Description

“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 tune was the lead-off track on The Nerves’s 1976 EP, the group’s only release. New wave band Blondie later popularised “Hanging on the Telephone”, when it released a cover of the song as the second single off Parallel Lines in both the US and UK. The tune eventually reached number 5 in the UK in November 1978, as well as inspired other cover versions. 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”.