Annie Lennox gave our song a second chance, says Bedfordshire man

Forty years ago, two friends wrote a song in a London flat that would end up being covered by Annie Lennox and win a Grammy Award.

Musicians Joe Hughes and David Freeman were in Muswell Hill, north London, perfecting their latest offering.

Joe left the flat and was riding to his home in Crouch End when the chorus kept on going through his head.

He says he knew straight away “it was really good”, so cycled back, knocked on the window and sang it through the letterbox to David.

That song ended up being No More I Love You’s, which was covered by Lennox in 1995 and won her a Grammy Award for best vocal pop performance the following year.

Joe, who is originally from Coventry and now lives in Oakley, Bedfordshire, says in 1985 he was writing with his “very good friend” David, whom he had met at school.

He said: “I didn’t realise immediately what a great song it was.

“I was riding home and all I could think going through my head was the chorus and that is really good.

“I rode back and knocked on his window and sang it through the letterbox, we then knew it was a great song so we said we’ve got to keep working on it.”

The song’s introduction was written by David, as well as the lyrics.

“I said we need a ‘la la part’ that people can sing along with, the example I gave was The Passenger, by Iggy Pop.

“With lightening speed he did it, and we went ‘yeah’,” he added.

What followed was a few sleepless nights with friends who helped the pair produced a four-track demo.

Joe was a carpenter at the time and was working on Dave Stewart’s, the other Eurythmics band member, narrow boat.

“Unbeknown to me, my work colleague gave Dave Stewart the demo which included No More I Love You’s.

“He said [Stewart] came running up to them and said it was ‘great’ and signed us to his publishing company.

“We released the song as The Lover Speaks and it ricocheted off the outer edge of the charts and into oblivion,” Joe says.

Yet Joe and David’s talents led to them touring with Eurythmics, which is where he believes Lennox heard the song.

“All I know is Annie was recording an album of covers called Medusa and in a TV interview I heard her say she wanted to give our song a second chance.

“I’m very grateful that she did, as it changed my life.

“I was told she was going to record the song in early 1994 so I didn’t know if it was going to be on the record or even released as a single.

“I didn’t tell anyone, it was the hardest secret to keep, and I only heard it when it was on the radio.

“I was left overjoyed, thrilled.

“Annie’s version is quite different as ours was how a rock band would do it, I think hers is beautiful, and it’s the one everyone knows,” he added.

He said his original version does sometimes get played as his eldest daughter, Ellie Ciccone-Hughes, heard it in a restaurant on a Greek Island.

“We still get royalties and I’m very grateful for them,” Joe added.

Joe says the other amazing gift the song has given him is his wife, Kris Wilkinson Hughes and child Rue Hughes.

In 1988 Joe was sent to Nashville, US, to work on music, where through mutual friends he met Kris which sparked a long-distance friendship and she eventually moved to the UK.

To celebrate the song’s 40th anniversary Joe has recorded an acoustic version of the song with his band, My Girl The River, which includes Kris and Rue.

“When we play it live I introduce it as as song I co-write that you may recognise and we hear a few gaps coming from the audience.

“I’m always grateful that we had this great fortune of Annie Lennox covering this song”, he says.

Kris says: “Annie is a very special lady. I wouldn’t have met my lovely husband and had my gorgeous family and I wouldn’t have been in the UK for the past 25 years.

“It’s an honour to sing a song that one of the best vocalists on the planet made instantly recognisable.

“Our new version is our thank you to Joe and David for writing such a beautiful song.”