On this day in 1975, the 10cc single “I’m Not In Love” debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at #84 (May 17)
The inspiration for the song came from Eric Stewart’s wife commenting that he didn’t tell her he loved her often enough, and Stewart responding that if he kept saying "I Love You" over and over, it would become meaningless even though he did love her.
He wrote the lyrics in a couple of days, but his band mates weren’t impressed…
Stewart recalled,
“When I took the song to the band, they said: 'I'm not in love'?
What the f--k is that? You can't say that!'
But Graham Gouldman, our bass-player and chord-master, agreed to work on it with me.
We both liked ‘The Girl From Ipanema’, so we gave it a similar bossa nova style.
Then Kevin Godley, our drummer, said it was crap.
We were about to scrap it and wipe the tape but, as I walked around the studio, I heard the secretary singing it and the window-cleaner whistling it.
I knew we had a tune: we just hadn't captured it properly.
Kevin suggested doing it again, but with banks of voices.
I thought that meant hiring a choir, but Lol Creme, our keyboard player, said we could do it using tape loops."
Eventually, some 256 vocal dubs built up from chord loops and multi tracks were required to complete the lush harmonies behind Eric Stewart's vocal.
The atmospheric, innovative love song went all the way to to #1 in the UK, Ireland, and Canada, and was a top 10 hit around the world, in countries like Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Brazil, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, and the US, where it eventually peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The whispered vocals of "Be quiet, big boys don't cry" came from the secretary of Strawberry Studios (the studio the band operated), Kathy Redfern.
The band were looking for a certain sound when Redfern entered the studio to quietly tell Eric Stewart he had a phone call.
When they heard her voice, they knew it was just right for the song!
A 70s classic....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STugQ0X1NoI&pp=ygUUMTBjYyBpJ20gbm90IGluIGxvdmU%3D
