It's because (Summer soundtrack #6)

"I'm Not in Love" by 10cc is perhaps in my personal top ten--nay, my top five--of favorite songs of all time. It is the perfect love song, lyrically, sonically (is that a word?), emotionally, and atmospherically, and why there's not an internet radio station dedicated to playing it non-stop, 24 hours a day, I will never understand.

By chance, I was in Alley Cats, an excellent record shop in Orillia, Ontario, earlier this week when this was played over the sound system. And even now, nearly 45 years later, the song still gives me a chill.

In town on business, I had fun explaining to a younger colleague that this was the original version, that other versions she was aware of were (in my opinion) pale imitations. She knew versions that I did not (a live version by Robert Smith and The Cure apparently), and I knew versions that she did not (Olive's somewhat drum-and-bass version from 2000, to me a major disappointment from a group I had adored up to that moment), but we both agreed that the song, no matter who recorded it, is ethereal, lovely, and poignant.

Why I didn't buy the vinyl then and there, I do not understand. I do have a CD version from The Very Best of 10cc, but here's one occasion when I can agree with hipster audiophiles: The warmth and intimacy of the vinyl cannot be denied.

A mellow tune for summer, but even a long, hot summer requires its slow jams.

* * *

Here's a short BBC TV documentary about how the song was made.

Wow. Just wow. It seems incredible that someone would make this much effort--especially in an era when multi-tracking was new and tape-looping was novel and rare--to create "just a pop song." But indeed 10cc did, as did ABBA, as did the Beatles, as did Giorgio Moroder, and did many other greats (by my estimation at least).

This article, cited in Wikipedia has more backstory about how the song came about, particularly lyrically, spawning from a complaint by band member and lead singer Eric Stewart's wife that he didn't tell her he loved her often enough.

Pfft. Typical man. Can't say the words but can feel all the emotion. In time, he can find a way to tell the world the way he feels. And maybe eventually even you.

Nonetheless, with the end result being the exquisiteness that is "I'm Not in Love," I'd say Mr. Stewart finally and sufficiently got his point across.