No Tell Lover

"No Tell Lover"
Single by Chicago
from the album Hot Streets
B-side"Take a Chance"
ReleasedDecember 1978
GenreSoft rock
Length3:48 (Single version)
4:13 (Album version)
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Peter Cetera, Lee Loughnane, Danny Seraphine
Producer(s)Phil Ramone & Chicago
Chicago singles chronology
"Alive Again"
(1978)
"No Tell Lover"
(1978)
"Gone Long Gone"
(1979)

"No Tell Lover" is a song written by Lee Loughnane, Danny Seraphine, and Peter Cetera for the group Chicago and recorded for their album Hot Streets (1978), with Cetera and Donnie Dacus singing lead vocals. The second single released from that album, it reached No. 14 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 5 on the adult contemporary chart.[1]

Cash Box called it a "classy pop single" that tells "a sultry tale of masked love."[2] Record World said it "has the feel of a classic Chicago ballad."[3] In 2019, Billboard said about the song, "While the lyrical content — an ode to extramarital affairs — hasn’t particularly benefitted from the passing years, “No Tell Lover” is still a beautifully penned number from Chicago’s transition into soft-rock nobility."[4]

After "No Tell Lover", Chicago failed to chart a single in the U.S. top 50 for nearly four years, finally breaking their slump with the 1982 No. 1 hit, "Hard to Say I'm Sorry".[4]

  1. ^ "Chicago Awards". Allmusic. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  2. ^ "CashBox Singles Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. December 23, 1978. p. 18. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  3. ^ "Hits of the Week" (PDF). Record World. December 23, 1978. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
  4. ^ a b Olivier, Bobby (2019-04-25). "The 50 Best Chicago Songs: Critics' Picks". Billboard. Retrieved 2023-05-13.