Are You Calling Me Darling?
Formed in Manchester out of the ashes of Dear Eskiimo, singer Katie White and drummer/producer Jules De Martino named their new duo The Ting Tings and ended up writing one of my favourite tunes.
Back in 2008, MySpace was the thing and after posting their to-be smash hit That’s Not My Name on there, things started to happen.
Previously on Mercury Records, whose antics had inspired the subject matter of That’s Not My Name, they self-released and started doing gigs that evoked the interest of the industry. Even Rick Rubin (famed producer) enquired for tickets to see the much-talked-about duo, my guess is he had heard the aforementioned tune on MySpace!
Eventually, they signed for Columbia who spread their genius composition to the world, and even though the follow-up single, Shut Up And Let Me Go did have some success it was not of the same calibre.
Since the debut single and album, The Ting Tings have released more tunes, nothing coming close to that first single which once you’ve put it on repeat a few times, will realize how brilliant it really is.
It’s the overlaying of melodies, the different timings of the layered vocals, and the attitude in the performance. It’s just the perfect tune. Katie and Jules will most likely never write anything that good even if they tried another hundred times, but then again, who will?
If it seems like just another example of a one-hit wonder band to you, then you don’t understand how difficult writing something as brilliant as That’s Not My Name really is. It kind of just has to happen but amongst another hundred tries.
It may even just take a few hours to put it together, but as Pablo Picasso said about a sketch he did in 30 seconds: It took me forty years to do it.
Without Dear Eskiimo, without all the other songs they wrote, without producing other artists, gigging, drum practising, understanding how to overlay and integrate melodies, half and double time concepts, The Ting Tings would never have written That’s Not My Name, and Rick Rubin would never have asked for tickets, and the phrase: Are you calling me darling? It wouldn’t have had the deeper hidden meaning that it has today.
Sure, being a kind of inverted British version of the White Stripes at the time when they were huge helped, but really, at the end of the day it’s the same old story, it’s all about having at least one, genuinely great tune.
It’s always been that way, always will be, alright, darling?
The Ting Tings Tunes | Related Pages
That’s Not My Name
You can learn how to play That’s Not My Name by Ting Tings using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| E5 | E5 |
Four letter word just to get me along, it’s a…
The Ting Tings on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was an article about The Ting Tings tunes, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
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