Lyrics to
Long-Distance Operator

This version of Long-Distance Operator was released by Bob Dylan in 1975.

Our Bob Dylan Songs profile has Long-Distance Operator lyrics from 1975 and most if not all of the lyrics by Bob Dylan that we have here at Decade Lyrics.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Bob Dylan or about the 1970s in general.

Long-distance operator
Place this call, it’s not for fun
Long-distance operator
Please, place this call, you know it’s not for fun
I gotta give a message to my baby
You know, she’s not just anyone.

There are thousands in the phone booth
Thousands at the gate
There are thousands in the phone booth
Thousands at the gate
Ev’rybody wants to make a long-distance call
But you know they’re just gonna have to wait.

If a call comes from Louisiana
Please, let it rise
If a call comes from Louisiana
Please, let it rise
This phone booth’s on fire
It’s getting hot inside.

Ev’rybody wants to be my friend
But nobody wants to get higher
Ev’rybody wants to be my friend
But nobody wants to get higher
Long-distance operator
I believe I’m stranglin’ on this telephone wire.

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Bob Dylan has released many songs over the years besides Long-Distance Operator. Bob Dylan released songs from 1962 to 2006 spanning across albums like Bob Dylan, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Another Side Of Bob Dylan, The Times They Are A-Changin', Highway 61 Revisited, Bringing All Back Home, Blonde On Blonde, John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, Selfportrait, New Morning, Dylan, Planet Waves, The Basement Tapes, Blood On The Tracks, Desire, Street Legal, Slow Train Coming, Saved, Shot Of Love, Infidels, Empire Burlesque, Knocked Out Loaded, Down In The Groove, Oh Mercy, Under The Red Sky, Good As I Been To You, World Gone Wrong, Time Out Of Mind, Love And Theft, and Modern Times. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Bob Dylan.

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About Lyrics and Long-Distance Operator by Bob Dylan

The lyrics for Long-Distance Operator are defined as the words making up the song released by Bob Dylan in 1975. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to Long-Distance Operator have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only Bob Dylan and those working with them know all of the meanings behind all of the lyrics to their songs.

Some folks are interested in word and phrase etymology. It is easy to understand the lyrics to Long-Distance Operator by Bob Dylan if you think through it. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Long-Distance Operator" means the words set to the music of Long-Distance Operator, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Bob Dylan. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Long-Distance Operator and the lyrics to Long-Distance Operator are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Bob Dylan who came here looking just for the lyrics to Long-Distance Operator, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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