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 ...
The youtube was a great addition to the thread. Thanks.
I’d never really listened very closely to the song, or thought much about it at all. It’s cooler than I thought.
It was always a favorite, but learning how the magic came together was very cool.
Steve Marriott, amazing vocalist
I recently discovered The Small Faces, of course most only knew them for “Itchycoo Park”. But Marriott was one of a kind, no slouch on guitar, neither, could do all kinds of different musical styles.
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