"Hanging on the Telephone" | ||||||||||||||
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Single by Blondie | ||||||||||||||
from the album Parallel Lines | ||||||||||||||
B-side |
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Released | October 30, 1978 | |||||||||||||
Format | 7" vinyl | |||||||||||||
Recorded | 1978 | |||||||||||||
Genre | ||||||||||||||
Length | 2:17 | |||||||||||||
Label | Chrysalis | |||||||||||||
Writer(s) | Jack Lee | |||||||||||||
Producer(s) | Mike Chapman | |||||||||||||
Blondie singles chronology | ||||||||||||||
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"Hanging on the Telephone" is a song written by Jack Lee. It was first performed by his short-lived US West Coast power pop trio The Nerves.
The song was the lead-off track on The Nerves's 1976 EP, the group's only release. It was later popularized by new wave band Blondie when they released a cover of the song as the second single from their 1978 album Parallel Lines in both the US and UK. It eventually reached number 5 in the UK in November 1978.
Like one of Blondie's subsequent singles, "Sunday Girl", "Hanging on the Telephone" employs a double backbeat rhythm in its drumming pattern. This percussion style also appeared on other power pop singles from the period, like The Romantics' 1978 release "Tell It to Carrie".