2025 Competition Entry:

cordless phone by Alex Sterling

Genre

Rock

Artist

Co-writer(s)

no

Performer(s)

My band, Desoto Reds. Jeremiah Johnson plays drums, Dan Lieberman is on bass, and Scott Yowell plays organ and lap steel. I sing and play guitar.

Description

I sat next to a girl named Lisa in 11th grade physics, and I had a crush on her but never asked her out. However, songwriting is always fiction. The girl in the song doesn’t have Lisa’s personality, and at the time we didn’t have cordless phones yet.

Bio

East Bay indie rock band Desoto Reds features literate and catchy songwriting, unpredictable arrangements, and psychedelic lap steel and organ. Desoto Reds have released multiple albums, made it into the CMJ top 200 once, and have played countless shows in the Bay Area, including, many moons ago, an opening slot with Of Montreal. We’re too rocking to be jangle pop, too melodic to be prog rock, too angular for classic rock, and not young enough to be emo.

Reformed in 2021, the Reds have lots of new songs, recorded by a teenage producer named AddieSteri. The band features Alex Sterling (guitar/vocals), Jeremiah Johnson (drums), Scott Yowell (lap steel and keyboards), and Dan Lieberman (bass).

Lyrics

CORDLESS PHONE

On the Tik tok, on the insta, on a rotary phone she’s talking
To her best friend, from middle school, on a cordless phone she’s talking
She’s talking, but not to me
What is the password?

By her locker, in the girls room, at her soccer game she’s talking
In the study hall, to the quarterback, in the English class she’s talking
She’s talking, but not to me

But wait, I’m fast approaching 6 feet
But I weigh 130 pounds
In physics class I wonder if she’ll see me
Making points ‘bout the velocity of sound

On a postcard, via telegram, in Twitter, she’s talking
To her sister, who’s in college, on a cordless phone she’s talking
In real time, up in the cloud

In a classroom, on the right side, in the front row, she’s talking
To the teacher, and occasionally, to a boy who sits beside her
Just talking, maybe to me

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