Still not in Love?

If your first attempt at harmonising with girlfriends was in 1972, it may well have been inspired by 10cc’s Donna, which reached No. 2 in the charts. That first slow dance? If it was in 1975, there’s a fair chance I’m Not In Love was playing on the stereo.
The enduring popularity of those songs — and the desire to understand how they came about — explains why JW3 was packed when Graham Gouldman agreed to share the ten songs that changed his life.  

Hosted by broadcaster Gary Crowley, the evening felt less like a formal interview and more like an intimate conversation. The two men have known each other for years and still meet for Indian meals with their wives, a familiarity that allowed the stories to flow.

But Graham isn’t a tough interview. There is not the slightest trace of rock-star ego about him. Yet he has multiple Ivor Novello Awards, a Songwriters Hall of Fame induction and an MBE for services to music. He has written some of the most enduring songs in British pop history, toured the world with Ringo Starr and, now 80, is preparing for a sold-out 10cc concert at the Royal Albert Hall. For all of that, he still charmingly seems faintly surprised that any of this happened to him.

Early in the evening Gouldman also spoke affectionately about the Jewish Lads’ Brigade in Manchester, where he first met Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. “JLB was very important in the formation of 10cc,” he said. “We used to go there with our guitars and rehearse.” It was an early reminder of how closely Gouldman’s Jewish upbringing is woven into his story -more personal views  on his faith were still to come.

Having been asked to trace his musical journey through ten songs, Crowley asked whether it had been easy. Gouldman laughed.
“It’s like someone asking you what’s your favourite song. It’s impossible to say. But these songs changed my life because of the influence they had on me, either as inspiration to write songs or play music, or because they marked moments that were really important.”

The first choice was The Beatles’ I Saw Her Standing There.
“I always say I was born at the perfect time,” he reflected. “The most important thing that happened to me was listening to The Beatles. I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for them.”
The song’s famous count-in still resonates.”I always feel that count-in counted me into my musical life.”

As the evening progressed, Gouldman returned  to the people who shaped him, none more so  than his parents. His mother Betty inspired one of his favourite stories. Whenever she attended a 10cc concert, he would arrange for a spotlight to find her in the audience before performing Feel The Benefit, a title borrowed from the phrase she used when urging him to put on a coat before going outside. His father’s influence on his songwriting career was even greater.
“When people ask what my dad did, I say he was a writer. He had another job, but really he could have been a professional writer.”

It was his father Hymie who helped improve lyrics, suggested song titles and inspired classics including No Milk Today and Art For Art’s Sake. 10cc’s Kevin Godley affectionately nicknamed him “Chaim the Rhyme”.
Family and friendship run through Gouldman’s stories and as an only child, he described the late singer-songwriter Andrew Gold as “the brother I never had”, and clearly someone he still misses.

From his Beatles choice, Gouldman moved to another formative influence, The Shadows’ Apache.“They were very, very important,” he said. “Every guitarist of my generation will tell you they were influenced by Hank Marvin and that sound.”
Then came a second Beatles choice, Love Me Do, “I remember sitting at home in the kitchen when it came on the radio,” he said. “My brain scrambled. It had such an amazing effect on me.”

Years later, while 10cc were recording at their Strawberry Studios in Stockport, Paul McCartney arrived to work on an album with his brother Mike McGear. Once a fan always a fan and  Gouldman revealed that he will be among the lucky few attending Sir Paul’s intimate Roundhouse performance next week, when he will perform material from his new album The Boys of Dungeon Lane.

After his choice of the Everly Brothers’ Cathy’s Clown came The House of the Rising Sun, a song whose influence proved unexpectedly practical. Picking up his guitar — something the audience had hoped he would do  — Gouldman demonstrated the chord sequence before revealing how it inspired one of his own breakthrough compositions.
“I nicked that sequence and used it in For Your Love.”
The story carried him back to 1965 when as a 19-year-old songwriter from Manchester his song was chosen by The Yardbirds.

“They wanted record success,” he explained. “Up until then they’d been a very pure rhythm and blues band. They chose For Your Love and Eric Clapton left because he was such a purist.” Big laughter. Enough said.

Gouldman shared his admiration for Burt Bacharach and Hal David by choosing Dionne Warwick’s Anyone Who Had A Heart, and was then asked
if he had a favourite among his own compositions. He eventually settled on Bus Stop, recorded by The Hollies and released in 1966.  Inspired by journeys to his day job, it was developed with help from Hymie.
“I told my dad the idea and came home one day to find he’d written the opening verse.”

The audience also learned about the late Neil Sedaka’s visits to Strawberry Studios, where the American singer’s professionalism left a lasting impression.”He would come in completely prepared,” Gouldman remembered. “It was marvellous.”

Jimmy Webb’s Wichita Lineman, Eddie Cochran’s Summertime Blues and  Somewhere from West Side Story completed a list that revealed Gouldman’s emotional landscape as well as his musical one. Returning to Judaism towards the end, Crowley asked him what being Jewish means to him today. “It means everything. It informs everything. My background and being Jewish is so important and I feel it more than I’ve ever felt it because of what’s going on in the world today.”

On the rise in antisemitism and what the future holds for Anglo Jewry, Gouldman’s response was thoughtful. “I have to feel positive about the future, but I’m cautious,” he said. “After October 7 I had calls from non-Jewish friends who were worried about my wife’s mother who lives near Jerusalem. I’ve had people contact me recently showing support. It’s when non-Jewish people contact me. That means a lot.”

The applause acknowledged the  shared experience. What lingered at the end of the night was the evidence of a remarkable career that continues. Still curious, still grateful and, at 80, still performing. The song we danced to in 1975 may suggest otherwise, but Graham Gouldman is in love with music… life.

Ten Songs that changed Graham Gouldman’s life were:

I Saw Her Standing There – The Beatles
Apache – The Shadows
Love Me Do – The Beatles
Cathy’s Clown – The Everly Brothers
The House of the Rising Sun – The Animals
Anyone Who Had a Heart – Dionne Warwick
Wichita Lineman – Glen Campbell
Summertime Blues – Eddie Cochran
Somewhere – Matt Monro (music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim)
Bus Stop – The Hollies