Music to Your Ears: 10 Songs about Cell Phones

There are many different types of art that are created which use cell phones as the subject. There are paintings of mobile phones, cell phone sculptures, interactive mobile phone exhibits and mobile movies. There are also songs that mention cell phones in their lyrics. This type of art often gets overlooked. Perhaps that’s because there’s not a lot of it out there. Maybe it’s because when we think of songs and cell phones we think of our mobile phone’s multimedia functions and not about someone who writes an ode to their phone. But indeed there are artists out there whose lyrics reflect the fact that their phone is an important part of their lives.

Take a look at these 10 Songs About Cell Phones:

1. Cellular Phone by Jack’s Mannequin. The song’s title tells you clearly that this song is about a cell phone. Of course, what it’s really about is about a complicated relationship with the world and with a girl but it mentions again and again that she’s going to call him up on his cellular phone. If he didn’t have that lifeline to the world then who knows what might become of him?

2. Cell Phone # by Plain White T’s. Here’s another song that’s really about the woman who is (or in this case isn’t) making the call to the mobile phone. Listening to this song you can totally picture someone just sitting with their mobile phone in hand wondering why this woman isn’t causing it to ring. He begs, “you’ve got my cell phone number but you haven’t called/ you’ve got it for a reason so if you’re teasing me, make that call.” Aw, we’ve all been there.

3. Cell Phone’s Dead by Beck. This is an interesting song because the lyrics seem simple but their message is complex. The song itself isn’t really about the cell phone but it uses the cell phone as a metaphor a few times including a great line about “people phonin’ in like it’s unlimited minutes, going through the motions, just to say they did it”. As more and more carriers start to offer unlimited minutes and data packages, this line is going to seem totally outdated. When that happens, the point of that line is going to be totally lost on new generations!

4. Cell Phone by Victor Wooten. If you’re interested in a song that’s truly about a mobile phone then this is the one that is the one to listen to. It starts off with the over-used line, “can you hear me now?” and continues on to tell us all about the new phone that this guy has bought, how it works, who is leaving messages and how to restrict calls. Interestingly this one also mentions the number of minutes that the phone comes with. Guess the popular cell phone songs from back in the day reflect that this has been an issue for cell phone users.

5. Call Me Beep Me (If You Wanna Reach Me) by Christina Milian from the Kim Possible soundtrack. This is another song that’s kind of dated in terms of the cell phone technology that it mentions. It’s from that era when people were using both cell phones and pagers which you can tell from the title of the phone. Still, it’s clear from the lyrics that the cell phone wins favor with this singer because she lets us know that she just can’t wait for that cell phone to ring. Guess there are a lot of songs out there about people who wish someone would call them up on the cell phone!

6. Video Phone by Beyonce. This cell phone song references much more modern technology when it comes to mobile phones. Beyonce entices us to record her and watch her on a video phone. The hot new video for this phone features not only Beyonce herself but also Lady Gaga. And of course, if you’ve got a phone that can view video then you can watch it right on your mobile phone.

7. Camera Phone by The Game (Featuring Ne-Yo). Here’s another one that’s a bit more modern in terms of mobile phone technology. This one, obviously, is about the use of a camera phone and how you ought to take a picture to preserve a moment in time (although the lyrics themselves aren’t as sweet as that summed up description).

8. Birdgirl on a Cell Phone Lyrics by Eels. The name of this song seems to be the most interesting thing about it as far as mobile phones go but it does mention cell phones in the actual lyrics. We learn about an interestingly odd girl who uses her friend’s cell phone to make a call and gets an operator who tells her that she’s not alone. It’s good to know that you can always use your cell phone to reach out to someone if you need to.

9. Gurley’s Cell Phone Number by Darkbuster. Here’s a cell phone song that is much more direct. It tells us that if we want to call Gurley then we just need to dial this number. It says that we can call as late as we want and not to worry about bothering him. In an era when someone can post your phone number on Craig’s List and have strangers calling you at any time of day or not it’s frightening to even listen to lyrics like this because it conjures up too many “what if” thoughts!

10. George Jones Talking Cell Phone Blues by Drive By Truckers. This is a song based on the true story of singer George Jones who was in a terrible car accident that happened at least in part because he was distracted on his cell phone as he was driving. The lyrics recount the accident and warn Jones (and us): “Better leave that cell phone alone/ Don’t be talking’ as you try to get back home. Good advice there!