He's on the Phone


"He's on the Phone" is a song by British pop group Saint Etienne in collaboration with French singer-songwriter Étienne Daho. A fast-paced dance track, it is one of Saint Etienne's biggest hits, reaching number 11 on the UK Singles Chart, number 31 in Iceland, number 41 in Sweden and number 33 on the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. The lyrics tell of an "academia girl" trying to escape from a relationship with a married man: "He's on the phone / And she wants to go home, / Shoes in hand, / Don't make a sound, / It's time to go." At the centre of the track is a spoken-word section by Daho.
The song is a remix by Motiv8 of "Accident", which appeared on the Saint Etienne/Étienne Daho Reserection EP, released a few months previously in June 1995. "Accident" itself is a rewritten version of Daho's 1984 French-language hit single "Weekend à Rome", with original English lyrics. Daho's spoken-word vocals are from the Reserection opening track, "Reserection".
The single was credited to "Saint Etienne featuring Étienne Daho". Daho also appears in the song's music video and joined the band in their performance of the song on Top of the Pops. Daho would also go on to perform the original "Weekend à Rome" lyrics with the instrumentation from "He's on the Phone" in a performance on the French edition of Star Academy.

Production

According to producer Steve Rodway, the band had never intended to use "Accident" as single material, but had given it to him for remixing as it was "the only new track they had" at the time of the release of Too Young to Die. Rodway retained an edited-down portion of Daho's vocals, and otherwise only kept the opening piano riff from the original instrumentation.
Sound on Sound magazine describes "He's on the Phone" as characteristic of most of Rodway's "trademark" sounds:
A hard disk recorder was used to create backing vocals echoing the original through time stretching and pitch shifting.

Reception

Christopher Burns from Associated Press called the song "truly plastic, shameless Eurodisco with plenty of strings and horns. "The hotel life, forget your wife, you're on your own", they sing in "He's on the Phone". It's a contrast from the more experimental stuff Saint Etienne has done in the past." Larry Flick from Billboard described it as a "twirlin' U.K. club smash" and noted further that with "its deliciously sweet pop hook and adorable girl-group vocals, "He's On The Phone" is ripe for pop radio picking." He added that Motiv8 "kicks a snappy hi-NRG beat on its jiggly remix". Expressen complimented the "lovely" disco mix by Motiv 8. In 1999, Tom Ewing of Freaky Trigger ranked the single at number 29 in his list of the "Top 100 Singles of the 90s". John Hamilton from Idolator noted that remixer Motiv8 "painstaking rearranged Sarah’s vocals into a more melodic chorus and injected the track with what can only be described as a high dose of poppers: a galloping bass line, bright keyboards and a relentless nu-disco beat, with Daho’s spoken-word passage figuring powerfully in the breakdown."

Track listings

All tracks were written and composed by Cracknell, Stanley, Wiggs, Daho; except where indicated.
MC: Heavenly / HVN 50CS
  1. "He's On The Phone" - 4:09
  2. "He's On The Phone" - 6:25
CD: Heavenly / HVN 50CD
  1. "He's On The Phone" - 4:09
  2. "Groveley Road" - 3:39
  3. "Is It True" - 2:49
  4. "The Process" - 3:11
CD: Heavenly / HVN 50CDR
  1. "He's On The Phone" - 6:25
  2. "Cool Kids Of Death" - 14:31
  3. "How I Learned To Love The Bomb" - 3:05
CD: MCA / MCADM-55268
  1. "He's On The Phone" - 4:08
  2. "He's On The Phone" - 6:26
  3. "He's On The Phone" - 6:03
  4. "He's On The Phone" - 5:05
12": Heavenly / HVN 50-12Pi
  1. "He's On The Phone" - 6:25
  2. "He's On The Phone"
12": Heavenly / HVN 50-12Pii
  1. "Cool Kids Of Death" - 14:31
  2. "Like A Motorway" - 13:01
12": Heavenly / HVN 50-12Piii
  1. "He's On The Phone"
  2. "He's On The Phone"
12": MCA / MCA12-55268
  1. "He's On The Phone" - 6:26
  2. "He's On The Phone" - 6:03
  3. "He's On The Phone" - 5:05

    Charts

Covers

Spanish pop singer Princessa covered the song on her 1996 album Calling You.