Girish Mahajan (Editor)

He's on the Phone

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Format
  
12", MC, CD

Genre
  
Handbag house

Recorded
  
1995

B-side
  
"Groveley Road", "Is It True", "The Process", "How I Learned to Love the Bomb"

Released
  
6 November 1995October 29, 1996 (1996-10-29)

Length
  
4:09 (Radio Edit)5:10 (Full Length)

"He's on the Phone" is a song by British pop group Saint Etienne in collaboration with French singer-songwriter Étienne Daho. A fast-paced dance track, it is one of Saint Etienne's biggest hits, reaching #11 on the UK Singles Chart. The lyrics tell of an "academia girl" trying to escape from a relationship with a married man: "He's on the phone / And she wants to go home, / Shoes in hand, / Don't make a sound, / It's time to go." At the centre of the track is a spoken-word section by Daho.

Contents

The song is a remix by Motiv8 of "Accident", which appeared on the Saint Etienne/Étienne Daho Reserection EP, released a few months previously in June, 1995. "Accident" itself is a rewritten version of Daho's 1984 French-language hit single "Weekend à Rome", with original English lyrics. Daho's spoken-word vocals are from the Reserection opening track, "Reserection".

The single was credited to "Saint Etienne featuring Étienne Daho". Daho also appears in the song's music video and joined the band in their performance of the song on Top of the Pops. Daho would also go on to perform the original "Weekend à Rome" lyrics with the instrumentation from "He's on the Phone" in a performance on the French edition of Star Academy.

Spanish pop singer Princessa covered the song on her 1996 album Calling You.

Production

According to producer Steve Rodway, the band had never intended to use "Accident" as single material, but had given it to him for remixing as it was "the only new track they had" at the time of the release of Too Young to Die. Rodway retained an edited-down portion of Daho's vocals, and otherwise only kept the opening piano riff from the original instrumentation (both at the band's request).

Sound on Sound magazine describes "He's on the Phone" as characteristic of most of Rodway's "trademark" sounds:

A hard disk recorder was used to create backing vocals echoing the original through time stretching and pitch shifting.

Reception

In 1999, Tom Ewing of Freaky Trigger ranked the single at number 29 in his list of the "Top 100 Singles of the 90s".

Track listing

All tracks written and composed by Cracknell, Stanley, Wiggs, Daho; except where indicated

MC: Heavenly / HVN 50CS (UK)

  1. "He's On The Phone" - 4:09
  2. "He's On The Phone" (Motiv8 Mix) - 6:25

CD: Heavenly / HVN 50CD (UK)

  1. "He's On The Phone" - 4:09
  2. "Groveley Road" (Stanley, Wiggs) - 3:39
  3. "Is It True" (Marc Bolan) - 2:49
  4. "The Process" (Stanley, Wiggs) - 3:11

CD: Heavenly / HVN 50CDR (UK)

  1. "He's On The Phone" (Motiv8 Mix) - 6:25
  2. "Cool Kids Of Death" (Underworld Remix) (Stanley, Wiggs) - 14:31
  3. "How I Learned To Love The Bomb" (Treacy) - 3:05

CD: MCA / MCADM-55268 (US)

  1. "He's On The Phone" (Radio Edit) - 4:08
  2. "He's On The Phone" (Motiv8 Mix) - 6:26
  3. "He's On The Phone" (Primax Bungee Dub Mix) - 6:03
  4. "He's On The Phone" (Primax Bungee Vocal Mix) - 5:05

12": Heavenly / HVN 50-12Pi (UK)

  1. "He's On The Phone" (Motiv 8 Extended Mix) - 6:25
  2. "He's On The Phone" (Motiv 8 Dub)

12": Heavenly / HVN 50-12Pii (UK)

  1. "Cool Kids Of Death" (underworld mix) (Stanley, Wiggs) - 14:31
  2. "Like A Motorway" (david holmes mix) (Stanley, Wiggs) - 13:01

12": Heavenly / HVN 50-12Piii (UK)

  1. "He's On The Phone" (Bungee Vocal Mix)
  2. "He's On The Phone" (Naked Bungee Dub)

12": MCA / MCA12-55268 (US)

  1. "He's On The Phone" (Motiv8 Mix) - 6:26
  2. "He's On The Phone" (Primax Bungee Dub Mix) - 6:03
  3. "He's On The Phone" (Primax Bungee Vocal Mix) - 5:05

References

He's on the Phone Wikipedia
(Text) CC BY-SA


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