He's on the Phone

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“He's on the Phone”
“He's on the Phone” cover
Single by Saint Etienne
from the album Too Young to Die
Released Flag of Europe October 1995
Flag of the United States October 29, 1996 (1996-10-29)
Format 3 x 12" vinyl, cassette, 2 x CD
Genre Eurodance
Length 4:09
Label Flag of the United Kingdom Heavenly - HVN 50
Flag of the United States MCA - 55268
Writer(s) Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley, Pete Wiggs, Étienne Daho
Producer Steve Rodway, Saint Etienne
Saint Etienne singles chronology
Reserection EP
(1995)		 "He's on the Phone"
(1995)		 "Burnt Out Car"
(1995)

"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 Eurodance 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.

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.

Contents

[edit] 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).[1]

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

“ ...the bass is a sampled Minimoog, and the driving arpeggios are taken from Steve's Juno 106. The rhythm is again composed of TR909 samples, overlaid with a programmed conga pattern, and the snare only performs fill duties... The high string line is once again from the U220, and pads are supplied by the faithful Wavestation and JD800.[1] ”

A hard disk recorder was used to create backing vocals echoing the original through time stretching and pitch shifting.[1]

[edit] Track Listing

[edit] MC: Heavenly / HVN 50CS (UK)

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

[edit] CD: Heavenly / HVN 50CD (UK)

  1. "He's On The Phone" - 4:09
  2. "Groveley Road" - 3:39
  3. "Is It True" - 2:49
  4. "The Process" - 3:11

[edit] CD: Heavenly / HVN 50CDR (UK)

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

[edit] 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

[edit] 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)

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

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

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

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

[edit] 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

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c Bell, Matt (June 1996), “Motivating the Mix”, Sound on Sound 11 (8): 72-76, ISSN 0951-6816, <http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1996_articles/jun96/steverodway.html> 
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Saint Etienne
Sarah Cracknell • Bob Stanley • Pete Wiggs
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Finisterre • What Have You Done Today Mervyn Day? • This is Tomorrow
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