The first Saint Etienne song I ever heard was 'He's On the Phone'-- I think it was on Rodney Bingenheimer's radio show. Prior to that I'd been curious about them because I kept seeing ads for their Too Young to Die compilation in magazines like Select and Vox, and I thought their name sounded cool (I was 16, okay?). I'm terrible when it comes to identifying genres but for me there's no other way to describe this song than: dance-pop. Pure, triumphant, sparkling, fabulous dance-pop. Every time I've seen them live this song turns the floor into a madhouse. Saint Etienne have loads of good songs but there's just something about this song. I like their final version the best but there are several different incarnations of this song.
It was first written by French singer Etienne Daho back in 1984, and was a pretty big hit off his album La Notte La Notte. Back then the title was 'Week-end à Rome' and it sounds somewhat dated now but I still think it's way catchy and great to sing along to (even though I don't speak a word of French!). Then in 1995, Daho and Saint Etienne collaborated on the Reserection EP, which includes 'Accident' which is basically the first English version of 'He's on the Phone.' The lyrics contain an extra couplet in the second verse (and hers is lilac and gold/ the things she has/ she's feeling sad/ she's feeling old). Then they turned up the piano, mixed it up and re-released it as 'He's on the Phone,' which is included in several compilation albums (Too Young to Die, Continental, Smash the System, Travel Edition).
Incidentally, Saint Etienne got their name from a French football team, and I'm not sure how they first got together with Daho, but they've collaborated on several songs, the most (relatively) recent being 'Le Premier Jour' which was a song that first showed up on Sarah Cracknell's solo CD as 'Ready or Not.'
