Songfacts®:

• In a 2000 interview with Pulse, Robert Smith said: "I think the only really depressing song on the album is 'There Is No If,' because in that one there really is no way out - everything goes wrong and then you die. I originally didn't want that song on the album, and I was loath to even sing it, but the others in the band really wanted it on there. I normally disregard the four-to-one votes, which are as meaningless in this band as they are in any dictatorship, but everyone who heard the song really liked it."
• Lead singer Robert Smith was the only band member to play on this. He played all the instruments.
• Smith didn't want this included on the Bloodflowers album, but gave in when the other four members of the band persisted. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Richard - Alva, OK
• The Cure retired this from live performances in 2002, perhaps due to Smith's dislike of the song.
• The "if" of the title refers to the inevitability of death. In the song, Smith's lover frequently makes the apparent statement "if you die...so do I." This is, of course, paraphrasing the romantic clichè "I couldn't live without you." Smith's interprets the sentiment negatively, by emphasizing that they will indeed live without each other, and both they and their love will inevitably die.