Telephone Thing

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"Telephone Thing"
Jonathan More, Matt Black
Producer(s)Coldcut
The Fall singles chronology
"Cab It Up"
(1989) 		"Telephone Thing"
(1990) 		"High Tension Line"
(1990)

"Telephone Thing" is a song by British post-punk band

Jonathan More. Produced and mixed by Coldcut, it was released as a single in January 1990 and reached number 58 on the UK singles chart.[1] It also featured on the Fall's twelfth album, Extricate
.

Recording

The duo Coldcut first collaborated with Smith on the song ""(I'm) In Deep", one of the tracks on their debut album

telephone tapping at a time when he thought his calls were being intercepted.[4]

Smith said:[2]

[Coldcut's recording] was a misjustice to the tune. That single was a flop and it was rubbish. You see, they compose all their shit on machines, so I got the band to learn it, played naturally. So it's very different indeed. I just think it's topical - like all Fall singles. I think it's good to have a go at things like that - British Rail and British Telecom. It's a natural gripe. One time, I was using the phone a lot and I dialled a number and I could hear people munching sandwiches and talking about my last phone call. I actually rang up the operator and said 'Lookl I'm trying to dial a fucking number here and I can't get through because people are talking about my phone calls! Have you got a bleedin' license to do this?

Smith's lyrics include the lines "How dare you assume I want to parlez-vous with you / Gretchen Franklin, nosey matron thing...".

BBC TV soap opera EastEnders. Smith claimed:[2]

I thought I'd made up that name. Coldcut and Craig Leon

were going to me 'That's a great name to make up, Gretchen Franklin', it just came out of nowhere. And then I was watching EastEnders and ... it was terrible! Maybe she'll be flattered, you usually find people are flattered. I don't even watch fucking EastEnders. I hate it! It must've just lodged there somewhere, out of the blue. It's subliminal - I've nothing against her - I can't even remember what she looks like now.... OH NO! It's not the woman with the dog is it? It's not!

As well as being released as a single and on the album Extricate, the song featured on several live albums by the Fall.[3]

Legacy

James Murphy paid tribute to the song by using the phrase "I'm tapped" on the LCD Soundsystem song "Movement", copying Smith's pronunciation ("tapped-uh").

References

  1. ISBN 0-00-717931-6
    .
  2. ^ a b c Andrew Collins, "Funky, Cold, Modern-ah", New Musical Express, 25 January 1990, pp. 24-26. Retrieved 28 January 2018
  3. ^ a b "Telephone Thing", The Fall Tracks A-Z and The Fall Live. Retrieved 28 January 2018
  4. ^ Joseph Gallivan, "Nietzsche boy: Mark E Smith told it like it was at the ICA this week.", The Independent, 10 March 1994. Retrieved 28 January 2018
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