 The song reached number 3 on the "Billboard" Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.Use of the answering machine – still a relatively novel device to most American households in the mid-1980s – is at the centerpiece of this "dying relationship" story.Here, a young man, whose relationship with a longtime girlfriend has apparently been in trouble for some time (due to his inability to find time to spend with her), is trying to call her home phone to cancel a lunch date due to an unexpected work commitment.