B-side "Texas Two-Lane" Format Blues rock, pop rock Label Claridge Records | Released November 1974 Length 3:25 | |
Writer(s) Jerry Corbetta, John Carter | ||
"Don't Call Us, We'll Call You" is a hit song by the 1970s psychedelic rock band Sugarloaf. Co-written by lead vocalist Jerry Corbetta, the song was featured as the title track of the band's fourth and final album. It was the band's fourth single.
Contents
The song peaked at number nine on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in the winter of 1974-1975 and number 12 on the Cash Box Top 100. The song is their second greatest hit. It spent 21 weeks on the chart, four weeks longer than their bigger hit, "Green-Eyed Lady."
In Canada, "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You" was a bigger hit, where it reached number five for two weeks. "Green-Eyed Lady" had also charted better in Canada (number one versus number three U.S.).
The song uses a guitar melody from the Beatles hit, "I Feel Fine" (which is also alluded to into the lyric "sounds like John, Paul and George") as well as a riff of Stevie Wonder's hit, "Superstition." An imitation of Wolfman Jack by disc jockey Ken Griffin also is featured briefly in the song; it states the call sign of a radio station ("Stereo 92" in the nationwide release). Numerous tracks of this line were cut to match local markets.
"Don't Call Us, We'll Call You" was performed on the TV series, Midnight Special, with Wolfman Jack himself (the host and announcer of the program) making a cameo appearance on the "Stereo 92" line.
Lyrical content
The song is a rather cynical view of the music industry, based on the band's real-life experience with CBS Records. It describes the difficulty of breaking into the business and securing a contract from the record company, who claims that the band is good, but too derivative of other popular bands at the time. When the band finally breaks through with a hit ("Green-Eyed Lady") and completes a successful tour, the record company changes course and wants to offer the band their services, only to receive the same line they gave the band before their hit—"don't call us, we'll call you." The references are a practical joke at the expense of CBS Records, which had just turned them down for a recording contract. The song includes the sound of a touch-tone telephone number being dialed near the beginning and ending of the song. Those numbers were an unlisted phone number at CBS Records in Manhattan ("area code 212" stated in the song), and the number of the White House switchboard (in the similar-sounding area code 202).
Cover versions
Van Halen performed a cover of the song, but it is only available as a bootleg live recording.