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Old 3rd Mar 2020, 1:36 pm   #1
BulgingCap
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Default Telephones and blues music

I'm a longtime fan of blues music. Today I was cheering myself up with some blues whilst working and realised that there are many references in the genre along the lines of: "The telephone keeps ringing; it sounds like a long distance call..."
Is there any basis to this? I assume if so it would relate to the US phone system in the time of Strowger exchanges and solenoid bells.
So was there a different ring for a long distance (trunk) call or is it just a figure of speech (or song...)?
BC
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Old 3rd Mar 2020, 4:43 pm   #2
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Default Re: Telephones and blues music

Nice question!
I know there were crazy party-line arrangements where the operator would ring all the phones on a given line, with a particular cadence that indicated who was to pick up.

So in principle, the operator could have an arrangement with a privileged subscriber to ring the phone in a particular way if X called as apposed to Y.

I used to have a 7 inch single "Off the hook" by the Rolling Stones, I think it was the "B" side of "Little Red Rooster"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMeNC1IPUnQ

That clearly meant engaged or busy, but equally you can have the phone "ringing off the hook" which perhaps meant prolonged unanswered ringing.

If the operators' magneto was cranked while the subs phone was literally off the hook, it would make a noise in the earpiece and perhaps alert them to a call, that would explain the origin of the expression, but I'm looking for more poetic usage.
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Old 3rd Mar 2020, 5:01 pm   #3
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Default Re: Telephones and blues music

I always thought "ringing off the hook" meant it was ringing so loud and long that the handset vibrated off the hook.

Peter
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Old 3rd Mar 2020, 5:13 pm   #4
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Default Re: Telephones and blues music

Reminds me of a very catchy tune "Telephone Bill" by Johnny Guitar Watson.

David
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Old 3rd Mar 2020, 5:19 pm   #5
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Default Re: Telephones and blues music

"And the operator said 40 cents more for the next three minutes".

[Presumably this was for a call placed from a US payphone?]
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Old 3rd Mar 2020, 5:57 pm   #6
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Default Re: Telephones and blues music

I have a few songs available as music on hold in my home phone system
Electric Light Orchestra - Telephone Line
Meri Wilson - Telephone Man
Blondie - Hanging On The Telephone

The list must be endless

Wilson Pickett - 634-5789
Glenn Miller - Pennsylvania 6-5000

All American**. Where's the romance in our telephone system?

Where's the romance in our town names?
"24 Hours from Truro", anyone?

**Yes ELO are British, but that's definitely American ringing tone at the beginning of the track.
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Old 3rd Mar 2020, 6:11 pm   #7
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Default Re: Telephones and blues music

I always liked "Red Frame White Light", which celebrated a particular BT phone-box on The Wirral.

"Six Three Two Three Double-'O'-Three" - in these post-phONEday times that's 0151-632-3003

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Fr...#Telephone_box

The box was removed by BT

https://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/1...ht-is-removed/

but later reinstalled

https://wirralview.com/news/omd-phon...ction-restored

following protests from locals and music-lovers.

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Old 4th Mar 2020, 1:06 am   #8
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Default Re: Telephones and blues music

Apparently "Wichita Lineman" is supposed to be about a telephone linesman, despite the lyrics suggesting power transmission.


Here's Meri Wilson using an Ericofon as a stylish butt phone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MahswYBewb0
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Old 4th Mar 2020, 1:17 am   #9
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Default Re: Telephones and blues music

As for the original question, I wonder if the "...it sounds like a long distance call..." refers not to the sound of the ring but to the sound of the line when answered? Those old completely analogue connections used to get very hissy and crackly and the speech quality reduced as the distance increased.
Just a thought.
I like blues music too!
Steve.
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Old 4th Mar 2020, 12:10 pm   #10
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Default Re: Telephones and blues music

"Long Distance Call" was a record by Muddy Waters (Chess label)

A classic one with telephone and blues in the title was Telephone Blues by Mayall etc with Clapton, excellent guitar playing from the young Eric:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YutZ3Y5Vf8Y

Lawrence.
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Old 4th Mar 2020, 12:20 pm   #11
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Default Re: Telephones and blues music

Ho! "It's rainin' down in Texas ... all of the telephone lines are down ...." - per 'Texas Flood' as recorded by Stevie Ray Vaughan et'al ......
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Old 4th Mar 2020, 12:56 pm   #12
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Default Re: Telephones and blues music

Quote:
Originally Posted by fetteler View Post
As for the original question, I wonder if the "...it sounds like a long distance call..." refers not to the sound of the ring but to the sound of the line when answered? Those old completely analogue connections used to get very hissy and crackly and the speech quality reduced as the distance increased.
Just a thought.
I like blues music too!
Steve.
A few decades ago, I was developing audio teleconference systems for one or two international corporations. We used 4-wire point-to-point telecom speech circuits which of course provided numerous opportunities for getting the local connections wrong.

However we could usually identify the 'receive' pair by listening for its characteristic background noise. The longer the circuit, the more 'distant' the noise seemed to sound. I've heard that characteristic noise described by a telecoms engineer as 'waves on distant shores'.

I guess that today's digital circuits have eliminated that kind of interesting acoustic character in telecoms. Perhaps it's been superseded by the rather less attractive deconstruction of speech created by a poor GSM mobile phone connection.

Martin
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Old 4th Mar 2020, 2:34 pm   #13
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Default Re: Telephones and blues music

The Days of Purley Spencer sounds like it was recorded down a phone line.
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Old 4th Mar 2020, 5:01 pm   #14
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Default Re: Telephones and blues music

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hartley118 View Post
Perhaps it's been superseded by the rather less attractive deconstruction of speech created by a poor GSM mobile phone connection.

Martin
Not to mention the delays introduced by conversion between analogue and digital.
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