Can't Be Sure

"Can't Be Sure"
Single by The Sundays
from the album Reading, Writing and Arithmetic
B-side	"I Kicked a Boy", "Don't Tell Your Mother"
Released	January 1989
Recorded	1989
Genre	Indie pop, dream pop
Length	3:22
Label	Rough Trade
Songwriter(s)	David Gavurin, Harriet Wheeler
Producer(s)	The Sundays, Ray Shulman
The Sundays singles chronology
"Can't Be Sure" (1989) "Here's Where the Story Ends" (1990)

"Can't Be Sure" is the debut single by British indie pop group the Sundays.[1][2] It was the first (and in the United Kingdom, only) single to be released from their album Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, which was released a year later. The B-side was "I Kicked a Boy", which also appeared on the album. The 12" single contained an additional, non-album track, "Don't Tell Your Mother". The single reached number 45 on the UK Singles Chart and number 74 in Australia, and it was voted number one in John Peel's Festive Fifty for 1989.[3]

Lyrical content

The song's lyrical theme is "desire", treated as a general concept rather than being directed towards anything or anyone in particular.[4]

And did you know desire's a terrible thing?

The worst that I can find

Did you know desire's a terrible thing?

But I rely on mine.

By the song's closing refrain, the song's narrator appears to have come to terms with, if not necessarily resolved, the dichotomy:[4]

And it's my love, And it's my life

And though I can't be sure if I want any more

It will come to me later.

Charts

Chart performance for "Can't Be Sure"

Chart (1989–1990)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)[5]	74
UK Singles (OCC)[6]	45

References

1. Gavin Stoker (chapter author) (1999). Peter Buckley (ed.). The Rough Guide to Rock (2. ed., expanded and complety rev. ed.). London: Rough Guides. p. 1034. ISBN 9781858284576. Retrieved 25 September 2012. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
2. Martin C. Strong (2004). The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). New York: Canongate U.S. p. 1486. ISBN 9781841956152. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
3. "BBC - Radio 1 - Keeping It Peel - Festive 50s - 1989". BBC. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
4. Mason, Stewart. "Can't Be Sure - The Sundays". Allmusic. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
5. Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 271.
6. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 23 September 2019.