Calling embodies two meanings in music. It symbolises long-distance communication and connection, from phone calls to rallying calls to action, or it could alternatively reflect finding your life’s calling, planting meaning and purpose within your days.
Our list of rock and pop songs about calling covers it all, whether you’re calling to a lost or far away lover, or hoping for alien contact.
Songs About Calling
1. Kiss – Beth
Kiss’ hit single Beth is a soft and sentimental break away from their usual distorted sound.
This love song sees the narrator split between two different voices calling him in different directions, embedding a unique insight into the lonely life of musician’s wife, abandoned in place while her husband travels the world;
“Beth, I hear you calling but I can’t come home right now, me and the boys are playing and we just can’t find the sound, just a few more hours and I’ll be right home to you, I think I hear them calling, Oh, Beth what can I do.”
Usually a lover’s call is a blessing, especially when the distance that splits you spans the better part of the globe, but this track highlights how life callings can clash with your lover’s wishes, whilst artfully styling its words like a long-distance telephone call.
2. Drake – Calling My Name
This short Drake track, Calling My Name, is devoted to female seduction, exhibiting an abundance of shameless euphemisms within its lyrics; “What do I want? Why is it so hard giving you up? I’m counting the days ’til you come, I’m counting the ways to make you.”
An eruption of rap splits the track in two, between a near-poetic intro of innuendos and an outro of blatant lust, where the title’s explicit meaning is crudely revealed.
3. Queen – Calling All Girls
Queen’s 1982 single, Calling All Girls, is often overshadowed by their greater hits, but this psychedelic-style rock track harbours a message as stunning as any other.
Embellished with a spiritual, sitar-like effect upon the guitar tone and carrying an addictively uplifting harmony, Calling All Girls anchors its lyrics in transmitting a message of pure love.
This track is a call for peace, summoning the feel-good energy of community and communication; “Calling all boys, calling all girls, calling all people on streets, around the world … Take a message of love far and near, take a message of love for all to hear for all to hear.”
4. The Clash – London Calling
The crownpiece of The Clash’s discography, London Calling is a punk track centred in political disarray and damnation.
The title lyric is a cutting reference to a long-lost phrase used by the BBC whilst transmitting messages in WWII – an element used by The Clash to evocatively highlight the rifled atmosphere of 1970s Britain;
“London calling to the imitation zone, forget it, brother, you can go it alone, London calling to the zombies of death, quit holding out and draw another breath.”
The Clash’s pristine reflection of their breaking society is found more masterfully in their apocalyptic soundscape than in their lyrics.
Interspersed with animalistic howling, The Clash craft their track to spark terror and despair, driven by a totalitarian-like marching sound signifying the bleak attitude of their era.
5. James Marriott – Calling
Internet sensation James Marriott’s release, Calling, was co-written by fellow Brit YouTuber and musician Wilbur Soot, together creating a fresh yet nostalgically inspired indie rock sound.
Carried by a blissful chord progression evocative of some dreamy sense of longing, this track illustrates the attempt to fight loneliness by calling a lover;
“Hello, I’m back to zero, find out what’s going on inside, bring me from below. Come down, at these heights I’ve become used to, calling, keep me calm before you’re gone.”
Underlying the lyrics is the hint of loneliness caused by the pandemic and the desperate need for contact, emphasised by its 2021 release;
“You know I get stressed sometimes, can’t be alone … Strange how no-one’s here to listen in this ghost town, they try to keep their distance but we’re calling, how could you ever move on?”
6. Regina Spektor – The Call
Regina Spektor’s empowering, cinematic track makes its feature on The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian soundtrack, its lyrics anchored in a message of change, surmounting fear and success.
But the thing which makes this track truly stand out is its profound display of how ‘calling’ evolves from a flicker of thought to a determined action;
“It started out as a feeling, which then grew into a hope, which then turned into a quiet thought, which then turned into a quiet word, and then that word grew louder and louder, ’til it was a battle cry, I’ll come back when you call me, no need to say goodbye.”
7. Ray Parker Jr – Ghostbusters
Ray Parker Jr.’s #1 hit soundtrack, Ghostbusters, needs no introduction. Tying this song together is the discrete theme of how phone calls are a blessing to society, giving an emergency service twist to our list of songs about calling;
“If there’s something strange in the neighbourhood, who ya gonna call, Ghostbusters. There’s something weird and it don’t look good, who ya gonna call, Ghostbusters.”
8. Lil Tjay & 6LACK – Calling My Phone
Lil Tjay and 6LACK’s R&B pop track, Calling My Phone, spins the common concept of breaking up into a song which asks for space rather than connection; “Steady calling my phone, I done told you before that it’s over, leave me ‘lone.”
Tjay’s verse masterfully highlights the screen-induced, faceless dissociation of phone calls and texting whilst devoting the track to an honest display of apathy rather than rude emotional dominance;
“I don’t wanna be texting your name no more, I ain’t tryna feel this pain no more, girl, I’m sorry, but my feelings ain’t the same no more.”
9. The Carpenters – Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft
This relatively obscure Carpenter’s track instantly stands out amongst the rest of their discography, harbouring a cosmic message of interstellar communication with alien UFOs. The Carpenters anchor their track in a different type of ‘calling’ altogether: telepathy.
Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft is a retro pop anthem designed to channel peace to the farthest reaches of the universe;
“In your mind, you have capacities to telepath messages through the vast unknown, please close your eyes and concentrate with every thought you think… Calling occupants of interplanetary craft, you’ve been observing our earth, and we’d like to make contact with you, we are your friends.”