Next up is the song that everybody knows, ‘I’m Not In Love’. Eric Stewart’s perennial about self-denial would have been a classic in songwriting form anyway (it was inspired by an argument he had with his wife, after she accused him of never saying he loved her and he replied that saying it everyday would become a cliché). It’s what 10cc did with it that makes it special though – Godley, Crème and Gouldman all sang ‘aaaah’ to every individual note of the scale, so that Stewart (the engineer) could fade them up at any time he wanted in the final mix and swap around different notes to make up different chords. This is such a clever, unique selling point that it’s almost got in the way of the song, but listen again to how cleverly the narrator’s self-denial about falling in love becomes obvious to everyone but himself. There have been so many love songs in the last 50 years I think I’ll scream if I hear another one, but this song’s clever twist (it’s an ‘I’m not in love song’) makes it one of the cleverest 45s ever produced. The only down-side for me is the rather weak backing of a simple acoustic and keyboard, which do an effective job of conjuring up a romantic mood out of nothing against the narrator’s will but misses the band interplay and range of ideas of the band at their best. I’m also deeply confused as to the middle section where the band’s telephonist rings up to tell us ‘big boys don’t cry’ – what’s this section supposed to mean? If it’s the narrator’s (non) girlfriend then why does she say something she’s not supposed to know about? And if it’s the narrator’s conscience, then why does it have a female voice? I’m confused…It goes without saying that the band added the section in afterwards after realizing that needed something else to liven up the middle bit.