"You've Got My Number (Why Don't You Use It?)" is a 1979 punk rock song originally written and recorded by

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

band

the Undertones The Undertones are a rock band formed in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1974. From 1975 to 1983, the Undertones consisted of Feargal Sharkey (vocals), John O'Neill (rhythm guitar, vocals), Damian O'Neill (lead guitar, vocals), Michael Bradley ...

. Written in the summer of 1979 by the band's main songwriter, John O'Neill, the single was released on 9 October that year and reached number 32 in the UK charts. The song was performed live on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'' on 15 November 1979. "You've Got My Number (Why Don't You Use It?)" was one of only two singles released by the Undertones not to be included on any of their albums at the time of their original release (the other single being " Beautiful Friend"). However, the song was included as a

bonus track An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

on the 1994 CD version of the band's second album, '' Hypnotised'', and the 2000

Castle Music Castle Communications, also known as Castle Music, was a British independent record label and home video distributor founded in 1983 by Terry Shand, Cliff Dane, and Jon Beecher. Its video imprint was called Castle Vision. The label's producti ...

re-release of their eponymous debut LP. In addition, the song has been included on several 'Best Of' Undertones compilation albums.

Background

The song was the fifth single released by the Undertones. According to bassist Michael Bradley, when John O'Neill first demonstrated this song to his bandmates, "our jaws dropped to the ground. It was brilliant". The band first played the song live at Oscar's Disco in

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

in the late summer of 1979, prior to its release as a single.''Teenage Kicks: My Life as an Undertone'' p. 151

Sleeve artwork

The artwork for the single sleeve depicts the record's

Sire Sire is an archaic respectful form of address to reigning kings in Europe. In French and other languages it is less archaic and relatively more current. In Belgium, the king is addressed as "Sire..." in both Dutch and French. The words "sire" a ...

catalogue number (4024) in

sans-serif In typography and lettering, a sans-serif, sans serif, gothic, or simply sans letterform is one that does not have extending features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. Sans-serif typefaces tend to have less stroke width variation than seri ...

font upon the front sleeve. The rear of the sleeve is plain white with a die-cut centre displaying the label of the vinyl single. No text is displayed upon the

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

of the label, which instead depicts a combination of an image of the band members taken by photographer

Jill Furmanovsky Jill Furmanovsky (born 1953) is a British photographer who has specialised in documenting rock musicians. Life and work Born in Southern Rhodesia, Furmanovsky emigrated with her parents and brother Michael to London in 1965. She studied text ...

earlier in 1979.

Track listing

* "Let's Talk About Girls" is a cover of a 1967 song by

The Chocolate Watch Band The Chocolate Watchband is an American garage rock band that formed in 1965 in Los Altos, California. The band went through several lineup changes during its existence. Combining psychedelic and garage rock components, their sound was marked by Da ...

, taken from the 1972 ''Nuggets'' compilation LP.

References

External links

* You've Got My Number (Why Don't You Use It?
lyrics
* The Undertone
official website
{{The Undertones 1979 singles 1979 songs Sire Records singles Songs written by John O'Neill (guitarist) The Undertones songs