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Songs (and more) About Calling and Writing

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Silver Conversationalist

Songs (and more) About Calling and Writing

 

Once upon a time, we grabbed our phone's receiver when we wanted to dial out or answer a call.  We pulled out a pen and paper to write a letter and we couldn't wait to get cards and letters from far away friends and loved ones.  Now having a "landline" is becoming more of a punchline and a lot of people think that Palmer penmanship is something to be shunned.  Running out of postage stamps used to be a real problem (remember?), now a small quantity of Forever stamps might last us a very long time.

 

No doubt that our smartphones are almost as important to us as food, shelter, and clothing.  They do it all. When my phone battery gets too  low, and must be charged, I start experiencing separation anxiiety.  And it is hard to imagine living without emails, texting, social media, etc..  

 

But once those old phones and letters were all over the place in popular music once. Those old songs would never be the same if they used "today's" communications.  "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)" is kind of a sweet upbeat old song.   Not nearly as endearing if it involved a docusigned (signed!) private message (sealed!) with a read receipt (delivered!)

 

So:  Songs About Telephones, Phone Calls, and Written Communications

and if you'd like to contemplate how those songs might be different today (and so bad) it would be fun to see those comments)

 

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Call Me Maybe:  Carly Rae Jepson

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Hello:  Lionel Richie

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Hello It's Me:  Todd Rundgren

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Don't Lose My Number:  Phil Collins

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Hanging On The Telephone:  Blondie

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Love Letters:  Ketty Lester

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Please Read The Letter:  Robert Plant and Alison Krauss

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It's Me Again, Margaret (Ray Stevens)

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Famous Blue Raincoat (Leonard Cohen)--the whole song is a letter

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Everyday I write the book  Elvis Costello

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Writing Wrongs (Monkees)

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Operator: Brenda Halloway

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Just a job to do  Genesis

 

"I got a name, I got a number, I got a line on you"

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Silver Conversationalist

Another pop-up from my dim and distant past.  Super cute teenage love songs.  It is late at night and he calls the DJ and hopes she's listening.  Dedication by the Bay City Rollers

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Sealed With a Kiss - Brian Hyland, Gary Lewis, more

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(phone ringing, no caller ID yet)  Let it Please be Him - Vickie Carr

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(long distance informatio, get me...) Memphis, Tennessee - Johnny Rivers, Rod Stewart, others

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By The Time I Get To Phoenix: Glen Campbell (She'll find the note I left hanging on her door) (She'll probably stop at lunch and give me a call).

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Beth. By Kiss. 

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24 Hours To Tulsa : Gene Pitney (Darling I had to write to say that I won't be home anymore).

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Now, we just press a button, slide a finger across the screen, and touch a lit button on our handheld, two-way radio (cellular telephone) or even talk to the phone to make a call by saying, "Okay, Google. Call John-Mobile." (If you're on an iPhone, I can't help you.)

In the '30s and all the way into the '60s, you probably remember that we used names and numbers to make calls. At first, we'd ask the operator to connect us, but with dial telephones, we could dial the numbers ourselves. One great song that came from the former was "Pennsylvania 6-5000" made famous by Glenn Miller and his orchestra.

 

For a more contemporary song, how about "I've Gotta Get a Message to You" by the Bee Gees? While that song doesn't specifically say anything about an actual call or writing, it does mention "...but you ain't got a dime, there's no time for the phone."

 

Stay well and enjoy!

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No Reply At All. Genesis 

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Hello It's Me:  Todd Rundgren

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Hanging On The Telephone:  Blondie

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Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft:  Carpenters

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Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. ACDC

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Smooth Operator. Sade

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Already Gone: Eagles (The letter that you wrote me made me stop and wonder why).

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Buzz Buzz A Diddle It: Freddie (BoomBoom) Cannon (His car breaks down, he goes to a telephone booth to call his girl, somehow hears some guy on the line sweet-talking his girl; be begs the operator to break into the conversation so he can talk to his girl. Gone With The Wind had a simpler plot).

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Dear John (I Sent Your Saddle Home):  John Prine

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