Hanging on the Telephone

Infobox Single
Name = Hanging on the Telephone


Artist = Blondie
from Album = Parallel Lines
B-side = 'Will Anything Happen'
'Fade Away And Radiate'
Released = October 1978 (UK)
December 1978 (US)
Format = 7" Vinyl
Recorded = 1978
Genre = New Wave
Length = 2:17
Label = Chrysalis
Writer = Jack Lee
Producer = Mike Chapman
Certification = Silver (UK)
Chart position = * #5 UK
Last single = "I'm Gonna Love You Too"
(1978)
This single = "Hanging on the Telephone"
(1978)
Next single = "Heart of Glass"
(1979)
Misc = Extra musicsample |filename=Blondie - Hanging on the Telephone.ogg |format=Ogg |title=Hanging on the TelephoneExtra album cover
Upper caption = Alternate cover
Background = khaki


Lower caption = US edition of the "Hanging On Telephone" single with alternate cover art.

"Hanging on the Telephone" is a song written by Jack Lee and first performed by Lee's short-lived US West Coast power pop trio The Nerves, who placed it as the lead-off track on their 1976 EP, the band's only release. American New Wave band Blondie popularised the song when it was released as the second single off "Parallel Lines" in both the US and the UK, eventually reaching number 5 in the UK in November 1978 as well as inspiring other cover versions.

Release history

;UK 7" (CHS 2266)
#"Hanging on the Telephone" (Jack Lee) – 2:17
#"Will Anything Happen" (Lee) – 2:55

;US 7" (CHS 2271)
#"Hanging on the Telephone" (Lee) – 2:17
#"Fade Away and Radiate" (Chris Stein) – 3:57

Chart peaks

Cover versions and appearances in other media

* In late 2005, an unreleased version of the song recorded by Cat Power was used for a Cingular commercial.
* This song can be heard in True Crime 2.
* In 2006, both UK girl band Girls Aloud and Def Leppard released covers of the song, on a limited edition bonus disc to "The Sound of Girls Aloud" and on "Yeah!", respectively.
* The song has also been covered by Alexi Laiho's Finnish extreme power metal band, Sinergy, on the album "To Hell and Back".
* The master recording of the song is a downloadable track on Rock Band.