Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)

Album: Best Kept Secret (1983)
Charted: 84 9
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Released at the peak of her career (there was a time when Easton was more popular than Madonna), this quirky Pop song finds Easton singing somewhat obsessively about her lover as she wonders why he doesn't call her from overseas.
  • Note the alternate spelling of "Telephone" in the title. This could indicate that Easton or her lover are in a foreign country where they use this spelling, or maybe they were just trying to be different.
  • This was written by Greg Mathieson and Trevor Veitch. Mathieson also co-wrote "Heaven Knows" for Donna Summer and played on keyboards on this and many other hits, including Summer's version of "MacArthur Park" and "Mickey" by Toni Basil. Veitch also co-wrote Laura Branigan's version of "Gloria."
  • The video was shot in black and white and had a horror theme, with Easton encountering Dracula, Frankenstein's monster and King Kong. As was common in the '80s, the video had little to do with the song. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Michael - San Diego, CA

Comments: 5

  • Seventhmist from 7th HeavenThis was released on the same album as my personal favorite of hers, "Almost Over You."
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyJust a little addition to my post below {Barry - Sauquoit, NY}..:
    Ms. Easton just missed having two more #1 records when both "U Got The Look" with Price {1987} and "The Lover In Me" {1988} peaked at #2...
    Six of her twenty-one charted records with duets; two with Prince, one each with Kenny Rogers, Luis Miguel, Dyango, and Jeffery Osborne.
  • Steve from New YorkOne of my favorite songs growing up. Used to listen to it every morning with a friend of mine before we walked to school. Love Sheena Easton!!!
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn August 13th 1983, Sheena Easton performed "Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)" on the ABC-TV program 'American Bandstand'...
    The very next day on August 14th, 1983 it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #67; and on October 23rd, 1983 it peaked at #9 {for 1 week} and spent 18 weeks on the Top 100...
    It also reached #9 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club chart and in Norway...
    Between 1981 and 1991 she had twenty-one Top 100 records; eight made the Top 10 with one reaching #1, "Morning Train (9 to 5)" for 2 weeks on April 26th, 1981...
    Ms. Easton, born Sheena Shirley Orr, celebrated her 55th birthday four months ago on April 27th, 2014.
  • Mary from Phoenix, AzThis song has a great beat to it...and I just love the video. I used to be a big fan of Sheena's.
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