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.