only song on "Love Deluxe" to address a social ill. In a completely different groove, "Feel No Pain," a catchy funk song, examines unemployment among blacks, asks for help and predicts tragedy if none arrives."}}
| length = 5:08
| label = Epic
| writer =
- Sade Adu
- Andrew Hale
- Stuart Matthewman
| producer = Sade
| prev_title = No Ordinary Love
| prev_year = 1992
| next_title = Kiss of Life
| next_year = 1993
| misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|yoLoEw8D0Bg|"Feel No Pain"}}}}
}}
"Feel No Pain" is a song by English band Sade from their fourth studio album, Love Deluxe (1992). It was released as the album's second single on 16 November 1992, as the follow-up to "No Ordinary Love", and peaked at number 56 on the UK Singles Chart.
Critical reception
Larry Flick from Billboard complimented "Feel No Pain" as a "luscious slow jam" and "by far, the album's most accessible cut." He explained, "A creative shuffle beat is embellished with subtle and bluesy guitar picking and steamy keyboard passages. Of course, Sade's unique voice is the focal point at all times."{{cite magazine|first= Larry |last= Flick |title= Single Reviews |magazine= Billboard |date= 15 May 1993 |page= 84 |url= https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/90s/1993/BB-1993-05-15.pdf |issn=0006-2510 |via=World Radio History |author-link=Larry Flick}} Andrew Smith from Melody Maker said, "Sade fashions a polite modern soul, sterile and stripped of ambiguity."{{cite magazine|first=Andrew|last=Smith|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/nothingelseon/52749328968/|title=Singles|magazine=Melody Maker|date=28 November 1992|page=28|accessdate=29 March 2023}} A reviewer from Music & Media wrote, "Laid back but nonetheless driven, the second single from the Love Deluxe album is not completely painless, because the repetitive bass pattern makes you tap your feet until they hurt, especially through Nellee Hooper's dance remix."{{cite magazine|title= New Releases: Singles |magazine= Music & Media |date= 5 December 1992 |page= 10 |url= https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/90s/1992/MM-1992-12-05.pdf |oclc=29800226 |via=World Radio History}}
Retrospective response
In a 2017 retrospective review, Justin Chadwick from Albumism described the song as a "percussive" and "compassionate call-to-arms that reminds us to treat the poverty-stricken with the dignity and decency they deserve, while encouraging us to do what we can to ease people's suffering in times of financial turmoil and family upheaval."{{cite web|first= Justin |last= Chadwick |title= Sade's 'Love Deluxe' Turns 25: Anniversary Retrospective |website= Albumism |date= 24 October 2017 |access-date= 17 November 2020 |url= https://www.albumism.com/features/tribute-celebrating-25-years-of-sade-love-deluxe}} In 2010, the Daily Vault's Mark Millan said that it "comes off as a cool, breezy, and somewhat groovy funk song." He also noted "the icy vocals [that] are in complete contrast with the club-ready, slow-burning track."{{cite web|first= Mark |last= Millan |title= Love Deluxe – Sade |publisher= The Daily Vault |date= 30 December 2010 |access-date= 20 November 2020 |url= http://dailyvault.com/toc.php5?review=6766}}
Frank Guan from Vulture wrote, "All Sade songs are socially engaged at some level, but of the ones that directly reference politics, this is one of the best. Instead of telling the story of a black family trapped by layoffs, poverty, unemployment, and hatred from the third-person, Sade locates herself within its daughter as a first-person narrator. Her intimation that a society that refuses to support its least fortunate members will end in ruin for all doesn't come off as a sermon, but an experience deeply lived. The supporting cast turns in one of its best performances, evoking a spirit at once buoyant, concerned, and trapped."{{cite web |last=Guan |first=Frank |url=https://www.vulture.com/2017/10/all-73-sade-songs-ranked-from-worst-to-best.html |title=All 73 Sade Songs, Ranked From Worst to Best |website=Vulture |date=26 October 2017 |access-date=21 June 2019}}
Track listings
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- UK and European 7-inch single
:A. "Feel No Pain" – 5:08
:B. "Love Is Stronger Than Pride" (Mad Professor remix) – 4:25
- US 7-inch single
:A. "Feel No Pain" – 3:45
:B. "Love Is Stronger Than Pride" (Mad Professor remix) – 4:25
- UK and European 12-inch single
:A1. "Feel No Pain" (Nellee Hooper remix) – 5:09
:A2. "Feel No Pain" (album version) – 5:07
:B1. "Love Is Stronger Than Pride" (Mad Professor remix) – 4:25
:B2. "Feel No Pain" (Nellee's bonus beats) – 3:12
- European CD single / Japanese mini CD single / US and Dutch cassette single
- "Feel No Pain" – 3:47
- "Love Is Stronger Than Pride" (Mad Professor remix) – 4:27
{{col-2}}
- UK and European CD maxi single
- "Feel No Pain" (album version) – 5:08
- "Love Is Stronger Than Pride" (Mad Professor remix) – 4:25
- "Feel No Pain" (version) – 5:29
- UK CD single – Nellee Hooper Mixes
- "Feel No Pain" (Nellee Hooper remix) – 5:09
- "Feel No Pain" (album version) – 5:07
- "Love Is Stronger Than Pride" (Mad Professor remix) – 4:25
- "Feel No Pain" (Nellee's bonus beats) – 3:12
{{col-end}}
Charts
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Sade}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Song recordings produced by Mike Pela
Category:Songs written by Sade (singer)
Category:Songs written by Stuart Matthewman
{{1990s-R&B-song-stub}}