About The Song
“No More ‘I Love You’s'” is a song written by British musicians David Freeman and Joseph Hughes and recorded by them as the Lover Speaks. It was released in June 1986 as the lead single from their self-titled debut album. The song was covered by the Scottish singer Annie Lennox and became a commercial success for her in 1995, reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart.
“No More ‘I Love You’s'” was the first song which David Freeman and Joseph Hughes wrote together as the Lover Speaks in 1985. The song originated with Freeman, who came up with the chorus and the bassline, and Hughes then had the idea for the “do-be-do-be-do-do-do” hook. Freeman had the lyrics for the chorus completed at an early stage and wrote those for the verses later on.
As with each track on The Lover Speaks album, “No More ‘I Love You’s'” is based on a concept in Roland Barthes’ book A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments (Fragments d’un discours amoureux). In 2015, Freeman recalled of the lyrics, “When you say to someone ‘I love you’, it could be to your kids, your lover, your parents, usually, you hear, ‘I love you, too’. And then one day you say, ‘I love you’, and there’s silence because that person has reached the ‘no more ‘I love you’s’ stage’. They cannot say ‘I love you, too’. It’s as simple as that. All I did lyrically, I think, was put it in Gothic terms.”
“No More ‘I Love You’s'” was released as the Lover Speaks’ debut single in July 1986. It reached number 58 in the UK Singles Chart, becoming the duo’s only top 100 chart entry as both their debut album and successive singles failed to chart. On 21 March 1988, the song was reissued as a single in the UK only, but it failed to reach the top 100.
Video
Lyrics
… Do-be-do-be-do-do-do (oh)
Do-be-do-be-do-do-do (oh)
Do-be-do-be-do-do-do (oh)
Do-be-do-be-do-do-do (oh)
Do-be-do-be-do-do-do (oh)
… I used to be a lunatic from the gracious days
I used to feel woebegone and so restless nights
My aching heart would bleed for you to see
Oh, but now (I don’t find myself bouncing home)
(Whistling buttonhole tunes to make me cry)
… No more I love you’s
The language is leaving me
No more I love you’s
Changes are shifting outside the words
(The lover speaks about the monsters)
… I used to have demons in my room at night
Desire, despair, desire, so many monsters
Oh, but now (I don’t find myself bouncing around)
(Whistling my conscience to make me cry)
… No more I love you’s
The language is leaving me
No more I love you’s
The language is leaving me in silence
No more I love you’s
Changes are shifting outside the words
… They were being really crazy
But they will only come
And you know what, mommy?
Everyone was being really crazy
The monsters are crazy
There are monsters outside
… No more I love you’s
The language is leaving me
No more I love you’s
The language is leaving me in silence
No more I love you’s
Changes are shifting outside the word
Outside the word
… No more I love you’s
The language is leaving me
No more I love you’s
The language is leaving me
No more I love you’s
Changes are shifting outside the word
… Do-be-do-be-do-do-do (oh)
Outside the word
Do-be-do-be-do-do-do (oh)
Do-be-do-be-do-do-do (oh)