Probably THE most in love guy ever in a song.

Just love this song. The production level and attention to detail is amazing. They spent three weeks recording each group member singing "ahhh" 16 times for each of the 12 notes of the chromatic scale, building up a "choir" of 48 voices for each note of the scale. I'm still in awe. The outro that you wondered about was a recording of a toy music box! Very clever! The song was written in response to band member Eric Stewart's wife telling him he didn't say "I love you" to her enough. Ha!

One of the most beautiful songs ever written & composed

The 70s had it all - soft rock , hard rock , progressive rock , r&b , love ballads , disco . and it was ALL good . Blessings your way

When Eric Stewarts wife complained that he didn’t tell her that he loved her enough, he decided to write her a song, but he felt that if he wrote her a “normal” love song, it wouldn’t be meaningful as he was writing it in response to her comment. He then realised that a big part of the reason that he didn’t express his love and other feelings enough was because as a boy, he had been brought up to be a strong and stoic man (hence the maternal voice within the song repeatedly saying “Big Boys Don’t Cry”), and so he decided to write a “counter-love song” that both expressed his real feelings and alluded to why he didn’t do so in their day to day life together.

That constant sound in the background throughout the song is their voices layered over and over each other...so beautiful!!🎶💙🎶💙

The group went through hoops to create the multilayered effects to produce the unique sound, and it really worked. Also in the Big boys don't cry part, they pulled a secretary in to do it and that worked too. There's a great KZfaq video about the time and effort that went into making it. Truly epic song.

Nope, not symbols. It's human voices multiplied hundreds of times. But the lyrics? Yes, about a guy who's in complete denial. "I'm not on love. I just do all these things people do when they're in love because I . . . well, just because."

Yes, I think he’s trying to convince himself he’s not in love -and he clearly is! Great song!

This is the one song that used more tape than Queen Bohemian Rhapsody. Recording the vocals to produce that effect was a labour of love.

It is a love song. It's about a man who can't be vulnerable and admit he loves . Kevin Godley has an amazing talent to sing and bring such vulnerable emotion to a song. 10cc became Godley & Creme and their song "Cry" is a masterpiece as well as the video, which is one of the TOP 5 you'll ever see.

The breathy intro of this song always makes me close my eyes because it’s so dreamlike. LOVE this song so much and it brings back SO many memories❤❤❤

Great take Asia, you got the meaning exactly right. Denial is a terrible thing!

Stewart spent three weeks recording Gouldman, Godley and Creme singing "ahhh" 16 times for each note of the chromatic scale, building up a "choir" of 48 voices for each note of the scale. The main problem facing the band was how to keep the vocal notes going for an infinite length of time, but Creme suggested that they could get around this issue by using tape loops. Stewart created loops of about 12 feet in length by feeding the loop at one end through the tape heads of the stereo recorder in the studio, and at the other end through a capstan roller fixed to the top of a microphone stand, and tensioned the tape. By creating long loops the 'blip' caused by the splice in each tape loop could be drowned out by the rest of the backing track, providing that the splices in each loop did not coincide with each other. Having created twelve tape loops for each of the 12 notes of the chromatic scale, Stewart played each loop through a separate channel of the mixing desk. This effectively turned the mixing desk into a musical instrument complete with all the notes of the chromatic scale, which the four members together then "played", fading up three or four channels at a time to create "chords" for the song's melody. Stewart had put tape across the bottom of each channel so that it was impossible to completely fade down the tracks for each note, resulting in the constant background hiss of vocals heard throughout the song. Composer and music theory professor Thomas MacFarlane considered the resulting "ethereal voices" with distorted synthesized effects to be a major influence on Billy Joel's hit ballad "Just the Way You Are", released two years later. A basic guide track was recorded first in order to help create the melody using the vocals, but the proper instrumentation was added after the vocals had been recorded. In keeping with Godley's idea to focus on the voices, only a few instruments were used: a Fender Rhodes electric piano played by Stewart, a Gibson 335 electric guitar played by Gouldman for the rhythm melody, and a bass drum sound played by Godley on a Moog synthesizer which Creme had recently purchased and learned how to program. The drum sound that was created was very soft and more akin to a heartbeat, in order not to overpower the rest of the track. Creme played piano during the bridge and the middle eight, where it replicated the melody of lyrics that had been discarded. The middle eight is also the only part of the song that contains a bass guitar line, played by Gouldman. A toy music box was recorded and double tracked out of phase for the middle eight and the outro. Once the musical backing had been completed Stewart recorded the lead vocal and Godley and Creme the backing vocals, but even though the song was finished Godley felt it was still lacking something. Stewart said, "Lol remembered he had 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 if we could just find the right voice to speak the words. Just at that point the door to the control room opened and our secretary Kathy Redfern 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!'."The group agreed that Redfern was the ideal person, but Redfern was unconvinced and had to be coaxed into recording her vocal contribution, using the same whispered voice that she had used when entering the control room. These whispered lyrics would later serve as the inspiration for the name of the 1980s band Boys Don't Cry.

There was no such thing as "Digital" when this song was created, pure Analogy, pure Tape recording! Techniques used were cutting edge at the time!

One of the greatest arrangements in the history of pop music. Also, one of the best love songs.

Asia & BJ. Their "The Things We Do For Love" is next for you!! The backing vocals on "I'm Not In Love" were a great analog tape production achievement. Dozens and dozens of recorded vocals and the use of tape loops.

He is deeply in love. He is trying to talk himself out. The wall of sound. A choir effect. The groups voices recorded and layered and relayed. Creating a choir effect. A stunning technique.

There is a documentary of the way this song was made! They multiplied their voices hundreds times!

This song takes me back to being a little kid in the kitchen in the morning, this song on the radio, mom making breakfast and our school lunches...those really were great times.

Eric Stewart's vocals, the arrangement, the dubbed tracks, what a timeless classic! I loved this song since it cam out in 1975.

That sound was their voices layered multiple times on a tape loop and then they used the soundboard to play the tape loops to get that sound. It was a revolutionary studio process that now can be done on synthesizers.

Very interesting how the sounds were layered on this song. It was original, haven't heard anything similar since. There's a good video on youtube that shows how it was done.

10 cc "The Things WE Do For Love".Upbeat and will make you wanna dance.

Asia you nailed the meaning! The women's voice was his mother telling him, Be quiet- big boys don't cry over and over was to show he has blunted emotions learned in childhood.

The sound came from putting all their voices on a sound loop. The girl saying big boys don’t cry is a secretary at Strawberry records and they borrowed her voice for the song

Beautiful song. I haven't heard it in so long!!! And thank you to all of the people who have commented with the back story on how this was produced!

This song was on the radio 📻 EVERY DAY in the 1970s. This was a HUGE top 40 hit.

Loved his song when it first came out and I still listen to it today...such a great song

I watched the documentary of this song, they did 3 weeks of over dubbing their voices to get that incredible sound, one of my favorite songs, they did something like a 1000 voice over dubs

Huge fan of 10cc. Godley and Creme. Wild history about how they recorded this, seriously. Check it out. Don't care if anyone else likes them or not listening to my life. Before the Synclavier.

So, when this was released , there was alot of concern about the subject singing this song, and people wanted to know what happened to him, you know, if he ever fell in love. On their next album they wrote the follow up to his story, the song that several have mentioned, "The Things We Do for Love".

its all vocals . the three of them did 3 part harmonies over and over again , layered them looped them . its crazy watching how they did it, super creative and innovative for the time.

You should see the documentary on how they made this song, you'll be surprised what the sounds are, It's their own voices! over and over!

One of my favorites from my 70's childhood! 😍 This whole album is great. WAY ahead of their time!

For this teenager, the song was everything. Heavy radio play, it takes me to a place. ❤️😁

The choral like background is the sound of a thousand voices. They recorded a set vocal harmonies, added on top of it with more and placed the track in a loop.

10CC "Dreadlock Holiday" & "The Things We Do For Love"

10cc said in 1975 there were so many love songs on the radio they wanted to switch things up and write an anti-love song and see how it goes and it was a number 1 hit for weeks on the music charts

Welcome to the 70s. I was seven in 75. This song haunts me to this day .Back like you never left. Love you guys. Hi from Glasgow Scotland great Britain.

It was 1975. They merged separate sound tapes in quite large quantities into one. No digital. I'm no expert on recording at all, but these guys were clever. It's quite a thing to see you enjoying this from when I was 16 years old, and responding in the same way. Timeless.

Asia is correct, the singer is like a river in Egypt: he's in denial. And BJ made a great point about his mind trying to convince his heart that he's not in love. This was a great band, they had some very talented songwriters and their catalog deserves a deep dive.

Big 10cc fan since early 1970s. This band has a history of fun songs that will blow you away. One such marvel is " I'm Mandy Fly Me" "Waterfall" "Don't Hang up"

A decade later Godley and Creme did a song "Cry" that incorporated some elements of this song. I knew the song "Cry" before "I'm not in love", even though it was a later song, I was only 10 when this song came out and 20 when Cry came out. Hearing "I'm not in love" at some point and thinking hey that is from "Cry", looking it up and found out it was the other way around but from the same artists.

It’s the group singing different harmonies re-recorded a few times to sound like a massive choir. No waterfall - all vocals with keyboards mixed in. Really smooth jam. It’s hypnotic.

Yes, Carol Rundle, you are absolutely correct. recorded on Analog Tape and all hands were on deck Mixing was a live performance before fully automated faders were available. A timeless classic that is unique in a time that was pushing the boundaries with what was available.

And Denial rears it's ugly head..this guy is so head over heals. I always loved this track mostly because of the drifting threw space feeling. Really enjoy your work Love and Respect

This always struck me as a big denial song, the singer is desperately trying to convince himself and failing that he’s not in love. Another popular song of theirs is “The Things We Do For Love”

This was a few years before there was any digital instruments or any digital recording. Real instruments and real voices recorded onto real tape, crafted in a real studio. The glorious days of analog.

10cc was one of my favorite 70’s pop rock back in the day.

He's definitely, absolutely in love!!!

This tune touches the soul. Even a dumb metalhead like me saw the raw emotion when this came out. BJ throwing a 3 here.

"The Things We Do For Love" gotta be next! Thats a classic

He's in denial. Totally on point Asia. In love but trying to convince himself that he isn't. I'm not in love, but I'll just leave this picture on the wall 😂 😂. Great reaction Asia and BJ ❤️

Yes, this still stands as one of the all time epic love songs, filed under ‘the dude doth protest too much’. And as others have noted the details of the brilliant production process, which was definitely next level when it was released in 1975. They went all out.

back in the late 70's early 80's capital radio which at that time could be picked up within a 50 mile radius of London, a couple of times got people to send in their top 10 songs, this song always was number 1

Genius level production of this classic 70's song and I still love it to this day.

Asia totally got it. The guy is in complete denial!!!!! I always loved this song, since the release in the 70’s. The dreamy mood of it still blows my mind!

He kind of lead into being in love when he said "you'll wait a long time for me". He very loosely admitted there was a window of time where he would fall he just needed time to come to terms with it. Love this song

A brilliant band who managed to walk the fine line between rock and pop. They track ‘You Won’t Feel The Benefit’ is a great track!

You need to watch the making of this song video. For the time, this song was the apex of studio engineering. That sound is actually vocals. Next to the Beatles, Pink Floyd, and maybe Yes, 10cc were master on the mixing board. This song is pure sonic bliss. Haunting, mesmerizing and addictive. Plus they used it in “guardians of the galaxy” do you can’t go wrong. Lol

Timeless music, master musicians followed by excellent clear vocals and best of all no auto mix!

The recording technique they created for the background harmony in this song was so innovative and complex that there’s a detailed video devoted to it

Classic song from genius writer/producers. Loved their albums, the sonics are amazing. They even invented instruments. I'm A Neanderthal Man when they were billed as Hotlegs.

This song takes me back, I can remember sitting on my friends bed and she was singing her heart out to it. We were about 15 at the time, I'm in my 60s now and we are still friends even tho she lives hundreds of miles away. In fact she is home today for few days so we will catch up. Were does the time go. BTW "Were does the time go" is a beautiful song by Julia Fordham. You should give it a go.

The song is about a guy too afraid to admit he is in love so he tries to deny it. The idea came from one of the band members whose wife told him he didn’t say he loved her enough. One idea turned to another and it became I’m not in love. Similar song to the one you played by ELP. From the Beginning. Mistiq about it

I've seen and heard the "best of the best" when it comes to concerts. Since 1973, I've attended 1021 concerts. I remember jabbing my buddy in the ribs during 1 show after 5 or 6 songs and saying, "This is the best band I've ever heard live". That band was "10cc". "Move over Pink Floyd, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Elton John, Supertramp, Grateful Dead and Billy Joel, there's a new sheriff in town"

Memories. I listened to this song over and over when it was #1. One of the best songs ever 🔥

Fun fact: this song was released around the same time as Bohemian Raphsody and fought each other for the number one spot for weeks

His mother telling him big boys don't cry, can't show his emotions. Asia got it.

One of the most amazing creations with the super complicated background sounds. Listeners MUST watch the KZfaq “making of” this song. It will fascinate you. Nothing like It before or since

Always loved this song was in high school when It came out , timeless

This song takes me back. I loved this song as a kid, even though I had no idea what it was about. I loved the music, even the "cymbals "...😎

Is like living teenage years all over again.....we had such great music from so many genres

The piano guitar duo is INSANE

Hot take-the guy IS in love! Great song (the “big boys don’t cry” scared the daylights out of my 3 year old self when I heard it)

I had no money in the mid-70s, but saved up to buy three albums. This was one of them. The incredible sounds they produced with nothing but a reel-to-reel tape deck are incredible.

The sound was their voices layered over each other a 100 times!

The singer's kidding himself - he's in way over his head. 10cc were an amazing band, so innovative and talented, and they just kept producing fantastic songs. Try 'The Dean and I', 'Rubber Bullets' or'Wall Street Shuffle' for a completely different sound. The background sound is the band's voices multi-tracked - a similar approach to Queen at around the same time.

This is one of my absolute favorite songs. At the time, the technology that they used was revolutionary. They painstakingly layered each of their voices and made Loops of it to get that signature sound for the song. Elton John remarked on it and of course it was a massive hit. The woman you said big boys don't cry was their secretary.

The sounds in the background are mostly the band members’ harmonizing vocals. There’s also a Moog synthesizer. “Adapted from the liner notes of The Original Soundtrack.[15] Eric Stewart - lead vocal, electric piano Graham Gouldman - guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals Kevin Godley - Moog, backing vocals Lol Creme - piano, backing vocals Kathy Redfern - uncredited additional vocals” Wiki

These 4 men were/are each genius musicians, and their creative drive to innovate led them to record layers of their voices until there were over 600 voices in the background, creating a stellar mist of inner feelings. This song was about how to say I love you without saying I love you. Eric’s wife had told him he never said “I love you” (they have been together now for something like 60 years now); and he wondered about lyrics that say I don’t love you, but reveal that I do love you. This is a young man completely smitten that is battling admitting it to her, to himself… because he doesn’t want to be vulnerable, he feels so deeply that it’s scary; snd he doesn’t want to get hurt. So he tries to sound aloof… and minimize all of the clues that he is lost in his feelings for her. Trying to sound tough, while trembling on the inside. It’s not about letting a gal down gently. It’s about being a guy finding himself so flooded with true emotion for a gal that it scares him, and he finds himself trying to hide it. But he is losing that battle of denial… we hope. It’s one of the most touching love songs in existence. But I think it gets misread a lot, at least the first few times. After all. He’s trying to convince her he’s not… he’s trying to convince himself he’s not… why not be trying to convince us he’s not. It’s just. After a while. And the angelic mist of emotion. And the voice reminding him Big Boys Don’t Cry… why, unless he is crying? Her picture on his wall. His phone calls. His wanting to meet with her. All the things you wish and do when you pine for someone.

They've made some real classics. Try "I'm Mandy, Fly Me" next.

A very genuine facial expressions from both of you I appreciate your honesty and how you can interpret music

This is not a new group, this is a 70's vibe.

I saw the documentary of this song. The receptionist from the studio was asked to go into the studio, and the band said "can you repeat big boys don't cry". The record came out a few months later and she heard it on the radio and realised she was on a hit record. The production was really pushing the envelope of what could be done at the time. The band said they wanted to use the vocals as a musical instrument.

Absolute Gem of a song 💎 Always makes me think this is what being in space would sound like

IN LOVE … Without saying it, but different. Vocals layered by them over and over at different highs, and lows… This band and song is awesome! Thank you y’all!

Like others have said, this was a ground breaking sound / song when it came out - see the "making of" video. Also, please please check out members Godley & Creme doing the music video "Cry".

10cc were a fantastic band. Especially the original line-up, would love to see them reunite. unlikely. Always fantastic lyrics. Many suggestions below are mainstream songs, I would suggest One Night in Paris or Somewhere in Hollywood

Beautiful soundscape. And Asia got it right. Of course he's in love!

There is not one thing not to love about this song, everything from the arrangement of the instruments, to the vocal, to the layering of many, many voices for affect, to the lyrics which are masterful in how they connect straight to the heart once you realize this person is stone cold in love! This song was the bands breakthru hit in 1975. They earned 3 #1 hits between 1973-78. This song just makes you melt with emotion..... so beautiful. Great reaction guys.

This song incorporated the backing of a large wordless choir, which in reality was the group's voices. It was painstakingly built up from chord loops and multi tracks: some 256 vocal dubs were required to complete the lush harmonies behind Eric Stewart's vocal.....The idea for the song came from Eric Stewart saying to his wife that if he kept saying "I Love You" over and over, it wouldn't mean anything even though he did love her. He recalled to The Guardian:

Electric Piano, Bass Guitar, Drums, Cymbals, Quiet Acoustic Guitar. Vocals and Vocals through a Vocoder is basically the instruments here. Very Layered.

Original Soundtrack is one of my top 10 LP's. There is a video on KZfaq showing the process of numerous tracks of vocals on this tune. This band had a way with words. Very cleaver lyrics . Subtle and humorous. Remember, Life is a Minestrone ! Thx U 2

FROM BELOW: " Stewart spent three weeks recording Gouldman, Godley, and Creme singing "ahhh" 16 times for each note of the chromatic scale, building up a "choir" of 48 voices for each note of the scale "....

Elvis Costello & The Attractions "Everyday I Write The Book" (Official Music Video)

guys you found three gems today. im loving your music selection. best youtubers of reaction of the week

Asia you have extremely insightful on this song. Things I had not through about after hearing this song for years. Great works guys!

Those are the groups voices....the ethereal sound you keep hearing.