Ah you can’t beat the classics can you? Which of us hasn’t danced, swayed, kissed or indeed fu --- mbled in the dark to this superb love song? The song that really made 10cc and got them a major recording contract, it has gone down in history as one of the most technically expert and innovative pieces of music of the seventies. In a time when polyphonic synthesisers were not yet de rigeur, 10cc took the idea of “sampling” one note, sung by each band member in unison, and creating a chord progression that they could then play back on the keyboard. The first proper sample? I don’t know, but it certainly made musical history back then!
“I’m not in love”
10cc
1975
From the album “The original soundtrack”
Apart from the inventive musical composition of the track though, the lyric itself is very atypical of love songs of the period. Rather than sighing about being in love, strutting or boasting, or indeed, whining over unrequited love, the singer tries to deny that he is in love. He uses every excuse ---
”I keep your picture upon the wall/ It hides a nasty stain that’s lying there” --- and declares
”It’s just a silly phase I’m going through.” It’s clear he doesn’t believe it though. Quite why he’s denying it is uncertain and never explained in the lyric, but there’s a certain amount of arrogance in the lines
”Don’t get me wrong/ Don’t think you’ve got it made” and
”If I call you don’t make a fuss/ Don’t tell your friends about the two of us.” It’s also quite a turnaround, as it’s usually the woman who is trying to tell the guy she’s not interested, that he’s reading too much into their relationship. But here, it’s the man who’s saying “This is not love, I’m not in love. You’ve taken it up wrong” even though he knows he’s lying, to her and to himself.
The second number one hit single for the band, it was in fact dumped by them originally as they had not been happy with the original composition, but seeing others sing the song around the studio gave them the impetus to go back and re-record it, and thus a legend was born. The song even did well in the USA, something of a coup for a British band at the time, just barely missing out on the number one slot there too. It has gone on to become one of the classic love songs, instantly recognisable from its big choral orchestral opening and still a favourite both on the radio and TV, and on those seemingly ubiquitous “Love song” albums.
The song itself opens on a single drumbeat which is joined by a slow, almost breathy choral vocal and then a lush piano line, the choral vocals building to a powerful climax before they fade out momentarily as the actual vocal begins. All through the song though they maintain a presence that is impossible to ignore, sounding like both a bank of synthesisers and a large backing vocal group. Halfway through they fade a little to allow bass and piano to take the instrumental midsection, with a woman's voice whispering
“Be quiet. Big boys don't cry”, this line repeated to fade as the choral vocal comes back strongly, ushering in the return of the vocal for the second verse.
The middle eighth then is about the only part of the song that does not have the wall of sound in attendance, with just guitar and piano accompanying the slow percussion. As the third verse ends and the piece fades into the end chorus the choral vocals swell and grow more intense and powerful, eventually falling back to fade out and leave just the piano before it too fades out.
”I'm not in love, so don't forget it:
It's just a silly phase I'm going through.
And just because I call you up
Don't get me wrong, don't think you've got it made.
I'm not in love, no no, it's because..
I like to see you but then again
That doesn't mean you mean that much to me.
So if I call you don't make a fuss;
Don't tell your friends about the two of us.
I'm not in love, no no, it's because..
I keep your picture upon the wall:
It hides a nasty stain that's lying there.
So don't you ask me to give it back ---
I know you know it doesn't mean that much to me.
I'm not in love, no no, it's because..
Ooh you'll wait a long time for me.
Ooh you'll wait a long time.
Ooh you'll wait a long time for me.
Ooh you'll wait a long time.
I'm not in love, so don't forget it:
It's just a silly phase I'm going through.
And just because I call you up
Don't get me wrong, don't think you've got it made
I'm not in love…
I'm not in love..."