I believe the lyric "Guess where I am, I'm calling from the plane, I'll call you when I get there" is about Airfone handsets in the back of airline seats (the ones where you had to swipe a credit card and were insanely expensive on a per-minute basis).
Not as horrible as one might expect, actually. I had to use one once and it wasn't that different from old analog landlines. Analog signals actually reach further than digital (at least on the frequencies used by Airfone).
Great post. I love how you dissect the relation of every verse to the era it's from, and how the song as a whole is a time capsule from a bygone era. When you think about it, releasing a song like this should by all means be an insane risk. Absolutely 0 future proofing, it's already out of date when it releases. And in the face of all this, TMBG puts it on a major album released by a major label, instead of an EP or digital release. I love Factory Showroom, and the risks they took on it are a major reason why.
Anyways, I'm quite excited to see your post on The Bells Are Ringing. As probably the only semi-professional change ringer who reads your posts (and possibly the only one on substack?), my expectations are quite high.
I believe the lyric "Guess where I am, I'm calling from the plane, I'll call you when I get there" is about Airfone handsets in the back of airline seats (the ones where you had to swipe a credit card and were insanely expensive on a per-minute basis).
Jesus that’s insane. I bet they sounded awful too
Not as horrible as one might expect, actually. I had to use one once and it wasn't that different from old analog landlines. Analog signals actually reach further than digital (at least on the frequencies used by Airfone).
Great post. I love how you dissect the relation of every verse to the era it's from, and how the song as a whole is a time capsule from a bygone era. When you think about it, releasing a song like this should by all means be an insane risk. Absolutely 0 future proofing, it's already out of date when it releases. And in the face of all this, TMBG puts it on a major album released by a major label, instead of an EP or digital release. I love Factory Showroom, and the risks they took on it are a major reason why.
Anyways, I'm quite excited to see your post on The Bells Are Ringing. As probably the only semi-professional change ringer who reads your posts (and possibly the only one on substack?), my expectations are quite high.
It’s always hard to write the piece for the last song of the album but I think this one will come together really well.