As one door closes, another one opens…
This is the first music competition sponsored by our gracious new voucher host: Curry’s PC World.
To celebrate, the question this week is: What’s your favourite song featuring phones or phone calls?
Here’s mine.
The winner will be chosen by my repair man and sent a €20 Currys PC World gift voucher (yes, twenty big ones).
Please include video links if possible.
Lines close SATURDAY 11am.
Nick says: Good luck.
Earlier: Nick’s Gone All PC
Sponsored Link
hanging on the telephone by blondie, of course.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWhkbDMISl8
snap!
Hello this is Joanie, I’m sorry that I’m not home……(ye old answering machine song)
jaysus you’re quick off the draw
oh where did scotters go
Snap for me too :)
well it’s gotta be this sexy tune
( and all the best chez Currys Nick )
The The – Helpline Operator
https://youtu.be/MEXP8Y-AsTM
Nice one Janet.
The brilliant ELO with Telephone Line,
https://youtu.be/XKElk9zTB04
Enjoy!!
Martha by Tom Waits which is a phonecall…. https://youtu.be/y9Mse62NFl4
Dang; you got there before me.
Young Tom with one of his Stacey’s holding down the right pedal…for the duration
In this day and age of covid and the explosion of working from home phenomenon.
Lots more people are doing a Blondie and hanging on the telephone.
https://youtu.be/uWhkbDMISl8
Had to put these guys in, utter class,
The Undertones – You Got My Number.
Surely has too be classed a song about phones????
https://youtu.be/B_mIIvUSTig
If not, still enjoy.
YES!!!
I’ll go for the original telephone bling, talk about a sexy tune. The Hoochie Hoochie man himself, Muddy water with Long distance call.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ihX1vbs014
great shout
Village People- Sex over the phone
https://youtu.be/8hYtUYiuzkw
you have a repair man. he the repair man the brains behind the operation that comes up with all the excellent titles on broadsheet.??
ive a mental image of a guy you phoned trying to fix your house wiring and now you annoing hin talking about a song competition about phones while he is trying to work.
anyway, mine submission is ‘Home Phone’ by Kraftwerk:
youtube.com/watch?v=Eos16ZWd7dY
Krazy Kraftwork got bored with their pocket calculator and found a phone to play iwth.
i tried to recreate the phone beat while talking to a mate and pressing the buttons while he was on the phone. but it just annoyed him.
What are you supposed to do with 20 quid at PC World? Buy a modestly priced phone case? Scabby bastards
This.
https://youtu.be/StKVS0eI85I
the kinks – party line
https://youtu.be/OGMgWdtpdTQ
if only for the intro (but great song too, which I’ve been known to do a karaoke number on)
How about some awesome 90’s dance pop.
Saint Etienne – He’s on the Phone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddr9EpezslU
It really lifted my mood!! :)
Nice one.
Fun fact: It’s a reworking of an Etienne Daho song called Week-end à Rome.
https://youtu.be/B-Bo7K9_ekA
Lloyd Cole & the Commotions –
4 flights up
Well you have absolutely no common sense, yes I know that’s your charm
You spend the whole day on the phone, you say well it helps you stay calm….
Okay, it’s not a song, but it’s a bit of fun about phones. It is a Friday after all, the fantastic Mr Peter Kay!
https://youtu.be/hX9p1OcmS-k
Enjoy
Penguin Cafe Orchestra’s Telephone and Rubber Band, short but sweet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWZ4pve5Mkc
Where to begin…
Soulja boi- kiss me thru the phone? Nope.
Communication by Mario piu? Getting to an age now where it’s no longer annoying
Check my machine by Paul McCartney? Delightfully weird, but maybe too weird for some people.
It has to be this beauty of a tune:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uLQ7FimJEUM
Busy line by Rose Murphy
Kraftwerk- The Telephone Call
https://youtu.be/4BQsJb7w83w
+9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 :)
Bob Dylan – Stuck inside of (ahem) mobile
https://youtu.be/3kh6K_-a0c4
dude, you could have even gone with Chuck Berry – ‘memphis tennessee’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5ezeUM6c74
me and eamonn will be over here getting down to wilson pickett – 6345789
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOUNkVsx1-s
I thought that was a Ry Cooder song (til now)
The Band – ‘long distance operator’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSjxQ2Y_jXg
– it’s not for fun..
Scottser,
Love a bit of the wicked pickett,
Here is one you might like.
Girl on the phone – the Jam
https://youtu.be/vNL4hZrziUY
Not exaclty for the soul fiends but hard to Knock……….
This is what I imagine repair men listening to in their vans between jobs: Madonna – Hung Up
https://youtu.be/EDwb9jOVRtU
I think this is the only song ABBA ever officially authorized for sampling of one of thiers (Gimmie! Gimmie! Gimmie!)
abba? has to be ‘ring ring’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRVK0DSPbak
which is a killer tune.
a blast from the past – picture a young V singing into her hairbrush: ‘hello this is joannie’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRfS10Ae46o
Sylvia’s Mother By Dr Hook & The Medicine Show. This is a classic about a guy trying to ring his ex and say goodbye and ends up talking to her mother.
https://youtu.be/7LXpnNKNxJI
The Other Side by Public Service Broadcasting brilliantly samples the tense and wonderfully emotional communication between Houston Mission Control and Apollo 8, which in 1968 was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and also the first human spaceflight to orbit the Moon without landing.
https://youtu.be/YpW5X1kp-RE
nice choice of PSB. very underrated band.
The Text Song, by David O’Doherty
“….because i seeeeeent the text, to the person the text was about”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAG18UUDPPI
De La Soul – Ring, Ring, Ring (sampling Curiosity Killed the Cats ”Name and number”) great example of a song surpassing the song it sampled.
lemonheads – my drug buddy
https://youtu.be/DCOKAYIBmng
All the good ones are taken, so I’m going with this bit of 80’s cheesetasticness! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV0ugZumyJU
Go West – Call Me
Meri Wilson, Telephone Man
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4ljenm
“You just show me where you want it and I’ll put it where I can
I can put it in the bedroom, I can put it in the hall
I can put it in the bathroom, I can hang it on the wall”
70’s suggestive smut at it’s best.
fair play, i was trying to remember that one..
…this!
Charger’s favourite hobby – ‘obscene phone caller’ by Rockwell. Complete with faux english accent..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpYwIujOc4Q
Laurie Anderson, O Superman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6ImFRdNG0A
“Hi. I’m not home right now. But if you want to leave a
Message, just start talking at the sound of the tone.
Hello? This is your Mother
Are you there?
Are you coming home?”
Weird, mesmerising and strangely unforgettable, from a lady who has led a very interesting life
What about a song featuring a phone call which recounts a dispute between the band members.
Mogwai – Tracy
https://youtu.be/GNWcIsAQytw
The Jags, I’ve got your number written on the back of my hand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yONWCzHPisg
This is how you used to remain in touch with someone you “met” on a night out.
Lou Reed’s ‘New York Telephone Conversation’ from Transformer
https://youtu.be/Q7gBPBBZHw4
Always loved the phone ringing at the very end of Bowie’s ‘Life on Mars’…
“Hello, this is the Intergalactic operator”
Clouds across the moon – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL8AgEzg5fI
The Rah band.
Excellent!
beautiful, haunting, lonely but uplifting, and most importantly, within the confines of the competition!
Glen Campbell: Wichita Lineman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qoymGCDYzU
if this one doesnt win, im booking Nick a ticket on john denver airlines!
already done, see above
Love – The red telephone
https://youtu.be/EtYS3EYjVyk
City Boy – 5705
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYvA_tGlWAc
That’s an easy phone number to remember!
Paul Simon’s generous gesture to Alan Shatter when he headed to the political wilderness
https://youtu.be/uq-gYOrU8bA
nice competition. i didnt realise such a silly question would come up with great answers.
when do you put in the customary lines extended to 11.45pm?
Rikki Don’t Lose That Number – Steely Dan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfZWp-hGCdA
Before backing up your contacts to the Cloud
Eminem – Stan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqUpe6QeBTk
The one good thing about this – it introduced us to Dido
AC/DC – Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIE4UjBtx-o
There’s a telephone number in the lyrics. I rang it. They’re not as cheap as they’d have you believe.
you got the downpayment blues, muchacho?
Scottser, this shook me all night long, left me thunderstruck.
Department S – Is Vic There?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlbcNvlseVI
No, he’s long gone.
Nick – no need for the apostrophe in Currys.
No question for me about my fave.
The brilliant Steve Earle with Telephone Road from the 1997 album El Corazon.
The first time I hear this I was driving down a two-lane blacktop in a big fat old Buick just as dawn rose on a big sky Texas.
I had a fresh pack of Winston, a big steaming cup of black coffee and the future Lady Charger asleep in the passenger seat.This track just made perfect driving music.I particularly love the wailing Hammond organ.
I was delivering a car from upstate New York to the West Coast.The company involved gave you five days to make the trip,a certain mileage to do it in and the first tank of gas.Didn’t cost me a thing except the gas to get across and cheap roadside motels.
It was the cheapest way to cross America on someone else’s dime.
It was only later that I found out the real Telephone Road was only a few hundred miles away in the same state.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibYBuV0IrTo
heheheh x none of that happened
Tadpole’s
Heh.
hound dog taylor – ‘talk to my baby’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-BOVWQpwAo
covered by johnny winter, clapton, stevie ray vaughan. a greasier and grimier guitar sound you will not find. gorgeous..
Liking the Blues vibes indeed
here’s one, about seven days too late.
Dust my Broom, Elmore James
https://youtu.be/5jcGY7NbaQw
“I hear ringing in the air
So I answer the phone
A voice comes over clear
Say, is Vic there?”
Department S – Is Vic There?
https://youtu.be/kUUA0Fdw_6Q
Top Tune
Madonna’s Hung Up brilliantly samples ABBA.
https://youtu.be/EDwb9jOVRtU
The Fall, Telephone Thing. Great performance on the iconic BBC 2 arts show, The Late Show from 1990. Deserves a mention. https://youtu.be/WzAOiA4dH_o
You Could Be the One
The Sisters of Mercy
“All God’s children give good phone
I called Jesus, he’s not home so
I’m so pleased to talk to you…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zPyvohbi-E&ab_channel=kronblom98
The original telephone song:
Arthur Collins – Hello Ma Baby (1899)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxpiQjkhbeM
Some trivia: apparently, the word “Hello” was never used as a greeting until Thomas Edison urged people via his telephone manual to say “hello” when answering. Prior to that it was only used to express surprise or to attract attention
..more important than Peel, morning does indeed become eclectic with some Pink for breakfast.
Hey Ariel, it’s Jessica
We met at the taco truck in Silverlake
And I don’t know if you’re like really busy or something
But I haven’t heard back from you
And I was just wondering like, if you could…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2BtsHyHWB4
-fixture on the LA underground CalArts-Downtown music scene,Ariel has been described as a …” nice Jewish boy from Beverlywood”….Ariel will never be cancelled in Soho and Weho.
https://jewishjournal.com/commentary/columnist/327701/was-it-wrong-to-cancel-ariel-pink/
The Presidents of the United States of America – Some Postman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5LBZIai2O0
The entire video was filmed using phones. Does that count? :)
Lena Lovich – Lucky Number
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5_afP0Qa4s
Interesting Fact. This song is about the landline number first assigned to Lovich upon her arrival in the UK, Brixton 1. She later moved in with the guy next door and her lucky number changed to 2.
Its got to be this classic from Yazoo…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-MBDdf6h1c
Who you gonna call?
Ray Parker Jr. – Ghostbusters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMQ3xPBEA80
Or if this was the misheard lyrics comp, “Who you gonna call? Those Ba&t*rds!”
Towers of Dub – The Orb.
For the phone aspect, for those who dislike The Orb you need only listen to the first 1.23
You can hear a prank call made to the BBC, “Marcus Garvey, looking for Haile Selassie, and leaving a message to meet in Babylon an’ ting.
If you persevere – wind up the bass and away you may go.
https://youtu.be/qmbtTiigT78
Happy Friday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub9RosJU-BM
Jamelia – Call Me. For the sheer early-2000s vibe and fashions, replete with dance sequences, retro computers and landlines, and of course integrating the Nokia 3210 “kick” ringtone into the melody (very evident from 3:20 onwards). That said, Blondie’s “Call Me” is a far superior song with the same name.
Back in the day when you visited someone in prison, the two of you looked at each other through glass and talked on a telephone. David Ackles’ Down River is that conversation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-zDI5GD7co
New Street Adventure – hangin’ on/hangin’up
https://youtu.be/HXadEMlv-K8
aint hangin’ up so hard to do
John Martyn – call me
https://youtu.be/p6I3CstYmD4
Like bells from heaven
So my entry is my one of my favourite They Might Be Giants song.
Ana Ng.
The title of the track came from an experience the Johns (TMBG) had when they found a huge number of Ng listings in the New York City phone book.
So it’s about a Vietnamese lady they never met. The track starts with a phone ringing and a little later there’s a snippet of a conversation with the line ‘I don’t want the world, I just want your half’…
I adore this song.
https://youtu.be/gTa0nv-127E
Before he became a vinyl flooring salesman in Dublin, he did this.
Lionel Richie: Hello
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHONNcZbwDY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gre4DZuA6k4
Remember when that Jessie one was ringing complaining about her life.
Telephone Thing: The Fall
https://youtu.be/60wQc6bzjCk
Telephone Thing I hear you listening in. Gretchen Franklin nosy matron thing. Anyone remember Gretchen Franklin?
This isn’t about phones as such, but features a fine musical phone moment from about 2 min in.
Boomtown Rats ‘when the night comes’
https://youtu.be/qi2J4CA5anQ
Madness, my girl.
https://youtu.be/Pw-8AGRcyvk
On the telephone for an hour, we hardly said a word.
oooh do we have a winner ?!
Having ruled out “Text Me,” by R. Kelly & Poison’s “Talk Dirty to Me” on the grounds that they haven’t (ahem) aged well & billy no mates Ariel Pink’s “Put your number in my phone ” (as the number was either QAnon or diaper Don). I propose “Answering Machine” by The Replacements. Yes the technology may be defunct but the sense of desperation is timeless .Singing into the void of the answering machine static, Westerberg bleeds out with just guitar in hand over the voicemail. “How can you say I m lonely to an answering machine” showing that regardless of the communication medium, life remain the same: full of heart and heartbreak.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4RYhoCrbXw
Guilty of a repeat so I’ll throw in this belter
Call Me Maybe: Carly Rae Jepsen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWNaR-rxAic
Beck – Cellphone’s Dead
https://youtu.be/gnpvEvuiFoQ
Telephone by Lady Gaga
For the simple reason that my friend used this to split up with her fella – or rather an ex who wouldn’t stop calling and it was one of the best ways of getting rid of an unwanted boy I’ve ever seen. Also, even if you, like me, don’t much like Lady Gaga, the video is very good.
https://youtu.be/EVBsypHzF3U
This is all a bit like shouting into the void.
Finally! Thanks John ;)
I was curious having seen her the other day – she’s certainly versatile ;-)
Amanda Marshall
Sunday Morning After
https://youtu.be/boIwyNgRsno
We’ve all been there…
Kinda has to be blondie.. but, as you asked: last night a DJ saved my life with his call – https://youtu.be/GtfZbj4J71A
And for all the losers: yes yes I’ll call you back
https://youtu.be/PyTRtv9m1y0
Nino Ferrer – Gaston, y a l’téléfon qui sonne (1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMgAWPxl3S8
Word has it that this video features Broadsheet’s favourite horndog, Brother Barnabas.
Eric Prydz – Call on Me
https://youtu.be/qetW6R9Jxs4
please, Otis- no doxxing
Credit where credit is due, in fairness.
One of the first songs I can remember singing along to on the kitchen radio:
Stevie Wonder – I just called to say I love you
https://youtu.be/1bGOgY1CmiU
“This is Jack Killian… goodnight America – wherever you are”
Theme from Midnight Caller
https://youtu.be/Fp54tt9gH54
Some nostalgic phone call memories within seconds of listening to this piece:
Francisco Tárrega – Gran Vals (1902)
https://youtu.be/uSQzUx3QW2Y
The Big Bopper – Chantilly Lace.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b-by5e4saI
“Hello, baby
Yeah, this is the Big Bopper speakin’
Oh, you sweet thing
Do I what? Will I what?
Oh baby, you know what I like”
62 years ago this February, a plane crashed and killed 3 rising stars of American music, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson. Buddy Holly was 22, The Big Bopper was 28, Richie Valens was just 17.
“Rising American rock stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson are killed when their chartered Beechcraft Bonanza plane crashes in Iowa a few minutes after takeoff from Mason City on a flight headed for Moorhead, Minnesota. Investigators blamed the crash on bad weather and pilot error. Holly and his band, the Crickets, had just scored a No. 1 hit with “That’ll Be the Day.”
The long journeys between venues on board the cold, uncomfortable tour buses adversely affected the performers, with cases of flu and even frostbite. After mechanical difficulties with the tour bus, Holly had chartered a plane for his band to fly between stops on the Winter Dance Party Tour. However, Richardson, who had the flu, convinced Holly’s band member Waylon Jennings to give up his seat, and Ritchie Valens won a coin toss for another seat on the plane.”
I waited as long as I could!!!, but I just had to do it!
This will melt your head all day and night, definitely not my finest hour, and definitely not one to do your hoovering to do (with your new hoover from PC World) ehh!
https://youtu.be/sJTH5qIT-UI
Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
But in the words of Marty McFly “Your Kids Will Love It”!
Eek.
I’m not going to open that
Has to be ‘When Will You (Make My Phone Ring)’ – Deacon Blue – https://youtu.be/sWSi5MMEIOA
Telephone Thing by The Fall which is about phone tapping.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60wQc6bzjCk
My favourite line is the reference of Gretchen Franklin, who played busybody Ethel in Eastenders. He sings ‘How dare you think I want to parlez-vous with you, Gretchen Franklin, nosy matron thing!’
…..a German doctor examines him and determines he is mute, but discovers he possesses a telephone number and calls it. The call is answered by Walt Henderson, Travis’ brother from Los Angeles….
https://www.criterionchannel.com/paris-texas/videos/paris-texas-trailer
happy b’day Nastassja,the epitome of high,lonesome sound.
Ry Cooder – Brothers
https://youtu.be/uuqgCmNexrk
You’re on the money here.
Paris, Texas is a masterpiece of modern cinema brilliantly soundtracked by Ry Cooder. Here’s the ‘telephone’ scene between Harry Dean Stanton and Natassja Kinski.
https://youtu.be/hWetWsvHnyg
Can’t believe this hasn’t been posted yet.
4 Hero – Mr Kirk’s Nightmare
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THCj2AJuNVE
It actually samples 2 phone related tracks:
The lyrics come from Think – Once You Understand. Which is a back and forth between liberal kids and their conservative parents which ends in a nightmare phone call.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haCqD9Ps0co
While the music comes from this 80s electro classic, Extra T’s – E.T. Boogie. A tribute to the famous E.T.’s wish to call home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY_Ee01_0Ss&feature=emb_title