I will start with one that is one of the most fun songs of the 80s.  From 1985, this is Call Me by Go West

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This one came out last year and it might just be my favourite phone number song ever! 

Nathan Dawe and Joel Corry featuring Ella Henderson - 0800 HEAVEN (2023)
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867-5309 (Jenny) by Tommy Tutone readily comes to mind.

This is a fun one from my high school days -

Sugarloaf - Don't Call Us, We'll Call You (1975)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHDNWf_ws38

"Smooth Operator" - Sade

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"Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels)" - Jim Croce

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Paul Evans had a sizeable hit in the UK and Australia in 1978–79 with the morbid country song "Hello, This Is Joanie" (as it was titled on the New Zealand pressing released by Polydor Records) or, as it was known on a Spring Records release, "Hello, This is Joannie (The Telephone Answering Machine Song)"

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"Telephone Line" - Electric Light Orchestra

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"Hanging on the Telephone" by Blondie.

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"Hanging on the Telephone" is a song written by Jack Lee. The song was released in 1976 by his short-lived US West Coast power pop band the Nerves; in 1978, it was recorded and released as a single by American new wave band Blondie.

Plastic Bertrand is a Belgian singer who is best known for the 1977 hit Ça Plane Pour Moi which by 1979 made him a one hit wonder in most English speaking countries (including the UK, US and Canada), but in parts of the world where French is the first language, he had further hits including one in 1980 called Téléphone à Téléphone Mon Bijou. The only reason I know this song was because it was popular in Quebec and I used to see the video played on their version of MTV called MusiquePlus.  I've no idea what he is singing, but like Ça Plane Pour Moi, it's a bouncy song and fun to learn the lyrics and try to sing along as best I can lol

Plastic Bertrand - Téléphone à Téléphone Mon Bijou (1980)
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"Telephone Line" - Electric Light Orchestra



Also Calling America from 1986 which became their final US Top 40 hit.  They couldn't get the message through, so I will lol

Electric Light Orchestra - Calling America (1986)
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Dory Previn
"The Obscene Call"
1974

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__O3kVWbu18

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"Ring Ring (Bara du slog en signal)", in English: "Ring Ring (If only you called)", titled simply as "Ring Ring" in the English single version, is a song by Swedish group ABBA, released as the title track of their 1973 debut album.

Here is Hey Operator by Coney Hatch.  They are a band from Toronto named after a mental asylum in England and in 1982, this peaked at #19 in Canada and to this day, can still be heard on Canadian radio like it was 1982 all over again!  This is a song that I always felt deserved to be a world-wide hit and if you love that early 80s rock sound, you owe it to yourself to give it a listen!

Coney Hatch - Hey Operator (1982)
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Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and his buddy John Hurlbut made a fantastic Americana album in recent years called "The River Flows" which this Hurlbut original is from. This is a deeply moving song for anyone who has lost a loved one and has quite a surreal, spiritual air about it. Worth a listen!

John Hurlbut & Jorma Kaukonen
"Someone's Calling"
2020

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCXJFY8vbJw

"Telephone Man" by Meri Wilson  ::)

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Meri Wilson, was an American singer best known for singing double entendre novelty songs. Her self-composed song "Telephone Man" (1977) based on her brief affair with a Dallas telephone technician installing the phone in her new apartment there. Filled with suggestive lyrics and her breathy squealing voice, the song became a surprise hit single, climbing the UK Singles Chart to No. 6, spending ten weeks in the listings, as well as making it to No. 9 in Ireland and New Zealand and No. 18 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. It reached No. 42 in Australia, and was also a minor hit in Canada (No. 76).

A delightful early Motown classic -

The Marvelettes - Beechwood 4-5789 (1962)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us18AUBM2RI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTdxdr9pNnw
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A delightful early Motown classic -

The Marvelettes - Beechwood 4-5789 (1962)


The golden age of lifting up your receiver and a woman would ask you for the number you wanted to call.  The Carpenters also had a hit with that song.  Released in 1982, it peaked at #74 in the US and was their last chart appearance before Karen passed away

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Here is Breaking Up is Hard on You by The American Comedy Network, a 1984 single that parodied Neil Sedaka's 1962 hit Breaking Up is Hard to Do.  It is a novelty song about the 1983 court ordered split up of the AT&T Bell System in the United States and peaked at #70 on the US Hot 100.  I really enjoy this one!

The American Comedy Network - Breaking Up is Hard on You (a/k/a Don't Take Ma Bell Away From Me) (1984)
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"Call Me" - Blondie

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"Rikki Don't Lose That Number" - Steely Dan

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867-5309 (Jenny) by Tommy Tutone readily comes to mind.


Everyone talks about Jenny's phone number, but no one ever calls Angela.  Her number was 853-5937 and they say she was quite the squeeze lol  In 1988, this one peaked at #32 in the US and #50 in Canada and is an interesting one because Squeeze are a British band and they are singing about an American phone number.  Maybe that's why it only peaked at #91 in the UK

Squeeze - 853-5937 (1988)
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"Don't Lose My Number" - Phil Collins

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Another phone number song:

"634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A.)" - Wilson Pickett

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Hey baby, what's your phone number?  Why it's 777-9311, but don't call that number because it belongs to Dez Dickerson, the actual lead guitarist of Prince's band The Revolution.  Written by Prince and recorded by Morris Day and the Time, this one peaked at US #88 in 1982 and when the song became popular, poor Dez had to change his phone number because he got so many calls.  I mean c'mon, what did you expect? lol

The Time - 777-9311 (1982)
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I have never seen the movie The Woman in Red, but apart from hearing this one on the radio like the rest of the world, my best memory of it was when he performed it on an episode of The Cosby Show. 

Stevie Wonder - I Just Called to Say I Love You (1984)
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Also Calling America from 1986 which became their final US Top 40 hit.  They couldn't get the message through, so I will lol

Electric Light Orchestra - Calling America (1986)


I was in college when that song came out.  My roommate at the time was a Pink Floyd fan.  As in, like, he played them basically every single day.  One album he played frequently was The Wall which contained the following song:

"Young Lust" - Pink Floyd

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The outro of the song contains a telephone dialogue between an operator and a man trying to make a collect call.



Hello?

This is a collect call for Mrs. Floyd from Mister Floyd.  Will you accept the charges from United States?

Oh, he hung up, that's your residence, right? I wonder why he hung up?

Is there supposed to be someone else there besides your wife there to answer?

Hello?

This is United States calling, are we reaching?

See he keeps hanging up, and it's a man answering.

"It Must Be Him" is a popular song with music written by Gilbert Bécaud, originally with French lyrics by Maurice Vidalin and recorded by Bécaud as "Seul Sur Son Étoile". The English version recorded by Vikki Carr in 1967, with lyrics by Mack David, was a hit around the world, reaching No. 3 in the United States, No. 2 in the UK, and No. 1 in Australia. The singer describes anxiously waiting by her telephone, desperately hoping that her former boyfriend will call, although they had separated.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYpNQXK6lpM
Call Me- Skyy

Here is Breaking Up is Hard on You by The American Comedy Network, a 1984 single that parodied Neil Sedaka's 1962 hit Breaking Up is Hard to Do.  It is a novelty song about the 1983 court ordered split up of the AT&T Bell System in the United States and peaked at #70 on the US Hot 100.  I really enjoy this one!

The American Comedy Network - Breaking Up is Hard on You (a/k/a Don't Take Ma Bell Away From Me) (1984)


I remember that. It actually got quite a bit of air time back then.


Cat

"Call Me" - Blondie

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That songs reminds me of high school.


Cat

I am assuming the concept of phones, phone numbers and calling doesn't have to be in the title itself? In which case, this entire song is about a phone call.

Chuck Berry
Memphis, Tennessee
1959

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5ezeUM6c74

Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show
"Sylvia's Mother"
1972

A song about a call from a pay phone (remember those?). CAVEAT: I am on record here about my utter disdain for this ghastly song. I detest it. The corny singer literally sobs his way through it. It's such a joke. It was written by Shel Silverstein who seemed to make an entire career out of writing corny novelty songs. He even give's "Sylvia's mother" a name, "Mrs. Avery" for no reason whatsoever, just adding to the corniness.

And just in case this wasn't enough, the dreaded Shel Silverstein wrote ANOTHER novelty song for this silly band, "Cover of Rolling Stone", which was a big hit. Heaven help us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9vRBPtXK5w

Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show
"Sylvia's Mother"
1972

A song about a call from a pay phone (remember those?)...


Glad you remembered this one.  I'll be brave - being "of a certain age" at that time, I didn't dislike the song even though I did find it sappy.  Perhaps it was us youngsters who made it out to be a hit (no it wasn't my favorite, but I didn't change the station when it came on although I sometimes giggled).  Incidentally our good friends near our age love a lot of 70's tunes but they also despise this.

As for the pay phone, I always liked where "the operator says 40 cents more for the next three minutes" because that's exactly how it went calling long distance on a pay phone.  ;D

Speaking of pay phones, forgive me - this song is not a phone song.  However, the MTV video embellishments make the video version into a phone song:

Lou Reed - I Love You, Suzanne
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc-bwzN6IVk

As for the pay phone, I always liked where "the operator says 40 cents more for the next three minutes" because that's exactly how it went calling long distance on a pay phone.  ;D


Only slightly off topic---I miss pay phones. They were always there and gave me a sense of security that cell phones absolutely do not.

Though I must say, the mouthpiece of the pay phones frequently had a slightly unpleasant smell caused by the comingled breath of thousands of callers. The interesting thing about this is that it was an absolutely unique smell that I never encountered anyplace else and it's difficult to describe what it actually smelled like since there is nothing to compare it to.

Payphones are hard to find these days, but back in 2012, Adam Levine helped make them really popular...

Maroon 5 and Wiz Khalifa - Payphone (2012)
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Before cell phones there were car phones. Phones that were wired to your car and utilized a high-powered transmitter and external antenna to make calls. Only wealthy people had them though, as the cost was prohibitive.

Byrds founder Roger McGuinn had this song on his 1991 album "Back From Rio". The influence that the McGuinn sound had on Tom Petty can certainly be heard here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKYhUnky2IQ

How much would it cost to make a phone call from Earth to Mars from the UK?  According to Richard Anthony Hewson, the founder of the British group RAH Band, about five million six hundred and forty thousand pounds and forty pence.  This one was popular in many parts of Europe including the UK where it peaked at #6. 

The RAH Band - Clouds Across the Moon (1985)
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I'm going out on a limb with this one, but I think it qualifies. If nothing else it's certainly interesting. The title cut of founding Byrds member Gene Clark's 1974 lost classic "No Other" album has nothing whatsoever to do lyrically with phones, phone numbers or calling. So why is it here you ask? The song itself is a phone call. More specifically, the vocal is a phone call. To get that "otherworldly" sort of sound, Clark sang the vocal into a live telephone.  Someone dialed the studio switchboard and then ran the call through the recording console at which point Clark sang the song into the phone. It does give the effect that the vocal was beamed in from Mars or some such.

As for the lyrics themselves, not only are they poetic, they are marvelously metaphysical:

All alone you say
That you don't want no other
So the Lord is love and love is like no other
If the falling tide can turn and then recover
All alone we must be part of one another
All alone you say
The power is perfection
Is the power of peace or merely the connection
To the God of love that powers the protection
From the tide of life that flows in each direction
When the stream of changing days
Turns around in so many ways
Then the pilot of the mind must find the right direction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L7cAeZC-1o

I'm going out on a limb with this one, but I think it qualifies. If nothing else it's certainly interesting. The title cut of founding Byrds member Gene Clark's 1974 lost classic "No Other" album has nothing whatsoever to do lyrically with phones, phone numbers or calling. So why is it here you ask? The song itself is a phone call. More specifically, the vocal is a phone call. To get that "otherworldly" sort of sound, Clark sang the vocal into a live telephone.  Someone dialed the studio switchboard and then ran the call through the recording console at which point Clark sang the song into the phone. It does give the effect that the vocal was beamed in from Mars or some such...


O0 I like this!  New to me.  I'd have never guessed the vocals were recorded over the telephone - what a concept!

Yoko Ono
"Mindweaver"
1981

From her classic "Season Of Glass" album, co-produced by Phil Spector.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aguAzUEEPc

Alice Cooper
"Under My Wheels"
1971

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5qqo2sFLPA

Glad you remembered this one.  I'll be brave - being "of a certain age" at that time, I didn't dislike the song even though I did find it sappy.  Perhaps it was us youngsters who made it out to be a hit (no it wasn't my favorite, but I didn't change the station when it came on although I sometimes giggled).  Incidentally our good friends near our age love a lot of 70's tunes but they also despise this.

As for the pay phone, I always liked where "the operator says 40 cents more for the next three minutes" because that's exactly how it went calling long distance on a pay phone.  ;D

When did her saying get phased out?

Only slightly off topic---I miss pay phones. They were always there and gave me a sense of security that cell phones absolutely do not.

Though I must say, the mouthpiece of the pay phones frequently had a slightly unpleasant smell caused by the comingled breath of thousands of callers. The interesting thing about this is that it was an absolutely unique smell that I never encountered anyplace else and it's difficult to describe what it actually smelled like since there is nothing to compare it to.

I know exactly what you mean I feel the same way.

"The Telephone Call" (German: "Der Telefon-Anruf") is a song by the German electronic band Kraftwerk. It was released in 1987 as the second and final single from their ninth studio album, Electric Café (1986). The single was their second number-one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play and stayed two weeks at the number-one spot. It is the only Kraftwerk song to feature Karl Bartos on vocals. The versions from the single were remixed by François Kevorkian and Ron Saint Germain.

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When did her saying get phased out?


When cell phones replaced pay phones.

Before cell phones there were car phones. Phones that were wired to your car and utilized a high-powered transmitter and external antenna to make calls. Only wealthy people had them though, as the cost was prohibitive.

Byrds founder Roger McGuinn had this song on his 1991 album "Back From Rio". The influence that the McGuinn sound had on Tom Petty can certainly be heard here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKYhUnky2IQ



Here's another Car Phone  ;D ;D ;D


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF-iAV9YOqY



Cat

Echo Valley 26809-The Partridge Family (1972)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQEeASSzJLw


Cat

The Telephone Hour from Bye, Bye, Birdie


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sPU3ymk2ms


I was in this play in 9th grade. I was so nervous doing this song because we were on something like this:

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/82/18/ea/8218eaa427c9af6f3495befc55e1519e.jpg

I was hoping that it wouldn't collapse on us. If memory serves, I was on the second "shelf". I don't know if there was someone above me. Maybe.


Cat

"Busy Line" by Rose Murphy


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"Pennsylvania 6-5000"  by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra

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Many big band musicians played in Hotel Pennsylvania's Cafe Rouge in New York City, including the Glenn Miller Orchestra. The hotel's telephone number, Pennsylvania 6-5000, inspired the Glenn Miller 1940 Top 5 Billboard hit of the same name, which had a 12-week chart run. The instrumental was recorded on April 28, 1940 at the RCA Victor Studios at 155 East 24th Street in New York City. The 78 single was released in June, 1940 as RCA Victor Bluebird 78 B-10754-A backed with "Rug Cutter's Swing". The song was also an advertisement for attendance at the band's live performances, as a call could be put through to Hotel Pennsylvania’s venue the Cafe Rouge for a reservation.

Nobody's Home-Pink Floyd


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KecVreyqD34



Cat

"Call Me" - Blondie


That songs reminds me of high school.


Cat


Me too.

That late-70s / early-80s time frame produced a bunch of songs like this that don't seem fully at home in either decade.  Fascinating period.

"Sex Over The Phone" - The Village People

Released at the height of the AIDS crisis, phone sex was a so-called "safer sex" practice.

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"I Go To Rio" - Pablo Cruise

Pablo Cruise released a cover the Peter Allen song.  Some versions that DJs played contained an intro with a prank call / crank call.  Remember those?  Caller ID and voicemail pretty much put an end to the practice.  However, in this call, the called party seems to know the caller, so...

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This 1973 tune is actually sort-of an anti-phone song.

I guess the lovers in the song have something like a psychic connection, so they don't need to call each other or send letters.  (Incidentally, when I was a kid in that pre-Google era, I thought the lyrics were "red hot love".)

"Radar Love" - Golden Earring

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This 1973 tune is actually sort-of an anti-phone song.

I guess the lovers in the song have something like a psychic connection, so they don't need to call each other or send letters.  (Incidentally, when I was a kid in that pre-Google era, I thought the lyrics were "red hot love".)

"Radar Love" - Golden Earring


Now this one reminds me of high school (my freshman year anyway)

"Long Distance Runaround" - Yes

OK, so this song is NOT actually about long distance calling, but the name fits with the theme, so you can decide whether to include it in your collection or not.

The song, written by Yes singer Jon Anderson, is actually about ... uhhmmm ... ahhhhh ... uhhh let's see here ...   Oh, it's about:

"... the exaggerated piety flouted by many in church, which he found hypocritical.

He wrote this song about his frustration and confusion at the circular reasoning in his religious experience in general.

It was how religion had seemed to confuse me totally. It was such a game that seemed to be played, and I was going around in circles looking for the sound of reality, the sound of God. That was my interpretation of that song, that I was always confused. I could never understand the things that religion stood for. And that throughout the years has always popped its head up in the song I’ve been working with."

(from https://genius.com/Yes-long-distance-runaround-lyrics)

"Yes co-founder Jon Anderson wrote the lyrics to this song while allegedly remembering his encounters with religious hypocrisy and competition he experienced in attending church regularly as a youth in northern England. "Long time / waiting to feel the sound" was a sentiment toward wanting to see a real, compassionate, non-threatening example of godliness."

(from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Distance_Runaround)

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(with Bonus track: "The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)")