|
Originally written September 9, 2005.
This is a song that’s very close to my heart and it’s totally a labor of love to write about it. Here’s the words:
Baby, I'm lying all alone
Pillow is all I have to hold
Can't feel you, God it isn't fair
Without you, I still wanna take you there
Chorus:
Don't hang up
It's just getting’ serious
Damn, you’re makin’ me delirious
Don't hang up 'til I'm finished with you
I'm not alone
Don't hang up, I'm not alone,
I can still feel you, even when I'm lonely,
And now I'm coming too
Don't hang up, I'm not alone
I can still feel you, even when I’m lonely,
And now I’m coming too
Tell me, tell me what you see
Feel me, feel me underneath
Slowly we begin to breathe
Hold on, hold on to your release
(Chorus)
Bridge:
You're far way, we'll find away
Oh baby now, let's make it right
Close your eyes (Damn)
(Chorus)
Don't Hang Up...
Do you feel it too?
Close your eyes...
And in case anybody doesn’t know by now, this is a song about phone sex. Now I fully understand that only a few people out-there will have experienced that, but I can tell you that the whole experience of an interactive conversation involving a disembodied voice, some frenzied imaginations and a lot of “Touch of my hand” stuff can be indescribably hot if you’re in the mood!
The key words in phone sex are these:
Tell me, tell me what you see (that’s most of what the conversation’s about)
Feel me, feel me underneath (imagine what you’d be doing if I was there)
Slowly we begin to breathe (heavily, as we do the TOMH stuff)
Hold on, hold on to your release (wait for me!)
So you really couldn’t put it any better.
This is, to my knowledge, the only song ever written that deals with the subject. It’s one of the bonus tracks on Britney’s “In The Zone” and it’s there because it’s an album that deals openly and frankly with a whole spectrum of female sexual experiences. If Britney had left the dance tracks out altogether, and put in a few more sexual experiments she’d have had a genuine concept album to rival Madonna’s “Erotica”.
“Don’t Hang Up” was written and produced by Brian Kierulf and Josh Schwartz, whose songwriting output is diverse and imaginative to say the least. The production is relatively simple in terms of stereo imaging and the depth and clarity of the soundstage. Britney’s lead vocal is centrally placed and she did all the backing tracks herself. A word about the bass track is in order. On speakers it seems somewhat incoherent and barely seems to relate to the music. But on headphones you begin to appreciate that it’s a kind of insistent, carefully patterned pulse that’s a perfect complement to the song.
Britney’s vocals on “Don’t Hang Up” are absolutely outstanding. Her words appear out of the ether as if floating on a current of air - and they never touch the ground. Britney’s instincts in how to interpret a song are among the most fascinating out of all pop singers - too bad most people don’t listen hard enough to appreciate them. Here it’s as if she realised very clearly that she was describing an experience at once erotic and unreal.
Every word is given its own weight and space and emphasis, and the words at the ends of lines are all carefully allocated their own appropriate amounts of perfect vibrato. Listen carefully to how she sings “Tell me, tell me what you see...” It’s a tiny moment of pop perfection. Indeed her vocals throughout the song are as perfect for the job in hand as can be imagined. Every word is pronounced with the utmost care. This is an assiduous craftswoman at work, making up for her lack of power in a hundred little ways.
As the song ends, Britney asks “Can you feel it too?” But the lump in my throat every time I hear it prevents me answering.
 |
