10cc – The Things We Do For Love

A very good pop song. These guys were good song craftsmen.

It was written by Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman. This song was released as a single in 1976 and later on their next album.. The song peaked at #1 in Canada, #5 in the Billboard 100, and #6 in the UK.

This was the first singe from the band’s fifth album, Deceptive Bends, their first without founding members Lol Creme and Kevin Godley, who became a top music video directing team. It was an amicable parting, with all members going on to further success. Stewart and Gouldman kept scoring hits with 10cc; their next album contained the #1 UK hit “Dreadlock Holiday.”

Erik Stewart: “I remember walking through the rain and the snow when I lived in Manchester and we didn’t have a telephone,” he said in a BBC Radio Wales interview. “I had to go and find a phone box to ring the girl who was about to become my wife. The phones were down, and it was snowing, and these, these vivid pictures are there. If you put them in a song, a lot of people identify with a similar situation.”

From Songfacts

Love songs tend to be either giddy with joy or tinged with heartbreak, but this one is much more grounded, championing compromise and communication.

The guy in the song decides to man up and call his girl, but the phone lines are down because of weather. Undeterred, he walks through the rain and the snow – just one of the things he’ll do for love.

In a Songfacts interview with Graham Gouldman, he talked about writing this song with Eric Stewart. “When we started writing that, we had some of the music and he wanted to write a song about suicide,” Gouldman said. “I told him that was not a good idea and fortunately he agreed. He came up with the title ‘The Things We Do For Love,’ which is very up and a great title really. What are the things we do for love? What do you do? What should we do for love?”

Gouldman sees chords in colors – this one is “sort of light blue.” He told Songfacts: “Although it starts off in a minor key, there are certain parts that are in a major key as well. It’s a very multi-colored song.”

This is the only 10cc song released in both territories to chart higher in America than the UK. The group had 11 Top 10 hits in the UK, but all but two of them – “The Things We Do For Love” and “I’m Not In Love” – had much impact in the States.

The Things We Do For Love

Too many broken hearts have fallen down the river
Too many lonely souls have drifted out to sea
You lay your bets and then you pay the price
The things we do for love
(the things we do for love)

Communication is the problem to the answer
you’ve got her number and your hand is on the phone
The weather?s turned and all the lines are down
The things we do for love
(the things we do for love)

Like walking in the rain and snow
When there’s nowhere to go
And you’re feeling like a part of you is dying
And you’re looking for the answer in her eyes
You think you want to break up
Then she says she wants to make up

Ooh, you make me love you
Ooh, you’ve got a way
Ooh, you’ve had me crawling up the wall

Like walking in the rain and snow
When there’s nowhere to go
And you’re feeling like a part of you is dying
And you’re looking for the answer in her eyes
You think you want to break up
Then she says she wants to make up

Ooh, you make me love you
Ooh, you’ve got a way
Ooh, you’ve had me crawling up the wall

A compromise would surely help the situation
Agree to disagree, but disagree to part
Well after all it?s just a compromise
For the things we do for love
(the things we do for love)
the things we do for love
(the things we do for love)
the things we do for love
(the things we do for love)

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball fan, old movie and tv show fan... and a songwriter, bass and guitar player. View all posts by Badfinger (Max)