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Dial-A-Song

From This Might Be A Wiki
This article is about the phone service. For the website, see DialASong.com. For the 2002 compilation album, see Dial-A-Song: 20 Years Of They Might Be Giants.
A Record-A-Call 690 answering machine, the model most recently used by TMBG for Dial-A-Song
A Record-A-Call 690 answering machine, the model most recently used by TMBG for Dial-A-Song
Flansburgh examining the $2 price tag on his Record-A-Call 675 in 2001
Flansburgh examining the $2 price tag on his Record-A-Call 675 in 2001
A promotional card for Dial-A-Song
A promotional card for Dial-A-Song
A Dial-A-Song advertisement in the Village Voice, a NYC paper, during the mid-80's
A Dial-A-Song advertisement in the Village Voice, a NYC paper, during the mid-80's

Dial-A-Song, which could be reached at (718) 387-6962, was a service that They Might Be Giants had been operating almost since the band first formed in 1983, up through 2006. Calling Dial-A-Song's line connected the caller to an answering machine that played an exclusive TMBG song (often changed daily), if the machine was functioning.

The service started in late 1983, back when TMBG's hopping around the early 80's NYC punk scene hit an unexpected snag—John Linnell broke his wrist in a biking accident and John Flansburgh had his new Brooklyn apartment thoroughly burglarized. Despite being unable to perform, they wanted to keep the band's momentum going, and thus Dial-A-Song was born.

The band used cassette-based answering machines for Dial-A-Song for years, until they finally decided to go digital in about 1998. However, due to the computers' frequent crashes, TMBG returned to tape machines in late 1999. Dial-A-Song went strong and saw us through demos of tracks from Mink Car and No!, but in the hot, hot summer of 2002, the machine, as well as its backup, melted in the non-air conditioned apartment. Fans responded by sending equipment to TMBG, and in April 2003, the service was restored after a fan found a Record-A-Call 675 on eBay and notified the band. The machine was soon replaced in late 2004, however, when the folks at TechTV built the Johns a new computer-based system. In early 2005, the computer seemingly crashed, bringing Dial-A-Song down once again.

On March 29, 2006, Dial-A-Song returned. According to the April 4, 2006 newsletter, the Johns "scored a Record-A-Call 695 phone machine from a friend of the band who pointed out its availability on Ebay". The machine was actually a Record-A-Call 690, and the "friend of the band" was TMBW's Jon Uleis, as soon after confirmed by Operator Dot. Unfortunately, the machine began showing signs of wear in mid-to-late April 2006, and had completely ceased functioning by May. Only one song—a demo of "We Live In A Dump"—was ever recorded to that machine. In 2008, during an interview, Linnell confirmed that Dial-A-Song had "mainly just died a technological death."

We’d try to get them repaired but they kept dying and it was like, after twenty years, the things just don’t last forever and eventually, unfortunately, we resigned ourselves to the fact that the Internet had kind of taken over where Dial-A-Song had left off.
25 hours a day, 6 days a week.
Free when you call from work.
Always busy, often broken.
718-387-6962

[edit] FAQ

Do I have to pay for Dial-A-Song?

Dial-A-Song is just a regular phone call to Brooklyn, and therefore a free service. You only have to pay if you're calling it long distance.

Why is it free if I call from work?

The slogan 'free when you call from work' is pointing out the fact that you don't pay your job's phone bill; your boss does. It's free to you. ;)

I called and received a busy signal, what does that mean?

Someone else is on with Dial-A-Song right now. Wait a minute or two and try again.

I called and my phone said that the number is down or doesn't exist. What does that mean?

You need to put a 1 before the area code when calling long distance on anything but a cell phone or VoIP service.

[edit] Songs on Dial-A-Song

A fairly complete list of songs that have been featured on Dial-A-Song during the last 25 years, since 1983.

[edit] See also

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