“No More ‘I Love You’s'” by The Lover Speaks
Most people are unaware that Annie Lennox’s 1995 recording of “No More ‘I Love You’s'” is a cover. The song was originally written and recorded by The Lover Speaks, a band consisting of vocalist David Freeman and arranger/composer Joseph Hughes. The duo took their name from the Roland Barthes book A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments.
The band sent a demo tape to Dave (Eurythmics) Stewart, who signed them to his Anxious Music Publishing. Stewart forwarded the demo to Chrissie (The Pretenders) Hynde, who passed it on to record producer Jimmy Iovine, who helped the band score a record deal with A&M Records.
“No More ‘I Love You’s,'” produced by Iovine, was released at The Lover Speak’s debut single in July 1986. It peaked at #58 in the UK but failed to chart in the US although it received heavy promotion on MTV. “No More “I Love You’s'” was re-released during March 1988 but also fell short of its initial chart placing.
The backing vocals consist of Freeman’s vocals, sped up to increase the pitch, and that of Alex Brown and June Miles-Kingston, Hughes’ ex-girlfriend. ( Miles-Kingston is a singer, drummer, and film-maker, who helped Julien Templer make the Sex Pistols film The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle. She squatted with Kate (The Slits) Korris and Joe (The Clash) Strummer and bought a drum kit from Paul (Sex Pistols) Cook. Miles-Kingston formed the all-female post-punk band the Mo-dettes with Korris. She later played drums for Everything But the Girl, The Communards, and Fun Boy Three, with her backing vocals prominent on their cover of “Our Lips Are Sealed.” Miles-Kingston later covered “Comment te dire adieu?” as a duet with Jimmy Somerville, which peaked at #14 in the UK in 1989.)
The gist of “No More “I Love You’s'” is that usually when one says, “I love you,” to someone, the other person responds in kind until one day the relationship shifts and one says, “I love you,” and receives no similar response.
The Lover Speaks released two more singles from their eponymous album and a cover of Dusty Springfield’s “I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten” with no success. They opened for Eurythmics’ Revenge World Tour. Freeman and Hughes worked with Alison Moyet during the recording of her Raindancing album and wrote “I Fall in Love Too Easily” for Kiki Dee. The Lover Speaks recorded a second album, The Big Lie, with production duties shared amongst Iovine, Stewart, and Daniel Lanois; however, A&M Records declined to release the album. The Lover Speaks split before splitting by the end of 1988.