not in love

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my friend recently pointed out to me that "not in love" by 10cc is in fact the greatest song ever recorded....dog nammit he's right...

― geeg, Friday, 6 September 2002 04:43 (twenty-three years ago)

I've always found that song incredibly sinister, since I first heard it aged 12 and was irreversibly scarred by the scary "big boys don't cry" synthy bit...still, it's a lovely tune nonetheless...

― Charlie, Friday, 6 September 2002 05:04 (twenty-three years ago)

Minty cool but weird chord progression as well!

― Microkomputer (Microkomputer), Friday, 6 September 2002 05:53 (twenty-three years ago)

Ah, Charlie...but it's that very sinister mystique that *MAKES* it so damn great. Poignant, haunting and slightly creepy at the same time. Genius. Hard to believe it was recorded by the same band who sang "The Things We Do for Love."

― Alex in NYC, Friday, 6 September 2002 06:05 (twenty-three years ago)

the entire backing vocal thing with the voices -
apparantly it took them ages 2 get that right.
the 'big boys...' vocal whispery bit was unplanned,
but the reception stuck her head round the door
and said, in a low voice 'eric there's a call for you...'
and eric stewart - for it was he - decided she should
go on the record.

it's nowhere near as punning and lyrically tricksy as
their other singles thank god, and it's a massive shame that they
were just too darn clever by half to be properly massive.

'silly love' and 'rubber bullets' are close 2nd and 3rd.

― piscesboy, Friday, 6 September 2002 07:12 (twenty-three years ago)

Hard to believe it was recorded by the same band who sang "The Things We Do for Love"
er, it wasn't Alex (Godley and Creme having already left by then)

10cc were über-CLASSIC, esp. on Sheet Music.

― zebedee, Friday, 6 September 2002 07:57 (twenty-three years ago)

He's right. It's a breathtaking track.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Friday, 6 September 2002 08:16 (twenty-three years ago)

I remember a musicologist on a documentary using "I'm not in love" as an example of an extreme of "recognisable part" as the intro few notes are the most recognisable evah. or something

― Alan (Alan), Friday, 6 September 2002 08:56 (twenty-three years ago)

i like 'the things we do for love'. it's not in the same league as 'i'm not in love' (which i had on a K-Tel comp as a child, and it scared me too), but it's fine pop music.

that's why the punk rock kids beat me up.

― Matt C., Friday, 6 September 2002 12:14 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm aware it was largely G&C's baby, and that "The Things We Do For Love" was birthed unhappily into the world after their departure from the proceedings.....but the band name remains. If you were to pick up a 10cc compilation, I dare suggest you'd certainly find both tracks on it.

― Alex in NYC, Friday, 6 September 2002 12:41 (twenty-three years ago)

I'll argree but don'tcha think "Dream Weaver" is a contender???

― brg30 (brg30), Friday, 6 September 2002 21:28 (twenty-three years ago)

It was used perfectly in The Virgin Suicides.

― A.V. Alexandre (Keiko), Friday, 6 September 2002 21:37 (twenty-three years ago)

Daft Punk's "Nightvision" is nowhere near as good.

― eric k, Friday, 6 September 2002 22:07 (twenty-three years ago)

Alnyex,
goldman and stewart were ace songwriters who peaked with godley and creemes bent influence -- i think it's hard to weigh the teams when including the strength of the second and third albums (soundtrack, dare), a lot due to goldman/stewart+creeme

― george gosset (gegoss), Saturday, 7 September 2002 00:05 (twenty-three years ago)

There is an earlier, better song along very similar lines: She Thinks I Still Care ("Just because I asked a friend about her..."). I have terrific versions by George Jones, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Jerry Lee Lewis and Percy Sledge.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 7 September 2002 19:13 (twenty-three years ago)

eleven months pass...

this record is totally sociopathic, theres something unseeing and murderous here, the mansion vibe, but like, ordinary person stabbing rusty screwdriver into friend with glazed eyes, cocaine godcomplex psychosis evil, the most violent and empty eyed record i have ever heard

― gareth (gareth), Sunday, 10 August 2003 22:26 (twenty-two years ago)

three months pass...

Listening to it right now....at 6:17 am, as light starts to slowly spill across the skyline of Manhattan...and it's one of those songs that instantly transports you to another indefinable time and place.

Utterly gorgeous.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 29 November 2003 11:19 (twenty-one years ago)

i'd never heard it - or any 10cc, if you can believe that - before i saw this thread and downloaded it, like so many other ilm recommended songs.

what alex said, through and through.

― brian badword (badwords), Saturday, 29 November 2003 13:24 (twenty-one years ago)

people laugh at me when I tell them to listen to that song.. but I of course agree.. the layers upon layers of voice- orchestral - great song

― nothingleft (nothingleft), Saturday, 29 November 2003 20:11 (twenty-one years ago)

I already wrote this somewhere else, but when I was a kid like maybe seven or six I used to listen to this record on headphones the same way I listened to 'Badjelly the Witch'. I had the lyrics sheet in front of me and used to read along as if it was a talking book. All the images were very literal to me. When this song said 'I keep your picture, upon the wall, it hides a nasty stain that's lying there' I didnt just not-hear a cliche, I vividly imagined and can still see the exact shape of the stain, the type of wallpaper, and the picture. Same with 'Like walking in the rain and the snow when there's nowhere to go' - I have this vivid mental picture of a guy stumbling along a road covered in snow beside a ditch, and he slides into the ditch struggling and gives up on trying to get out, partly from physical exhaustion and partly because he's so depressed. So all I have to say is, um, I have no point to make.

― maryann (maryann), Saturday, 29 November 2003 22:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe my point is that the manipulation of corny western musical traditions by over-trained hacks simply to make money really has something to be said for it, but I think way brainier people than me made that point probably in 1999 or something.

― maryann (maryann), Saturday, 29 November 2003 22:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Another place this song was used well: the final episode of the first season of the Office.

Great song.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Sunday, 30 November 2003 00:01 (twenty-one years ago)

the outrageous cherry cover on their album of covers, Stereo Action Rent Party (or something like that), is ace.

― jack cole (jackcole), Sunday, 30 November 2003 00:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Is it true that 10cc are named ater the avergae amount of ejaculate expunged during male orgasm? And likewise The Lovin' Spoonful?

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Sunday, 30 November 2003 13:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't like it. Its a bit too knowing and smug for my liking, and not in a cool, new-romantic kinda way. "I'm in love, but if I say I'm not, thats oooooh so clever". A lyric that needs a slapdown.

And although no doubt back in the day the proto-synths sounded amazing, these days it sub-par. My computer beeps more interesting noises. As a historic marker, it probably needs to be studied - as a piece of music to enjoy, it falls a little below the mark for me.

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Sunday, 30 November 2003 13:22 (twenty-one years ago)

My attitude to this song has always been that I find it a bit tedious to have to wait for the outro (which is heavenly with its Fender Rhodes chords etc. and could go on for ever and I'd still like it). The preceding parts of the song (apart from the intro obv.) I could do without.

― David (David), Sunday, 30 November 2003 13:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Always had a soft spot for "Dreadlock Holiday" as well.

Love the lyric

I was walkin' down the street
Concentratin' on truckin' right

I have this image of this pasty white fella walking down the streets of Jamaica trying to look cool, but feelinga bit tense and uncertain.

― mentalist (mentalist), Monday, 1 December 2003 04:09 (twenty-one years ago)

streets of Kingston I mean

― mentalist (mentalist), Monday, 1 December 2003 04:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Beautiful song, although there are several tracks on the "Original Soundtrack" album that are even better.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 1 December 2003 21:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Talking Heads "I'm Not in Love" is superior to most other songs.

― Michael Patrick Brady (Michael Patrick Brady), Monday, 1 December 2003 21:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I so wanted this thread to be about the Talking Heads song "I'm Not in Love." The Toadies' cover is good, too.

x-post!

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 1 December 2003 21:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Never mind all this, what about the jizzcup?!

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Monday, 1 December 2003 21:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I found a cover recorded by Grandaddy at a radio session, but it's really awful. Don't bother, unless you want to hear the song butchered.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Monday, 1 December 2003 21:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Fun Lovin' Criminals did a cover as well.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 1 December 2003 23:07 (twenty-one years ago)

So did Will To Power.

I thought I might agree with Geir when he said "there are several tracks on the "Original Soundtrack" album that are even better", but then I looked on AMG and the only other song on there I could even remember was "Life is a Minestrone." On the other hand, if somebody here said 10cc's first two albums were better, I do agree with THEM.

― chuck, Tuesday, 2 December 2003 00:25 (twenty-one years ago)

the truth shall be revealed!

― Trollius J. King III, Esq., Tuesday, 2 December 2003 04:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I feel cheated.

― Orbit (Orbit), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 04:59 (twenty-one years ago)

What about The Lovin' Spoonful?!

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 09:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I had dismissed this song because it got played so much whilst I was growing up on the love slot on radio shows or turned up on so many dreadful compilations. It got put down in my mind due to association.

Listening to it again recently though, divorced from all that it sounded absolutely wonderful. I find a lot of 10cc's other songs hard to like but not this one.

― mms (mms), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 10:09 (twenty-one years ago)

love this track.
Once read that Alex Patterson remixed it for, dare I say, hours at Spectrum, Oakenfolds first club.

Blissy.

― hector (hector), Friday, 12 December 2003 03:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Once read that Alex Patterson remixed it for, dare I say, hours at Spectrum, Oakenfolds first club.

That would be something to hear!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 12 December 2003 04:04 (twenty-one years ago)

10cc was a big hit at land of oz (patterson's chillout room at spectrum.)

haha so were the EAGLES, alex.

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 12 December 2003 04:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Alex Patterson = former Killing Joke roadie.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 12 December 2003 04:15 (twenty-one years ago)

yes, i know! wasn't their former bassist in the orb too?

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 12 December 2003 04:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Youth? He might've contributed. I know former Killing Joke drummer Paul Ferguson performed with the Orb on one or two occaisions (though not sure in what capacity).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 12 December 2003 04:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Loved it when I was a pimply-faced high schooler, when it was brand new, and still do. Some of their other stuff is still interesting, too, like Clockwork Creep and the everything but the kitchen sink feel of the Second Sitting of the Last Supper, but some of it has dated really badly. I would love to hear the first 4 albums after some serious re-mastering, though.

― Dave Vinson (Gaughin), Friday, 12 December 2003 04:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Youth wrote "Little Fluffy Clouds" with Patterson at Butterfly. Youth's studio. Steve Hillage did some work on "Adventures beyond the Ultraworld" too

― hector (hector), Friday, 12 December 2003 08:59 (twenty-one years ago)

two months pass...

What's clever about this song is, the guy really IS in love, he just pretends not to be

― Amity (Amity), Wednesday, 10 March 2004 08:04 (twenty-one years ago)

i think gareth is ont he money.

― :|, Wednesday, 10 March 2004 08:21 (twenty-one years ago)

me too

― mullygrubber (gaz), Wednesday, 10 March 2004 10:30 (twenty-one years ago)

two years pass...

This is the most bizarre and pretty song I've heard on oldies radio.

― Fonzie Scheme (Matt Chesnut), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 00:57 (nineteen years ago)

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