Sometime during the band's stay in Paris to record So Red the Rose, they went to see a Sting concert there, and decided it would be interesting to have him come over and sing on the album, mainly because they liked the combination of Sting's and lead singer Simon Le Bon's voices on the "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

Sting was very amicable about the whole idea, and it turned out to be one of the band's favourite moments on the record.

[3] The single mix for "The Promise" was heavily edited down from the album's hefty 7:28 to a leaner, more radio-friendly 4:45.

In fact, even Alex Sadkin and Ron Saint Germain's "extended remix" clocked in at only 7:05, almost 25 seconds shy of the album cut.

Note: Arcadia Additional musicians Technical Novembre covered "The Promise" as a bonus track on their 2006 album Materia.