The scenario seems innocuous doesn’t it? Even perhaps a snore fest – A man listening to the ringing on his telephone waiting and hoping for a girl to answer his call and imagining what he would say if she answers. But this full of yearning highs and aching lows melodic doo-wop song sounds anything but benign – as this irresistible pop single stirs the heartache-laden blues of love like few others can. I don’t know how many times I sat around the turntable and put the needle down on this song as a kid, but it was a lot. Telephone Line is the second song to be presented so far from the English rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) after their previous entry – Can’t Get It Out of My Head.
ELO keyboardist Richard Tandy noted that Jeff Lynne perfectly captured the sting of a painful phone call with someone you care about. In Telephone Line, Lynne’s narrator, surrounded by an American-style dial tone and dreamy synthesizers, initially seems to be making small talk with a former love. But his anguished voice reveals that the “lonely nights” he speaks of were likely one-sided – and she hasn’t even answered the phone. As ELO’s signature wall of harmonies swells like a Greek chorus of sorrow, the narrator, lost in despair, ultimately addresses the telephone line itself, summing up his limbo in one haunting phrase: “I’m living in twilight.”
From 1976’s New World Record, Telephone Line was ELO’s breakthrough ballad, busting into the Top 10 on both sides of the pond. It topped the charts of Canada and New Zealand and entering the top 10 in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It was ranked by Billboard as the No. 15 song of 1977. In 2022 Jeff Lynne listed it as one of his nine favourite ELO songs.
[Verse 1]
Hello, how are you?
Have you been alright
Through all those lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely nights?
That’s what I’d say
I’d tell you everything
If you’d pick up that telephone
Yeah, yeah, yeah
[Verse 2]
Hey, how you feelin’?
Are you still the same?
Don’t you realise the things we did, we did
Were all for real, not a dream?
I just can’t believe
They’ve all faded out of view
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Ooh-ooh
[Pre-Chorus]
Doo-wop, doo-be-doo-doo-wop, doo-wah, doo-lang
Blue days, black nights, doo-wah, doo-lang
I look into the sky
(The love you need ain’t gonna see you through)
And I wonder why
(The little things you planned ain’t coming true)
[Chorus]
Oh, oh, telephone line, give me some time
I’m living in twilight
Oh, oh, telephone line, give me some time
I’m living in twilight
[Verse 3]
Okay, so no one’s answering
Well, can’t you just let it ring a little longer, longer, longer? Oh
I’ll just sit tight
Through shadows of the night
Let it ring forevermore, oh
Yeah, yeah, yeah
The following was extracted from the 3rd Wikipedia reference below:
The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) were formed in Birmingham in 1970 by multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan. Jeff Lynne, of course has featured here multiple times with his involvement in the 80’s super group The Traveling Wilburys. After Wood’s departure in 1972, Lynne became the band’s sole leader, arranging and producing every album while writing nearly all of their original material. During their first run from 1970 to 1986, Lynne and Bevan were the group’s only consistent members.
The group’s name is a pun that references both electric light and “light orchestral music”, a popular style featured in places such as the BBC Light Programme between the 1940s and 1960s. ELO was formed out of Lynne’s and Wood’s desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical influences.
References:
1. Electric Light Orchestra, “Telephone Line” – American Songwriter
2. Telephone Line (song) – Wikipedia
3. Electric Light Orchestra – WIkipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
I generally dig ELO, including “Telephone Line.” They released what I would call weirdly catchy songs, which oftentimes were completely overproduced – like Phil Spector on steroids.! But don’t get me wrong, I really do like a good number of ELO’s songs – lots of Beatles flavor in them! Jeff Lynne is pretty brilliant.
Their album – ‘ELO’s Greatest Hit’s got so much play in my childhood. I couldn’t get enough of it. You reminded me indirectly how I should have added – ‘Livin’ Thing’. Man I love that song. I liked your Beatles melody comparison and Production description. Nice one Christian.
Onto today’s song, I’m particularly interested to know what you think of today’s performer and song (for obvious reasons). Hehe
I’ve never seen ELO live, but I did recently see an ELO tribute band. They were fantastic and presented the music very close to the original. ELO’s music was popular all throughout my younger “bar hopping” days. Loved all of it! Telephone Line is a great song!
Sweet you saw the effectual Tribute Band.
Your ‘bar hopping’ description raised a wry smile here. How could you not love it!