Cell Phones Providing a Little Taste of Yesteryear

Personalized cell phone ring tones are popular in the U.S. but not something you hear everyday. Occasionally you’ll hear a catchy jingle that cost someone $15.95 per month, but by and large people go with the boring, mundane, pre-programmed tones. In China, that is not the case. We feel like the ONLY people in a country of 1+ billion that do not have a personalized ring tone. The interesting part is that 9 times out of 10 it is a popular American song from 10-20 years ago. It’s really hard not to giggle like school girls when you’re walking down a sweltering street with neon Chinese symbols all around and you hear Aaron Neville’s “Everybody Plays the Fool” on a cell phone ring.

You thought Huey Lewis was extinct? Think again – HUGE in ring tone circles here. Nothing like riding up 24 floors on the elevator and getting “Power of Love” stuck in your head for three days (consequently the Back to the Future movies are on every weekend here – if Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox made Back to the Future 4 – Return to the Qin Dynasty, it would break box office records).

Though Huey Lewis and Aaron Neville took us on a trip down memory lane, catching “We are the World” the other day on a ring tone in Carrefour was classic. Annie had not heard that song since getting a love tape in the fifth grade. The thought of Willie Nelson and Stevie Wonder singing within two minutes of each other, belting out those classic lyrics, brings tears to our eyes. We couldn’t remember, but didn’t Big Bird have a few lines in that song also? Or was that ALF?

The most surprising ring tone – particularly considering that we reside in a communist nation is the Star Spangled Banner – and we’ve heard it at least three times already. If we lived in America, we can understand it, but we’re not so sure it’s the smartest move here. And to think, just a few weeks ago, Scott was leery of wearing his American Flag swim trunks to the pool.

The other cell phone quirk here is that when you call someone, you usually do not hear a dial sound as it’s ringing. Instead, you hear music – like being on hold in the U.S. This music takes many different forms. Classical music (Bach, Beethoven, etc) is popular as is music that sounds very similar to what they play in the U.S. when you enter the “Orient” section of the zoo or Six Flags. However, the most popular choices are Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, which is good because it’s recognizable and everyone knows it. There is a bad side though – it’s a tad bit embarrassing when someone answers the phone with you humming or singing. It’s REALLY embarrassing when someone catches you in full-on karaoke mode “And I……I will always Loooooooove youuuuuuuuu.”