A few years back I noticed a startling similarity between “Hanging on the Telephone” by Blondie and “No Action” by Elvis Costello. The first time I noticed this, it seemed like the two songs were having a conversation with each other… Debbie Harry pleading:
I’m in the phone booth, it’s the one across the hall
If you don’t answer, I’ll just ring it off the wall
and Costello replying:
I don’t wanna see you ’cause I don’t miss you that much
I’m not a telephone junkie
I told you that we were just good friends
I always wondered which song was written first, turns out both albums, Blondie’s third - and fucking fantastic - “Parallel Lines” and Elvis Costello’s second, equally amazing, “This Year’s Model” were both released originally in 1978, apparently a good year for prototypical new wave songs revolving around telephones (Update: 1976, the Nerves FTW!)
Blondie - “Hanging on the Telephone” Mp3
Purchase “Paralell Lines” at Amazon
After reviewing the lyrics for the both the songs, it sounds like “Hanging on the Telephone” perhaps is the younger twin: it very much captures the impetuous, unfettered attraction that compels oh-so-many torrid affairs. “No Action” is very much the flip side of the coin - a couple of weeks have passed, maybe a month or two and Costello reveals to the listener inner torment concealed by a cold exterior with lines like:
“And I think about the way things used to be
Knowing you’re with him is driving me crazy
Sometimes I phone you when I know you’re not lonely
But I always disconnect it in time”
Elvis Costello - “No Action” Mp3
Purchase “This Year’s Model” at Amazon
Interesting other similarities between the songs: both are album openers, both clock in under 2min 30secs and both tempos are ballpark ringers for one another, around 155 bpm.
Though these songs were from LPs released in 1978, to me they easily represent some of the best things that were going on in the early 80s: informed, sweeping pop, warm and crisp analog engineering, great songwriting, super tight, inspired bands and “style without stylists”. Blondie’s best of album is right up there with Duran Duran’s as far as essential 80s party must-haves and Elvis Costello (aka the OG Napoleon Dynamite) later went on to lead a cult of brainiac songwriter-chess players, collaborate with Burt Bacharach and marry a gifted jazz singer/pianist. . .
May God bless us every one.
In conclusion, “Parallel Lines” and “This Year’s Model” are remarkably consistent timepiece albums with classic singles - but it’s the deeper cuts that will leave a sting - and sweet as honey production. Also, both have reissues with liner notes and unreleased tracks - in the case of “This Year’s Model” a whole CDs worth of bonus material.
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