In the old days, when you want to call someone but can’t remember his number, a telephone operstor or an operator for short, can help you out. This became the backdrop of this song by the late folk-rock singer-songwriter Jim Croce.
“Operator” is a song that delves into the dark side of love. It’s about a man betrayed by his best friend and by the woman he loves.
To forget his past, the man moved away while the woman and his best friend moved in together. After some time, the man realizes he has gotten over the pain and decides to give her a call. Unfortunately, he couldn’t read her number anymore from his old phone book. This is where he sought the help of an operator.
Operator oh, could you help me place this call?
You see the number on the matchbook
Is old and faded
In the following lines, we find that the woman resides in the big city and still living in with the man’s former best friend.
She’s livin’ in L. A
With my best old ex-friend Ray
A guy she said she knew well
And sometimes hated
In the course of his talk with the telephone operator, there’s indication that the man has moved on and has forgiven the two people who brought him great pain.
Isn’t that the way they say it goes?
But let’s forget all that
And give me the number if you can find it
So I can call just to tell ’em
I’m fine and to show I’ve overcome the blow
I’ve learned to take it well
Yet, in the next few lines, the man expressed doubts about how he really feels.
I only wish my words could just convince myself
That it just wasn’t real
But that’s not the way it feels
Operator, oh. could you help me place this call?
‘Cause I can’t read the number
That you just gave me
There’s something in my eyes
You know it happens every time
I think about the love
That I thought would save me
As the song ends, the man decides not to make the call, realizing that he does not want to talk to either the woman or to his ex-best friend. That’s when he discovers that the pain from his broken heart still has not left him and that he will have to bear it just a little bit more.
Operator, oh, let’s forget about this call
There’s no one there I really wanted to talk to
Thank you for your time
Oh, you’ve been so much more than kind
Is the sad tale from “Operator” a familiar experience? Listen to the story and to the song one more time here:
The complete title of the song is “Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels)”, the second cut from the late Jim Croce album ” You Don’t Mess Around with Jim”. The song captured the 17th spot in Billboard’s Hot 100 in late 1972, approximately nine months before Jim met an untimely death the following year in a plane crash that also killed four other peope.
Jim found the inspiration for “Operator” during his time with the US military. At the time, Jim saw this long line of soldiers before a phone booth as they waited for their turn to call their wives or girlfriends to confirm that the relationship has ended due to a third party.
Trivia: The last line of the song which said “you can keep the dime”, referred to the standard US toll fee at the time. This was the amount that a caller deposits into a payphone as payment for using the service. Presently, the charge is 50 cents although payphones are hardly used nowadays following the emergence of mobile phones.
AKA Music 