News
Montreux Jazz Festival has revealed its full 2026 lineup with RAYE, Nick Cave and PinkPantheress
Returning to the shores of Lake Geneva this July, the Swiss festival marks its 60th edition.
Mar 31, 2026 • 4:16 PM
About This Track
"If You Can't Love Me" is a track by Sting, from the album 57TH & 9TH (Deluxe), released 11th November 2016. The track is 4:34 long. It's filed under Rock. Full lyrics are available below. Dork has published 3 articles about Sting.
About the Artist
Lyrics
Please sit down, just talk to me We'll see if we can talk this through I've tried so hard to understand it Just tell me something that's close to the truth I'd rather you were cruel than kind Is all that I'm demanding I've given up on peace of mind For the open wound of understanding You can't be here and someplace else If your mind is in that other place You're trying to convince yourself But you're lying in my face I've listened 'til my head would spin I don't want half of anything The sand sits in the hourglass And time slips through our fingers fast Your counterfeits deceived me If you can't love me this way Then you must leave me Tell me how it came to this Just don't think to spare me this Perhaps the truth can set us free From the half truths ensnaring you and me This black hole of intensity Collapses on its density And sucks me to a darker place That hides behind a broken face Keep up appearances they say And all those reasons you might stay Ring hollow in my mind today I've listened 'til my head would spin I don't want half of anything I don't want half of anything The fields are sown with seeds of doubt The wine is warm, you spit it out This drinking won't relieve me If you can't love me this way If you can't love me this way If you can't love me this way Then you must leave me The patterns in the distant stars Our fates upon a loom The changes in the temperature When you walked into a room The smell of your perfume The taste of your skin All those bitter reminders Of the failed state I'm in How do I breathe now? How do I inhale? I'm a diver on the seabed, my oxygen's failed How do I wake up? How do I sleep? How do I laugh now? I can't even weep Where do I run to? Where do I hide? An insect preserved in formaldehyde Yesterday's paper its pages curled How can I live in this broken world? Keep up appearances they say And all those reasons you might stay Ring hollow in my mind today I've listened 'til my head would spin I don't want half of anything I don't want half of anything The sand it falls in the hourglass And time slips through our fingers fast And nothing that you say relieves me If you can't love me this way If you can't love me this way If you can't love me this way Then you must leave me
Lyrics provided by LRCLIB
Track details
More from Sting
Explore
Showing 10 of 306
READ MORE ABOUT STINGREAD MORE ABOUT STINGREAD MORE ABOUT STINGREAD MORE ABOUT STINGREAD MORE ABOUT STINGREAD MORE ABOUT STINGReturning to the shores of Lake Geneva this July, the Swiss festival marks its 60th edition.
The three acts will perform at Henham Park in Suffolk from 24th-27th July next year.
The performances are part of his 'STING 3.0' World Tour.