"At the Sound of the Tone" is a song written by Dave Richardson and Max T. Barnes, and recorded by actor and American country music artist John Schneider.
The song reached number 5 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.
[1] 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.
[This quote needs a citation] Upset at what he just heard, and realizing what it means, the young man hails a taxi cab and rushes over to his girlfriend's house, hoping to catch her before she leaves and try to explain things.