“Just a silly phase”: How 10cc created the impossible sound of ‘I’m Not in Love’ in 1975

10cc’s ‘I’m Not in Love’ became a UK number-one single in 1975, built around a sound the band created chiefly from layered recordings of their own voices. Eric Stewart wrote it as an indirect answer to his wife’s complaint that he no longer said “I love you”; the song’s insistence that he is not in love leaves that claim open to question.

Stewart and Graham Gouldman first tried a bossa nova arrangement, but drummer Kevin Godley rejected it and proposed using voices instead of conventional instruments. The four band members spent three weeks recording “oohs” and “ahhs”, which they looped and layered into a choir-like backing. A whispered line from pianist Lol Creme inspired the band to record their secretary, Cathy Redfern, whispering “Be quiet, big boys don’t cry” for the finished track.