Meri Wilson- Telephone Man. Can someone explain how this was a hit song?

It was a gold record in 1977- back when that meant you had to sell 1 million copies.

Pretty horrible. I wouldn’t call it a hit per se I think it only reached the lower rungs of the top 20. Plenty of sucks songs go top 10 and even number 1. So at least it didn’t do that.

Fraus absolutely loved this song, it was so delightfully naughty (tee-hee). It was played at bridal showers, baby showers and male strip clubs -- whenever drunk fraus got together.

"I can't believe they play this on the radio (tee-hee)."

I was a little kid living in Dallas when this “hit” happened.

She lived in Dallas at the time and was kind of a local hero and on a lot of local tv like PM MAGAZINE (remember that show?) I think I saw her at a mall appearance or something. Can’t quite remember.

I associate the time period with THREE’S COMPANY, “Disco Duck,” and Chic’s “Le Freak.” It’s like… you’d all go to Pizza Hut after your Cub Scouts meeting and this would be playing on the jukebox.

It sounds like The Flying Lizards

It was the aural equivalent of jiggle TV which was huge at the time. Slightly naughty novelty innuendo for the masses.

OMG does this take me back. What an obscure piece of pop culture trivia.

I had no idea she released a whole album after this surprise hit. I just bought a copy on Discogs for $7 and five bucks shipping. I can’t wait to play it! I love wacky obscure shit like this.

The same way My Ding A Ling by Chuck Berry was a hit.

Not to be confused with the fabulous Mari Wilson, of course

Wow, I think my ears are bleeding.

It's a cute song. I discovered it maybe 15 years ago and mentioned it as something new to an older friend who told me she had been a DJ back in the day and felt tortured when she had to play it.

Thanks a lot OP. I no longer have opposable thumbs.

When I was a little kid, I thought this was Goldie Hawn under a different name.

One of these things doesn't below: THREE’S COMPANY, “Disco Duck,” and Chic’s “Le Freak.”

"It sounds like The Flying Lizards" = Helen Keller School of Performing Art Criticism

[quote] It was the aural equivalent of jiggle TV which was huge at the time. Slightly naughty novelty innuendo for the masses.

America still has this adolescent relationship to sex, and the innuendo delighted creator/ audience who thought they were getting away with something ‘naughty.’ Stretching it to an album surprises me, but it was another in the great diversions of American life, like mood rings and pet rocks.

During the Disco Days it was common to intersperse the dance music with novelty songs; Disco I Love Lucy, Disco Duck, You're Moving Out Today, 5th of Beethoven, Star Wars Cantina Band.

Also, there was a line dance that went with the song, which kind of made it the song version of the Rocky Horror Show.

What young people don't get is that we had permission to be silly in the 70s. Not everything had to be high art or socially important.

PS, who knew that the Star Wars Cantina Band song is over 13 fucking minutes long!!! The infamous Stairway to Heaven is only 8.

“Gimmick” hit songs or novelty songs were a thing during the eras when charted record sales and radio play (and going way back, sheet music) were more less an actual reflection of the public’s interest in particular compositions of popular music. They can be traced back to the 1920’s. They would be songs that didn’t necessarily have a catchy melody or hook but instead latched onto a particular event or fad, or were wildly humorous. The fact they the songs were becoming popular in contrast to actual real songs became part of their charm, as the public embraced making them popular.

Now, the way music is created, released, dispersed and charted has changed so drastically I’m not sure the idea of a “novelty” song actually exists. Also honestly, it sounds like many popular songs now are “novelty” or “gimmick” songs, but the contrast is gone.

Cardi B is entirely gimmick. Why do you think the genre has passed?

Str8 people like and get turned on by weird shit.

R19, read my post again. The song was popular in Gay discos.

Gold albums does not equal 1mil records.

I'll explain it to you if you explain "Hot Girl Summer" to me.

[quote]One of these things doesn't below:

Helen type that for ya, R13?

It wasn’t unusual in the 70’s and 80’s for the artist of a surprise novelty song hit to be offered a record deal by a major label for an album. I’m the 80’s generation so that’s the only time period I can speak to knowingly. The phenomenon lead to to unusual careers from that era.

Laurie Anderson’s very long and strange “O Superman” was released on an independent label in the UK as a sort of underground release, with hopes for indie chart success at best. Anderson was a mainly underground performance artist connected to the SoHo NYC art and poetry world at the time. Good fortune and some hustle resulted in the record making its way to BBC radio where it took off and remained in the top ten for a while, garnering a lot of media attention.

“Get a load of this listeners!” “Can you believe this is in the top ten everybody?” “Hey folks I can’t believe I’m getting requests for this? Let’s have another listen.” This is the kind of DJ chatter that would drive these sensations higher, when radio was a big deal.

Warner Bros offered her a record deal due to all the attention (and sales), and her unusual recording career was born.

Many posters have it right — novelty songs that hinted at sexual impropriety were part of the ongoing sexual liberation finally hitting the middle classes. “Afternoon Delight “ and “Midnight at the Oasis” were other pop (non-novelty) songs that had their moments. Catchy, but somewhat banal and people felt in-the-know for “getting” it.

Compare these songs to the much more subversive and sly songs of the 60s. My favorite is “Cinnamon” by Derek.

Drugs and bad ones at that.

"Take a letter, Maria" was the male equivalent to this song at the same time.

[quote]Cardi B is entirely gimmick. Why do you think the genre has passed?

As are Lizzo and Lil Nas X.

Fun fact R28, R.B. Greaves was Sam Cooke’s nephew.

Now, R24, R13 got one W&W for that indecipherable post. I’m just positive he didn’t W&W himself, aren’t you?

If you were there in 1977, around 11 like I was, it was a fun song to hear. I even bought the 45!

It was far more enjoyable than that "You Light Up My Life" dreck at the same time.

Huh, I was also 11 in 1977 and I've never heard this song in my life!

I was 11 when this came out too. I have a memory of hearing this song on the radio on a family trip to Nashville, Tennessee. That’s about all I remember about it’s existence.

I was 10 in 77 don’t remember hearing it one time. Wasn’t til the 90s they played it on 70s Sat night on this radio station I used to listen to. Song only hit number 18.

[quote] Gold albums does not equal 1mil records.

Did I say album? No, I said record, as in 45. During that time (and for several more years) a record had to sell 1m copies to go gold and 2m to go platinum.

I’ve never wanted to throw a brick at a hardhat so bad in my life.

Hey lolly-lolly!

Hey lolly-lolly!

Hey lolly-lolly!

Get it any way you can, right?

Tee hee!

So...

This is what Rap Music for WASPs sounds like. Not good.

[quote]I was 10 in 77 don’t remember hearing it one time. Wasn’t til the 90s they played it on 70s Sat night on this radio station I used to listen to. Song only hit number 18.

Agree, first time I'm hearing it.

I was also 10 in 1977, and I remember that the morning show hosts on our biggest AM station—two elderly farts named Tommy Charles and John Ed Willoughby—thought this was screamingly funny. They loved it so much that that they brought Meri Wilson in as a guest and flirted with her shamelessly.

I remember hearing this on the radio. I grew up in FL and they played it quite a bit. I was only 7 or 8 so it went totally over my head.

Per the Wikipedia article on her: The Dr. Demento Show. There’s another weird thing from the past I’d forgotten about. In the late 70’s and very early 80’s I remember this was the only place on the radio you could here punk and new wave records, and other weird stuff. At least in my neck of the woods, at the time.

I didn’t know she died at 53 in a car accident! :(

I used to have this signed boxed set, r46...

Dr. Demento was where I first heard Julie Brown's "The Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun" in Spring 1985.

She dumped him for the Internet Man. Then she died.

One of my favorites from the Dr. Demento set...

She also fucked Dick the DJ...

Peter the Meter Reader...

Did she make and KEEP a lot of 1977 money?

Did she die broke?

The 70s were full of weird music. Everyone was on drugs and didn’t notice how annoying songs were.

Ugh, it's the Melanie stan trying to revive interest own her after his own thread flopped two weeks ago.

[quote] 5th of Beethoven

I got an A+ in drama for doing a mime performance to that song.

R55, the version I remember.

I truly detested this song...

How about Fish Heads?

I have never seen the video before. The guy is cute and it’s pretty trippy.

In grade school, I wanted to be Dickie Goodman.

I have no recollection of this song. I was 17 at the time and was straddling between AM and FM radio. And, in the 70s, songs were hits in some regions, but not others.

Even 'serious' musicians got in on the fad Mama's got a squeezebox- Daddy never sleeps at night

I was 64 in 1977 and I recall hearing this song once on the radio and I thought my ears were going to bleed! Thank goodness that novelty songs have disappeared!

You type really well for a 108 year old person, r66.

Her is an oldie and I mean oldie from the 1900s.

I don't think "Telephone Man" is as catchy as "Peter the Meter Reader."

I was around then, and have absolutely no memory of ever having heard this song.

They played this on morning radio in the 80's when I was on my way to school. It was a major irritant since the kids on the bus were just beginning to understand innuendo.

No novelty song was worse than The Streak

Rosie and Marlene getting in on the novelty song action...

OP Gold is 500,000 units in the US. Platinum is one million units sold.

I'll see and raise you, R74.

Jump down...spin around...

r74, There was NO innuendo in The Streak. It pretty much laid everything out, unlike Afternoon Delight, Cinnamon, Little Willy, or Midnight at the Oasis. Telephone Man is all innuendo.

Allan Sherman was hilarious!!!

And to think I woke up this morning completely unaware of the existence of this woman and her oeuvre...

In a blond coiffure and a crimson dress

I didn't see how he'd kept abreast

Of the newest styles

My handsome king

Turned into a queen

Looking exactly like a model

In a magazine

I was a teenager in the 70s and I’ve never heard this. Yech!

I'd never heard of the song until this thread either!

I was 7 or 8 and I had the single/45. It was a fun diddy - I vaguely got the sex references.

I have no memory of that song, but I knew the lyrics when I watched that clip.

I’m not looking forward to my dementia. God only knows what else is buried in there.

I remember being a little kid and laughing like a lunatic over that “funny farm” novelty song.

[quote] OP Gold is 500,000 units in the US. Platinum is one million units sold.

For the 500th fucking time, a gold single in 1977 was given for sales of 1 million units. a platinum single was given for sales of 2 million units. What you're describing is album sales. I didn't say album, I said record, as in 45.

The number of sales required to qualify for Gold and Platinum discs was higher prior to January 1, 1989. The thresholds were previously 1,000,000 units (Gold) and 2,000,000 units (Platinum)

I remember hearing this song 24/7 was I was a kid. It was all they played.

You’re right R94, it was a huge hit, played constantly on the radio. I hated it.

I couldn’t stand Randy Newman’s singing voice, but I certainly respect his songwriting career. I recently learned he wrote one of my Dusty Springfield favorites, “just one smile” from her Memphis album.

Afraid to click the link as it will appear in recommended YouTub videos foreva and ever. And so on and so forth. And what have you?

Millennial have no inkling how culturally deprived they are to have missed out on Doctor Demento

That's Bill Paxton in the Fishheads video.

And of course Billy Mumy singing.

This thing actually went to #33 on the Billboard charts. Shows how big the Luke & Laura phenom was in the U.S.

[quote] Shows how big the Luke & Laura phenom was in the U.S.

Was she the only soap opera character who had a hit song about her?

General Hospitale was actually a fun song and had a decent groove.

Anything by Mrs. Miller...

At least now we know what Bubble did for a living before Edina hired her.

Although I grew up in the 70's, I have never heard this "song" before

From the best selling album "Music to Suffer By" [1957]

I never heard it before OP, thanks. I love it.

Anything by the Edwards...

No R102 the song is about a girl named Laura Carter who was a friend of Cross’ girlfriend. She was killed by a stray bullet during her freshman year of college. Cross was furious that GH used the song as part of a storyline.

How was Cross unaware? He wrote the song, so he would need to give his permission for it to be used. Especially considering the position he was in within the industry in 1983.