# Lovelorn guys on the phone **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [June 30, 2025, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovelorn-guys-on-the-phone/1020307 "2025-06-30T16:08:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovelorn-guys-on-the-phone/1020307/41 "2025-06-30T21:29:52Z")
_Jenny, I got your number_ _I need to make you mine!_ ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovelorn-guys-on-the-phone/1020307/42 "2025-06-30T21:32:57Z")
Tulsa Telephone Book by Tom T. Hall: > Readin’ that Tulsa telephone book, can drive a guy insane > Especially if that girl you’re lookin’ for has no last name > I gotta find her and tell her, I don’t want our love to end > So I’m readin’ that Tulsa telephone book again > All of the Tulsa operators know my voice now > And they gotta know how long I’ve been alone > If you meet a girl named Shirley with some ribbons in her hair > Would you tell her that she’s wanted on the phone? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovelorn-guys-on-the-phone/1020307/43 "2025-06-30T21:43:00Z")
I remember when my entire group of friends had all just bought Joan Baez’s album Diamonds And Rust. She has said that she was writing a song just as she got a call from Bob Dylan: > Well, I’ll be damned > Here comes your ghost again… > But that’s not unusual > It’s just that the moon is full > And you happened to call… > Where are you calling from? > A booth in the Midwest And a later song was her waiting for a call (again, everyone assumes it’s Dylan): > Red telephone sitting by my bed > Practically bore your name, > Lying alone in the twilight zone > Waiting for your call to come in… ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovelorn-guys-on-the-phone/1020307/44 "2025-06-30T21:45:26Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > Sylvias Mother by Dr Hook 😬 Some time in the mid 1970s one of those K-Tel hits collections(\*) or similar kind of product took up residence in my ride to school’s 8-track and I had to bear with this for the whole fall semester. > _And the operator says, forty cents more, > for the next…_ > _…three…_ > _…minutes…_ My take after a couple weeks was: Mrs. Avery was so right to get Sylvia to move on from this loser. ( \* Which to its credit included Looking Glass’s _Brandy_, but again to its detriment also included _Having My Baby_.) ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovelorn-guys-on-the-phone/1020307/45 "2025-06-30T21:48:44Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > _No Reply_ by the Beatles and _I’m losing you_ by John Lenon “You Know My Name, Look Up the Number” ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovelorn-guys-on-the-phone/1020307/46 "2025-06-30T22:20:17Z")
I would add WOLD by Harry Chapin “Hello, Honey it’s me…” And poor Pink was really forlorn over his cheating wife,also in the song part of Nobody’s Home “When I try to get through On the telephone to you There’s still nobody home” ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovelorn-guys-on-the-phone/1020307/47 "2025-06-30T22:22:38Z")
_Rikki don’t lose that number_ _You don’t want to call nobody else_ _Send it off in a letter to yourself_ _Rikki don’t lose that number_ _It’s the only one you own_ _You might use it if you feel better_ _When you get home_ ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovelorn-guys-on-the-phone/1020307/48 "2025-06-30T22:24:19Z")
I’m guessing the guy that Beyonce is telling off in “Telephone” is feeling pretty lovelorn. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovelorn-guys-on-the-phone/1020307/49 "2025-07-01T01:58:37Z")
> Ring, ring, why don’t you give me a call? > Ring, ring, the happiest sound of them all > Ring, ring, I stare at the phone on the wall > And I sit all alone impatiently > Won’t you please understand the need in me > So, ring, ring, why don’t you give me a call? > So, ring, ring, why don’t you give me a call? Sung by A and A, lyrics by B, melody by the other B, Enrique and Stig also credited. However, returing to the OP, I submit “Mr Telephone Man” > Mr. telephone man, there’s something wrong with my line > When I dial my baby’s number, I get a click every time > Mr. telephone man, there’s something wrong with my line > When I dial my baby’s number, I get a click every time > Some strange woman is on the telephone (the telephone) > Keeps telling me that my baby, he ain’t home (that he’s not home) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovelorn-guys-on-the-phone/1020307/50 "2025-07-01T02:03:06Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I remember when my entire group of friends had all just bought Joan Baez’s album Diamonds And Rust. > > She has said that she was writing a song just as she got a call from Bob Dylan: And if Joan Baez was unhappy when she was dumped by Bob Dylan, imagine how unhappy his previous girlfriend Suze Rotolo was when Dylan dumped her for Baez. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovelorn-guys-on-the-phone/1020307/51 "2025-07-01T13:24:35Z")
Maybe a bit of a stretch (and, speaking of stretch, if it snows that stretch down south won’t ever stand the strain), but how about ‘Wichita Lineman’? _I hear you singing in the wire_ _I can hear you through the whine_ _And the Wichita lineman_ _Is still on the line_ ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovelorn-guys-on-the-phone/1020307/52 "2025-07-01T13:59:07Z")
Not exactly lovelorn, but there’s Ray Stevens’ “It’s Me Again Margaret”. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovelorn-guys-on-the-phone/1020307/53 "2025-07-01T15:12:52Z")
There’s “Off the Hook” by the Stones… ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovelorn-guys-on-the-phone/1020307/54 "2025-07-01T15:24:29Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > However, returning to the OP, I submit “Mr Telephone Man” Not to be confused with [Telephone Man](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MahswYBewb0) by [Meri Wilson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meri_Wilson). ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovelorn-guys-on-the-phone/1020307/55 "2025-07-01T20:39:44Z")
Anybody remember **Sylvia** from the early 80’s? Nobody? Nobody? _Well, your nobody called today_ _She hung up when I asked her name_ _Well, I wonder_ _Does she think shes being clever?_ ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovelorn-guys-on-the-phone/1020307/56 "2025-07-01T20:49:11Z")
I do! She also found a Snapshot! ---
**Author:** ![Eclipse\_Chaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Eclipse\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eclipse_Chaser)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovelorn-guys-on-the-phone/1020307/57 "2025-07-04T08:58:43Z")
Pennsylvania 65000 - Glenn Miller Orchestra. ---
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovelorn-guys-on-the-phone/1020307/58 "2025-07-04T09:41:34Z")
_If You Won’t See Me_ by the Beatlles (and remade by Anne Murray) _When I call you up, your line’s engaged I have had enough, so act your age We have lost the time that was so hard to find And I will lose my mind If you won’t see me_ Also: _867-5309/Jenny_ by Tommy Tutone and _I Just Called to Say I Love You_ by Stevie Wonder [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovelorn-guys-on-the-phone/1020307.md?page=2)