For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, as he tells us in his post with a very long title, Jim is inviting us to play a song that mentions a telephone or any other type of communication device. That would seem to rule out traditional English folk music, wouldn’t it, as Ye Olde iPhone didn’t exist. And I don’t know many songs about smoke signals, or two tin cans connected by string. So instead of relying on my usual suspects I’m doing something a little different for me: I’m playing you two soul music tunes. Shock! Horror! But my tastes are fairly wide-ranging and these are two songs I’ve always loved.

Here’s the first, after that rather large clue:

As that was a lyric video you probably don’t need them again, but in belt and braces style here they are anyway, courtesy of genius.com.

Judy Clay & William Bell released Private Number as a single in 1968, and it reached #75 in the US, but fared much better here in the UK, entering the chart in November 1968 and peaking at #8 in January 1969. The song was written by William Bell and Booker T Jones, who also produced the record. Information about it is a little hard to come by: most of what I can find is about the dreadful cover by the English boyband 911, who my daughters loved and went to see at the Wembley Arena. I worked near there and as it was a Sunday I drove them to the gig, to which my wife accompanied them, and spent the evening in the office reading the paper and terrifying the cleaner. It was also the day of a Cup Final at Wembley Stadium: traffic chaos! There have been several other cover versions, notably (for me) by the band Brinsley Schwarz, which is where Nick Lowe began his career – their version was eventually released in 2017 on a career retrospective. But the original remains supreme for me: I loved it then and still do.

For my second song today I’m turning to one that was written by Eddie Floyd and Steve Cropper, which was first recorded by Wilson Pickett in late 1965. I always liked it, and especially the cover version by Ry Cooder on his 1980 album, Borderline. I was thinking of playing that version until I found this one and just had to go with it:

Tina Turner & Robert Cray with a live performance of 634-5789. You can probably see why I chose this – they do it so well. And before I forget, here are Eddie Floyd’s original lyrics.

This live version of the track was recorded in 1986 as part of a segment in Tina’s Break Every Rule TV special, in which she interpreted classic soul songs with guitarist and singer Robert Cray, including 634-5789, Sam Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come and Wilson Pickett’s Land of a Thousand Dances and In the Midnight Hour. The four tracks were later included on her 1988 album Tina Live in Europe (UK #8, US #86). 634-5789, in this duet with Robert Cray, was also issued as a single in a few countries, reaching #14 in The Netherlands and #25 in Belgium. It is a popular song, having also been recorded by Otis Redding and Bon Jovi, among others.

That’s all from me today, and as always I hope you have enjoyed my selections. And I’ve kept pretty close to the brief for once, which is nice. My thanks to Jim for hosting the show, as ever. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, and I hope to see you again for some more Tuesday Tunes. Take care 🎶