'I'm Not In Love' was No. 1 in the UK fifty years ago, July, 1975
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One of the most notable UK Number Ones from a - let’s face it - not particularly stellar pop year, but none the worse for that. It would have stood out at any time. People talked about this one - about the production, the arrangement, the subtle touches, the subject matter, the humour, and the fact that it was unique. It was one of the real stand-out records of 1975. In it, the protagonist wrestles with the internalised dictates of masculinity - about not giving away too much, putting on an act, and repressing your feelings because it’s what you do. We hear it in the narrative, in the whispered admonition coming from the subconscious, in the whole denial. He’s not in love. Emphatically, absolutely not. No way.
Yet it’s obvious that he’s the most in-love person who ever walked on the planet. ‘It’s the bit about the picture on the wall that really gets me’ one of my fellow students (I’d just finished A-Levels) said, while someone else pointed out that if you listened to the track on good enough equipment, you can hear a gentle thump…thump, like a heartbeat, on the track. A heartbeat. It kind of comes and goes. It's a subtle intimation of humanity. (This was actually a synth). The main feature of the production - those ethereal backing vocals, were actually recorded ‘aaaahs’ at different pitches, multi-tracked and put on tape-loop and mixed into the recording, and not synthesised as one might think.
Another 'stand-out' record was just around the corner in 1975, but not from this group.
One of the most notable UK Number Ones from a - let’s face it - not particularly stellar pop year, but none the worse for that. It would have stood out at any time. People talked about this one - about the production, the arrangement, the subtle touches, the subject matter, the humour, and the fact that it was unique. It was one of the real stand-out records of 1975. In it, the protagonist wrestles with the internalised dictates of masculinity - about not giving away too much, putting on an act, and repressing your feelings because it’s what you do. We hear it in the narrative, in the whispered admonition coming from the subconscious, in the whole denial. He’s not in love. Emphatically, absolutely not. No way.
Yet it’s obvious that he’s the most in-love person who ever walked on the planet. ‘It’s the bit about the picture on the wall that really gets me’ one of my fellow students (I’d just finished A-Levels) said, while someone else pointed out that if you listened to the track on good enough equipment, you can hear a gentle thump…thump, like a heartbeat, on the track. A heartbeat. It kind of comes and goes. It's a subtle intimation of humanity. (This was actually a synth). The main feature of the production - those ethereal backing vocals, were actually recorded ‘aaaahs’ at different pitches, multi-tracked and put on tape-loop and mixed into the recording, and not synthesised as one might think.
Another 'stand-out' record was just around the corner in 1975, but not from this group.
61-69, M
