At first glance, Telephone sounds like it's about some chick who's at a club and is tired of getting called/texted by her annoying boyfriend. Like most of Lady Gaga's songs, it's easy to take it at face value (at least the song itself. The video is a different beast entirely).
So let's dive right in.
Telephone is very catchy. This, my friends, is an example of really good songwriting. It gets stuck in your head. It makes you want to dance. It makes you want to buy it and keep listening to it until you're driven to google it and inevitably stumble upon the video that goes with it.
And then you're opened up to something else entirely.
So what makes so many people want to listen to this song?
The lyrics on their own look really simple:
"Hello, hello, baby
You called, I can’t hear a thing.
I have got no service
in the club, you say, say
Wha-Wha-What did you say, huh?
You’re breaking up on me
Sorry, I cannot hear you,
I’m kinda busy."
Yeah, not that complex. A chick in a club getting called by her annoying ex/stalker/lover...
Listen to it again. Oh, maybe it's actually about Lady Gaga and/or Beyonce getting annoyed at the constant barrage of media and the paparazzi. They just want us to leave them alone, or in the words of the song,
“Stop callin’, stop callin’,
I don’t wanna think anymore!"
Ok, now you have to listen to it again because the song is only three and a half minutes and you want more.
Hm. Well, this time you listen and you think maybe that catchy little tune in the beginning is a cell phone ringing. It sounds a little like a cell phone, doesn't it?
Telephone opening tune (harp)
Nokia cell phone ringtone
Try to just listen to that little opening tune and see if you can tell what I mean. (I know it's hard; the second the beat comes in, you have to listen to the rest of the song and if you're like me, you start dancing too).
So this time when you listen, imagine she's representing the barrage of mindless American young people who are flooded with mass media and french fries and technology they have no idea how to use responsibly.
Suddenly you might be able to see how
"I have got no service
in the club, you say, say"
= My brain is washed out with twitter feeds and text messages and the internet
and
"Just a second,
It's my favorite song they're gonna play
And I cannot text you with
A drink in my hand, eh
You shoulda made some plans with me,
You knew that I was free.
And now you won't stop calling me;
I'm kinda busy."
= the older generation has a responsibility to educate and inspire young people whom we have neglected, and now young people are succumbing to drugs and alcohol.
But that's human nature, as evidenced by
"Stop callin’, stop callin,
I don’t wanna talk anymore!
I left my head and my heart on the dance floor."
Instinctively, people want to dance and party and drink and have sex. Can you really blame America's youth for following basic biological instincts, especially in a culture that is so dominated by mass media that's encouraging them to do just that?
So there we have some pretty heavy social analysis of the song. "Get over that and just enjoy it for what it is; a great $%@^ing song!" you say.
Yes, it is a fantastic song. I love it. But I think we have to do more than just take Gaga's songs and videos at face value. She's not another Britney or Madonna; the music industry is trying to make her that, but she has another agenda.
For the record, I think the song itself works best with Lady Gaga's original explanation, but it's interesting to see how many different ways there are to interpret it.
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