the best use of a phone dial tone in a song, What is

for me it's the use of a dialing phone throughout this classic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8u-KROQeJA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZYkrY9yxC0

"+371" by Domenique Dumont is what I imagine all ringing phones sound like in Ibiza:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP-8blxGn2M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys_rJtuMfuA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWZ4pve5Mkc

ooh i like that +371 a lot.
never heard it before.

loving the PCO track.
think i had that on a cassette a very very long time ago.

just remembered the spacehog track that probably sampled that PCO track yeah ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7pTFmC8twE

Freur - Alabaster White Thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LDgHJq1LDw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJMhp5SEGiI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbimvNPgryI

so i had to double check and look up a this, but: what's fascinating is that hardly any of these songs seem to make prominent use of the dial tone, which is that sort of solid droning beep you'd hear in between picking up the receiver and dialing the first number. i guess t's a pretty unpleasant sound, and it doesn't "go" anywhere musically.

the DTMF sounds you hear when dialing numbers aren't even tones, but pairs of tones, chords basically, built up in a table of four low notes and four high notes. so there's a certain inherent musicality to them individually and as a set, despite their alien, technological quality. i can't seem to recall or find a good pithy name for them as a set, equivalent to "dial tone."

i think "I'll Bee Dat" has to have one of the hookiest uses of them but I also appreciate the scene-painting in phone-themed songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKRIH-b8Xcg
Newcleus - Push the button

There are some dialing sounds near the end of this that make a nice counterpoint to the little synth melody.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag_PnVclmw4

Laptop - End Credits: ring tone and answering machine message

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPFpsB7EYK4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOKzWCm6xx4

sub genre:best use of the mobile phone interference sound which was prevalent in the early 2000s

Does a Penguin Cafe Orchestra sample count?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCsGRCf8T9Y

TC - Where's My Money (Caspa Remix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPvzfW24SXc

when I was really little I thought the “won’t get fooled again” intro was a dial tone

Does "If Madonna Calls" by Junior Vasquez count?

never heard that before.
good track, but the phone is only at the start really.
i'm on about tracks that feature the phone dial/noise as part of the actual track.
and i should have remembered re the TC track as thats on a lot of my dubstep mixtapes.

Sondheim's Company uses a busy signal as a sample at the start and a little musical mnemonic (played on guitar) throughout.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3ODpqVUmWc

I have always thought that the intro to "Telephone Line" by ELO was made with modified dial tones, but I could be wrong...

tlc lovesick
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8Us3V3pUPw
produced by dallas austin

"One" is a song by American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson from his 1968 album Aerial Ballet. It is known for its opening line "One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do". Nilsson wrote the song after calling someone and getting a busy signal. He stayed on the line listening to the "beep, beep, beep, beep..." tone, writing the song. The busy signal became the opening notes.

I distinctly remember reading an interview with someone from an arty band, saying how they started out by "jamming along to a busy signal" – but can't recall who it was. Maybe Devo(?)

cut copy - “saturdays”
abra for playboi carti - “unlock it”

I also love modem sounds:
dj swagger - “return of the swagger”

for feat.

Not exactly a dial tone but lots of good phone sounds on:
Ken Laszlo - Hey Hey Guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz6EijdvyFw

I have always thought that the intro to "Telephone Line" by ELO was made with modified dial tones, but I could be wrong...

Iirc, Lynne said they dialed a number they knew wouldn't get answered, recorded the dialtone and other phone sounds, and then matched their notes with a synth.

this comes to mind, the phones songs continue throughout the 20m track

tony price - interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2NiGreQ5os

He stayed on the line listening to the "beep, beep, beep, beep..." tone, writing the song. The busy signal became the opening notes.

this is great.

really like the tony price track.
very electric era miles davis.

Andreas Dorau - das telefon sagt du

I have no idea how I missed this thread this whole time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfW0l1h2jWk

The interference in Communication has already been mentioned but any excuse to post this masterful mix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is4OgmR4T5s

Can we have Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey? It may be him imitating the phone ringing but the way the call is answered suggests he's doing dial tones.

Oh yes, loving this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyNHRVHA8SA

i'm not british, is this a dial tone or a ringing phone?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZK3rs6J5Ho

Well..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQpbH8iMQDo

There must be some snippets of dial tone among other phone sounds!

The single version of Five's Don't Wanna Let You Go - a simple 'boop boop boop boop... brrrrp brrrrp... (recipient answers)' scenario

Spacehog is the best but these are good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTFu1ns-fJ4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTFu1ns-fJ4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsMrCz_N8AQ

i guess no dial tone in the V6 one oops

The three minute fade-out of Snakes-A-Sleeping

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM1VywOWZcs

not technically a dial tone but I still extremely love this song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1iIGAPSHGc

Canibus' Intro is just dial tones and interference for 30 seconds or so

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_Fw116l2fE

I've never finished the album tbh

as always, and more than ever, the answer is Busy Signal - and I’m not even kidding:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1MYzU9cVvE
Busy Signal • Phone Stress

Tbh there's no excuse for me to have forgotten Snakes-a-Sleeping

there's some good dialing on the original but this remix version really goes all in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXzv9WTWwhM

i'm going to have to watch every single youtube itt as this is one of my favorite things in a song

lapsley - operator (dj koze's extended disco remix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvzJ-3yCto0