Croce Operator
Published: 1/16/2025
Pay phone and music intersect
Written By Dave Felice
COPYRIGHT December 2024
Written By Dave Felice
COPYRIGHT December 2024
In his 1973 recording "Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels)," folk-rock singer Jim Croce uses bygone pay phone imagery to lament a failed romance.
Presenting the caller's side of a conversation, the song opens with a plea: "Operator, well could you help me place this call? See the number on the matchbook is old and faded." The singer is upset and trying to find his former girlfriend "...living in L.A. with my best old ex-friend Ray."
The third verse contains a memorably iconic lyric as Croce sings he'll forget about the call, the operator has been kind, and "...you can keep the dime."
Croce got the song idea when he was in the National Guard. He watched soldiers standing in line in the rain, waiting their turn for a three-minute pay phone call, which cost 10-cents. "It seemed surreal that so many people were going through the same experience and to see it happening on the telephone, talking to a long distance operator just registered," said Croce, a native of Philadelphia.
The singer is known for complex acoustic guitar playing. In 2000, Martin Guitar Co. of Nazareth, Pennsylvania made 73 instruments like the one Croce used. Each D-21JC or D-21JCB guitar had an uncirculated 1973 dime embedded in the third fret fingerboard position. The commemorative guitars honor what the company calls Croce's "lasting contribution to acoustic music." Each instrument is signed inside by Ingrid Croce, Jim's widow and musical partner.
Also remembered for his songs relating to a diversity of people, Jim Croce died in a plane crash in Louisiana at age 30. Ingrid says the popularity of "Operator" has endured because many people identify with trying to recover from an unsuccessful relationship. She says numerous operators told her how much they loved the song and felt as if it were written specifically for them.
Pay phone specialist Mike Davis of Long Island says Croce would have been singing about a phone with three coin slots operating on a "coin first" process. A coin, usually a dime, had to be deposited to connect to dial tone for operator and local calling. Davis provided a picture of such a phone from Philadelphia. When 9-1-1 calling was introduced after 1968, circuits were changed to provide dial tone first for operator-assisted, local and emergency calls.
Earlier in the modern era, local calls cost a nickel. The 10-cent call lasted from about 1948, depending on the phone company, until being increased to 25-cents in the 70s. After that time, newer phones had only one coin slot. The conversion to single slot sets took place over time based on the individual phone companies.
Davis explains that the coin first phones worked on what's called a ground start. A coin drop would ground one side of the line, triggering the Central Office equipment to provide dial tone. "People were always figuring out ways to beat the pay phone; the phone company was always trying to catch up," Davis remarks. "By sticking a pin in the center hole of the receiver and many other ways, people determined how to create the ground and get dial tone without charge."
Coincidentally, Mike Davis says "Operator" is one of his favorite recordings. "I really liked Jim and his music," he comments. "It was sad when he (Croce) died (in the plane crash)."
Dime part of American culture
A ten-cent coin and the pay phone have a place in the North American vernacular with the expression "Drop a dime (on someone)."Long before cell phones, the phrase referred to using a public phone to anonymously inform authorities of suspicious activities. "Dropping a dime" can also be used as a warning, betrayal, or accurate ball handling in a sporting event. Other dime-related expressions describe very common items as "dime a dozen" and "dime bag" refers to $10 worth of illegal drugs.
Formerly in common use to activate a coin phone, the dime is one of the few coins known by a name in the U.S. and Canada. In all other countries, the coin is called by its denomination, such as 10 pence or 10-cent piece. A dime is the smallest diameter and thinnest American coin. In the U.S., it is the only coin where the value is not marked.
The name of the coin is derived from disme, old French for "tenth part", based on the practice of tithing, or donating one tenth of value to a church or charity. A 10-cent piece has been part of American coinage since 1792.
Prior to 1965, dimes were composed of 90 percent silver. Post-65 coins are struck from a copper-nickel alloy. The former silver coins are commonly traded as silver bullion. Since 1946, the coin has featured an obverse side view of President Franklin Roosevelt facing left, and a reverse with a torch surrounded by olive and oak branches.
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Original stories by Dave Felice, with material from multiple sources. The story was written in December 2024 for the Connections News publication of the Telecommunications History Group. The author is an award-winning member of the National Writers Union.
https://americansongwriter.com/the-meaning-behind-operator-thats-not-the-way-it-feels-by-jim-croce-and-how-a-stint-in-the-national-guard-sparked-the-idea/
https://www.songfacts.com/facts/jim-croce/operator-thats-not-the-way-it-feels