Who wrote Blondie’s hit “Hanging on the Telephone”?

July 18, 2024

(Source: Far Out / Chrysalis)

Thu 18 July 2024 6:00, United Kingdom

When it comes to Blondie’s catalog of hit singles, the song “Hanging on the Telephone” is often overlooked, as it was the band’s last release before their disco megahit “Heart of Glass.” From then on, Debbie Harry, Chris Stein and the band never looked back, ushering in the era of New Wave that put an end to their punk roots.

“Hanging on the Telephone” was the final high point of the band’s CBGB era. Its wiry two-chord verses are backed by a bass hook that Joy Division used on their song “Disorder,” released a year later. Its frenzied tempo, driven by a pulsating drum part, had Harry pogoing like her British punk peers during live performances of the song. The whole thing is over in just over two minutes, taking the band’s punk rock reputation with it.

The track wasn’t even their own invention. In fact, it was the only contemporary song they ever released as a single without Harry, Stein or bassists Gary Valentine and Nigel Harrison being credited as songwriters.

There’s a good reason for the song’s punky edge, even when compared to some of Blondie’s earlier hits from the era when punk rock was briefly the vanguard of rock ‘n’ roll. “Hanging on the Telephone” was written by a pioneering West Coast punk band and released two years before Blondie’s version made it onto their third album. Parallel lines.

So who was the original band?

The Nerves were a tight-knit trio formed in San Francisco when Blondie was still a newcomer to the New York scene and punk had not yet established itself as a musical movement. They consisted of Jack Lee on guitar, Peter Case on bass, Paul Collins on drums, and all three sang. Their emergence on the West Coast music scene presaged both the punk rock explosions in Orange County and San Francisco and the emergence of power pop bands like The Knack.

Lee was the songwriter responsible for the version of The Nerves’ “Hanging on the Telephone” that appeared on the band’s only release, a four-song self-titled EP. It sounds almost identical to the cover by Blondie, who added a richer guitar sound if anything, since there were more musicians in their band.

Blondie’s recording of the song helped Lee pay his bills, as the single reached number five in the UK charts. Ironically, without the song, Lee himself would have been on the phone.

His local electricity provider was about to cut off his service. “At six o’clock they wanted to cut off our electricity and our phone too,” he remembers. Just in time he received a call from Debbie Harry, who asked him if her band could cover his song in return for a hefty royalty payment.

They say you should write about what you know, but Jack Lee accidentally left himself within hours of having to use a phone box across the street, just like the one in his song. As luck would have it, his hit with a band on the other side of the continent helped him for the rest of his life, allowing him to carry on making music until his death last year at the age of 71.