Springfield’s 1966 single “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” proved to be her most successful in the UK and the US, peaking at No. 1 and No. 4 respectively.

The single is an English re-recording of the 1965 Italian-language song “Io che non vivo (senza te)” by Pino Donaggio and Vito Pallavicini, which Springfield first heard at the Sanremo Festival of the same year. The song moved Springfield to tears despite her not knowing the meaning of the lyrics, and a year later she set out to create an English version.

The English lyrics, written by Simon Napier-Bell and Vicki Wickham, were created despite neither writer understanding the original Italian lyrics. The title of the song went through various revisions; originally, it was penned as an anti-love song called “I Don’t Love You”, but when that original idea proved unproductive, it adjusted to “You Don’t Love Me”, then to “You Don’t Have to Love Me”. Eventually, it was formally titled “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me”, a phrasing that fitted the song’s melody.

The song has subsequently been covered by artists such as Elvis Presley, Cher and Brenda Lee, each to varying degrees of commercial success.