"He's on the Phone" is a song by British pop group Saint Etienne

Saint Etienne (band)

Saint Etienne are an English Pop group comprising Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs. They are named after the French football team AS Saint-Étienne.-History:Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs were childhood friends and former music journalists...

 in collaboration with French singer-songwriter Étienne Daho

Étienne Daho

Étienne Daho is a French singer, songwriter and record producer who has released a number of synth-driven and rock-surf influenced pop hit singles since 1981.- Career :...

. A fast-paced Eurodance

Eurodance

Eurodance is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s or early 1990s primarily in Europe. It combines many elements from House, Techno, Hi-NRG and especially Italo-Disco...

 track, it is one of Saint Etienne's biggest hits, reaching #11 on the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

. 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

Steve Rodway

Steve Rodway , also known under the alias Motiv 8 or Motiv8, is an Electronic dance music record producer, songwriter, remixer and sound engineer....

 of "Accident", which appeared on the Saint Etienne/Étienne Daho Reserection EP

Reserection EP

Reserection EP was a 1995 release by French pop star Étienne Daho, working alongside English dance-pop band Saint Etienne. It was only released in France and Japan....

, 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

Top of the Pops

Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...

. 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

Star Academy France

Star Academy was a French reality television show produced by the Dutch company Endemol, based on the Spanish format called Operación Triunfo. It consists of a contest of young singers. It spawned an equally successful show in Quebec called Star Académie. It was broadcast on TF1...

.

Spanish pop singer Princessa

Princessa

Princessa, born Mónica Capel Cruz, is a Spanish pop/dance singer. Born on 18 May 1975, she first became known for her participation in "World On Ice" in Madrid and in Spain's Gran Circo Mundial. She was discovered by producer Frank Peterson at age 16 and a few years later recorded her first album...

 covered the song on her 1996 album Calling You.

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 (both at the band's request).

Sound on Sound

Sound on Sound

Sound on Sound is an independently-owned monthly music technology magazine published by SOS Publications Group, based in Cambridge, UK. The magazine includes product tests of electronic musical performance and recording devices, and interviews with industry professionals...

magazine describes "He's on the Phone" as characteristic of most of Rodway's "trademark" sounds:
A hard disk recorder

Hard disk recorder

A hard disk recorder is a type of direct to disk recording system that uses a high-capacity hard disk to record digital audio or digital video. Hard disk recording systems represent an alternative to more traditional reel-to-reel tape or cassette multitrack systems, and provide editing...

 was used to create backing vocals echoing the original through time stretching and pitch shifting

Audio timescale-pitch modification

Time stretching is the process of changing the speed or duration of an audio signal without affecting its pitch.Pitch scaling or pitch shifting is the opposite: the process of changing the pitch without affecting the speed...

.

MC: Heavenly / HVN 50CS (UK)

1. "He's On The Phone" - 4:09
2. "He's On The Phone" (Motiv8 Mix) - 6:25

CD: Heavenly / HVN 50CD (UK)

1. "He's On The Phone" - 4:09
2. "Groveley Road" - 3:39
3. "Is It True" - 2:49
4. "The Process" - 3:11

• track 3 written by Marc Bolan
  Marc Bolan
  Marc Bolan was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and poet. He is best known as the founder, frontman, lead singer & guitarist for T. Rex, but also a successful solo artist...
  
  

CD: Heavenly / HVN 50CDR (UK)

1. "He's On The Phone" (Motiv8 Mix) - 6:25
2. "Cool Kids Of Death" (Underworld Remix) - 14:31
3. "How I Learned To Love The Bomb" - 3:05

CD: MCA / MCADM-55268 (US)

1. "He's On The Phone" (Radio Edit) - 4:08
2. "He's On The Phone" (Motiv8 Mix) - 6:26
3. "He's On The Phone" (Primax Bungee Dub Mix) - 6:03
4. "He's On The Phone" (Primax Bungee Vocal Mix) - 5:05

12": Heavenly / HVN 50-12Pi (UK)

1. "He's On The Phone" (Motiv 8 Extended Mix) - 6:25
2. "He's On The Phone" (Motiv 8 Dub)

12": Heavenly / HVN 50-12Pii (UK)

1. "Cool Kids Of Death" (underworld mix) - 14:31
2. "Like A Motorway" (david holmes mix) - 13:01

12": Heavenly / HVN 50-12Piii (UK)

1. "He's On The Phone" (Bungee Vocal Mix)
2. "He's On The Phone" (Naked Bungee Dub)

12": MCA / MCA12-55268 (US)

1. "He's On The Phone" (Motiv8 Mix) - 6:26
2. "He's On The Phone" (Primax Bungee Dub Mix) - 6:03
3. "He's On The Phone" (Primax Bungee Vocal Mix) - 5:05