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Fan reviews/comments | ||
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I'm Not in Love
(playing time: 6:09)
Song Facts: This can be found on The Day After Yesterday. Rick performed this on Good Morning America on the day of the cd release. This was the second single from The Day After Yesterday CD. More Fan Reviews
If you offend easily, you might want to stop here. (DEEP BREATH) Okay then,
I'm not in love....With this song...AT ALL! Lyrics: I HOPE this is not a song Rick wishes he wrote because I can't stand the lyrics. It is not about the arrogance others have brought up, I think ultimately the song is about denial, not conceit, but more about the fact that some entire phrases just make no sense at all. For instance "I keep your picture up on the wall It hides a nasty stain just lyin' there". Now I don't know about you, but I have never thought of something lying on a wall. Laying against, hanging on, dripping from....but lying there - NOPE. Bad phrasing and not at all up to Rick's standards. Also the "It's because" ...it's because WHAT? Trickle down economics? Some bizarre astrological event? WHAT??? What is it because? And finally "big boys don't cry". That just sounds so cheesy? Mushy? Icky? Rick's Voice: He seems to be trying too hard to add something to the words by using his voice and making all kinds of grunts and growls. Normally, I love his grunts and growls, but not in a song that does not lend itself to them. Finally, I think I know why this song and Rick don't mix. After hours of heavy research, and days of intense personal therapy, I think I figured it out. It is TOO LONG! Rick is the KING of the 3 minute wonder. Calling All Girls? 3:26 Carry Me Away? 3:01 Jessie's Girl? 3:14 Love Somebody? 3:33 Perfect? 2:57 Will I? 3:18 With INIL coming in at a whopping 6:09, there is just no way this gels with Rick and HIS music. Â It is too long, too sappy, too lyrically diluted, and too atmospheric to even be on Rick's radar let alone one of his albums. I hate to criticize anything Rick has a hand in, but this song is just like nails on a chalk board for me. Rick just sounds like he's going to cry in this one. His voice is so pained. It's very similar to the original song but I like Rick's take a bit better just because I feel like his voice is stronger - more solid through the lyrics. But the "Big Boys Don't Cry" line just irks me each time - why why why??
The part of this song that stands out to me is the guitar. That bright vibrant acoustic guitar just screams out to me, that is Rick. I am not real "up" on this song, as a matter of fact, this one may indeed be my least favorite on the entire disc. I never did like it when 10cc did it, nor when it was covered by a few other artists here and there. It is way commercial and I think I was burned on it at my very first job (as a radio DJ in a classic rock format. ) Yes I had to play this song a little too often for my taste. I understand the premise of the song, "I'm not in love, So Don't Forget it, it's Just a Silly Phase I'm going through." This is indeed the way many relationships develop. It is cutesy and it has a sense of friction, makes for a good storyline to say a soap opera. I can understand why some may like this song. The part I don't understand is, "Be Quiet. Big Boys Don't Cry" What is that? Silly. "I keep your picture up on the wall, it hides a nasty stain just lying there." Ok, lets be frank. There has to have been some kind of influence going on when this song was written. Why Rick would pick this one to perform, you got me. His guitar kicks serious butt as does the acoustic guitar. Sonically it is done well. |
I do like this song. It is not my ultimate favorite on the CD, but I don't skip it. Rick's voice is very breathy and sexy, although I do think he should have transposed it down a couple of keys, as he seems to be really reaching for the notes.
The heartbeat at the beginning reminds me of the music in concert before the encore (whatever that is called). I can hear the heartbeat all the way through the song. I am a sucker for acoustic guitars, so the beginning really draws me into the song. I think the overall orchestration of the song is great. I do not like the male back-up singers though. They are too heavy and need to be a little lighter with "it's because" part. I do not think this is a song that Rick could have written though. I don't see his "style" in the song at all. If I were to divide the CD into thirds, I would rate this somewhere in the middle third. The song is definitely too long. I like Rick's voice on this song, but then again, it takes a lot for me not to (like an Alien Virus, for instance). However, I was a little traumatized after Good Morning America when his throat totally went out on him right before he went on live tv. It's hard to hear this song now, and not remember that. I've always seen this song as the guy being totally in love with the girl, but not wanting to admit it. I don't think that's usually Rick's style when he writes. His emotions are so out there in the song, maybe that's why this feels a little "off". On the other hand, for me, that's the upside to the songs on TDAY, these are songs we'd never hear out of Rick otherwise. He may say they are songs he wished he'd written, but most of them don't seem like songs he'd ever write. "It's because..." he can't finish the sentence because he's trying to deny it's because he's in love with her, that's what he needs to be saying "because I love you", but he doesn't want to, so the sentence is left unfinished. "Big Boys Don't Cry" I don't get that. I think the song is way too long, and this part could definitely have been left out. I also kind of don't get the "you'll wait a long time for me". I like that part, it just doesn't seem part of this same song. It's almost like an afterthought, he's just rambled all these excuses as to why he acts like someone who is in love, but he's not, and he's throwing that in too. To start off an album of "songs he wishes he had written" Rick sure picked the most male chauvinistic one of the bunch included. The whole thing reeks of the typical immature male attitude when it comes to dating. They don't want to admit they feel anything that would lead to commitment. "And just because I call you up, don't get me wrong, don't think you've got it made" and "I'd like to see you, but then again, that doesn't mean you mean that much to me" Arggh. I'm sort-of glad Rick didn't write this one. It pisses me off a bit that he's singing it, I'm not sure what kind of feeling I'd get knowing they were his words. Now I know I've read that this song is more about a break-up and the man's denial of the breakup - which is *supposedly* what the female whispering "big boys don't cry" means, but I just don't get that from this song.
I know I've heard this song before Rick covered it, but never really paid much attention to it. After I researched a bit and realized it was a number one song in 1975...well that explained everything. I wasn't listening to much Top 40 radio in 1st grade. :-) Every time I listen to this though, I get the feeling it was in a movie. So I went to my trusty Google search engine (man I love that Google) and yep - it was in The Virgin Suicides (1999). I'm not saying that movie is one of my favorites or anything, I just knew it was in something I had seen way after 1975. Then I found a few more interesting tidbits: The band 10cc also recorded the song "The Things We Do for Love". Now THAT song I really like! Donny Osmond also did a cover of this song. I kid you not... it's on his album titled Somewhere in Time. The Pretenders also did a cover of this song, as well as Tori Amos. After some more searching to hear those versions, I've decided I like Rick's the best. Of course I'm biased - but I'm thinking a non-Rick fan choosing blindly would've picked his as well. This song for me is the least favorite on a record that I really do like a great deal. Part of that is completely not Rick's fault. I never have liked this song. I most recently reheard the original on the Bridget Jones Edge of Reason Soundtrack and I really dislike it. I do think this song is completely denial cloaked in arrogance. "It doesn't mean that you mean that much to me" really means that "I desperately like you but seriously can't admit it because I'm a commitmentphobe". Beyond the fact that it reminds me of several arrogant jerks that I've known a little too well, the arrangement of the original is just pretty sappy and flat to me. The problem with Rick's version is that he completely mimiced the original (which he did with much of the album). Since I really disliked the arrangement of the first, I really disliked the arrangement of the second. It's not the warm, soulful vibe that I do adore on the rest of this album. It's just a lot of techno, airy, empty noise. Which is how this song leaves me feeling. Empty. I really do like TDAY, but I will admit that every time I listen to it, I skip this song. This is one of those songs that I cannot make up my mind about, I have mixed feelings when I hear it. One day I like it---it's peaceful and gives me that nostalgic feeling, then there are times when I hear it and think, "no, I'm not in the mood for this," and I switch it. If I am picking and choosing songs to hear from TDAY, for a quick listen, this is not one of them.
When I heard Rick was covering the song, I was happy. As a child, I loved the 10 CC version of the song when it came across the classic rock stations, but then when I heard Rick's version, it didn't give me that feeling, the way it did back then.
I do think it may really be growing on me though, because like I said, some days when I hear INIL, I do like it. I especially love the opening music with the heartbeat and I think this was a good match for the intro to Rick's site, since he used an outer space theme. That's exactly what some of the music in it reminds me of. Because I'm so mixed about the song, I can's say he did the song justice, but Rick's voice sounds very good in this one.
I am so glad Rick didn't write this song! I guess because of the lyrics. Enough said there. Lyrically, the song makes perfect sense to me. I feel it's about a man who has been hurt deeply, and he is trying to convince himself that he is no longer in love with this woman. I feel he is saying it more to himself, than to her. It seems egotistical on the surface, but I think as I delve deeper into it, I find it's more of a denial type song, one in which he is putting up a wall due to his pride. I think the "big boys don't cry" part fits perfectly in this song. In my opinion, it's like the inner voice (little voices!) in his head, possibly that of his mother or another female figure from his life. Boys are so often told that it's not "manly" to cry. These ideas tend to stick with men throughout their lives. To me it's that voice, or ideal, that is speaking to him and confirming / reminding him of what he is already saying. It's almost a comfort to him. I think it comes into the middle of the song at the appropriate moment. This is a Rick cover I can live with or without. | |
