Posted on 04/22/2021 4:07:38 PM PDT by simpson96
Written by Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman, Stewart came up with the idea for the song after his wife of eight years asked him why he didn't say "I love you" more often.
He said: "I had this crazy idea in my mind that repeating those words would somehow degrade the meaning, so I told her, 'Well, if I say every day "I love you, darling, I love you, blah, blah, blah", it's not gonna mean anything eventually'."(snip)
Stewart spent three weeks recording Gouldman, Godley and Creme singing "ahhh" 16 times for each note of the chromatic scale, creating a 'choir' of 48 voices for each note.
Creme suggested they could keep the voices going for an infinite time by using tape loops. Stewart created 12 ft long loops by feeding them at one end through the tape heads of the stereo recorder, and at the other end through a capstan roller fixed to the top of a microphone stand.
Stewart played each loop through a separate channel of the mixing desk, turning the desk into a musical instrument. He also put gaffer tape across the bottom the channels, making it impossible to completely fade them down, creating constant background vocals.(snip)
After the song was finished, Godley felt there was still something missing...
Stewart said: "Lol remembered he said something into the grand piano mics when he was laying down the solos. He'd said 'Be quiet, big boys don't cry'. Heaven knows why, but I soloed it and we all agreed that the idea sounded very interesting."
Who provided the whispered voice?
"...the door to the control room opened and our secretary Kathy looked in and whispered 'Eric, sorry to bother you. There's a telephone call for you.'
"Lol jumped up and said 'That's the voice, her voice is perfect!'."
(Excerpt) Read more at smoothradio.com ...
10cc - "I'm Not In Love (1975)
The Helios desk installed in Strawberry Studios for the recording of 10cc's third album was a custom wraparound design featuring 24 input channels (centre and right) plus monitoring and processing on the left-hand side.
Nice post. That was one of the defining songs of the Summer of 1975.
Be quiet big boys don’t cry.
You know I see posts like these about songs from 40 and 50 years ago and I think how sad it is for today’s kids. Nobody will be reminiscing about the crap music pumped out today some 30 and 40 years from now.
Today’s music by today’s artists is so unforgettable and worthless that it not only makes no difference now, it will make no difference in the future.
and they invented the gizmo.
I agree 100 percent.
The best part?
Godley & Creme of 10cc directed the Police “Every Breath You Take” music video.
“Nice post. That was one of the defining songs of the Summer of 1975.”
Summer of 1976 was Magic by Pilot.
Two members of Pilot, David Paton and Ian Bairnson went on to form the core of the Alan Parsons Project.
Oh that’s cool! And neat! :)
One of my fave tunes and I never knew any of this. I have appreciated the unique sound.
I’ve wondered if he was really not in love, or not not in love. Men are hard to figure out.
Thanks so much for posting this, Simpson.
It’s a work of Fine Art, with music as the medium.
I never tire of hearing it.
Lush harmonies, natural pacing similar to a heart beat.
Nothing drowns the other features out. It’s fully balanced.
The songwriter became fascinated with tape loops after listening to the Beatles Revolution 9.
A Mellotron was used by 10cc to produce the orchestra effect. The same thing was later done with voices.
The lead voice and lyrics were a pleasant confection, not distracting from the music, but providing a whimsical lightness to the whole piece. It could have gone the other way, sounding morose and Blue.
When I remember the summer of 76 I think of “Frampton Comes Alive”.
Thanks for that. Bookmarked for later.
“When I remember the summer of 76 I think of “Frampton Comes Alive”.
It was inescapable. I never understood, and to this day cannot understand, what was so great about it. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t all that.
In a just world, it would have been Frampton’s former bandmate, Steve Marriott that would have been the superstar.
Requesting quiet.
I think there's a Cure!
I didn’t mind them until I found out how the band got its name. Somewhat disgusting.
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