6060-842

Album: The B-52's (1979)
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Songfacts®:

  • In her interview with Songfacts, Cindy Wilson said the lyrics for this song were "really a big Fred kind of poem," with Fred being fellow B-52 Fred Schneider.

    In the song, a woman named Tina finds the number "6060-842" written on a bathroom wall with the words, "If you'd like a very nice time, just give this number a call."

    She goes to a payphone to place a call to the number, but it never goes through. Frustrated, at the end of the day she calls the operator and finds out the number has been disconnected.

    The joke here is that no one woman ever calls the numbers of those sleazy bathroom messages, and when one finally does, the person who wrote the message is gone.
  • Phone numbers in America were typically expressed with the exchange code separated, like 606-0842, but the B-52s were anything but typical.
  • "6060-842" is the fourth track on the second side of the B-52s self-titled debut album. The band didn't have much traditional music training or experience, which worked to their benefit as they created a truly unique sound. A creative force at this time was guitarist Ricky Wilson (Cindy's brother), who died of AIDS in 1985.

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