"He's on the Phone" is a song by British pop group Saint Etienne in collaboration with French singer-songwriter Étienne Daho, released in October 1995 by Heavenly and MCA as a single from their third compilation album, Too Young to Die (1995).

The lyrics tell of an "academia girl" trying to escape from a relationship with a married man: He's on the phone / And she wants to go home, / Shoes in hand, / Don't make a sound, / It's time to go.

"Accident" itself is a rewritten version of Daho's 1984 French-language hit single "Weekend à Rome", with original English lyrics.

According to producer Steve Rodway, the band had never intended to use "Accident" as single material, but had given it to him for remixing as it was "the only new track they had" at the time of the release of Too Young to Die.

Rodway retained an edited-down portion of Daho's vocals, and otherwise only kept the opening piano riff from the original instrumentation (both at the band's request).

[5] Bob Stanley told Select in 1995 about Daho's contribution to the track, "The stuff he's done on the single we've only heard rough translations of, but it's meant to be pretty obscene.

'He's on the Phone' has it all – schlurping cymbals, swooping strings, pumping piano, forlorn chords, heartbroken lyrics, ramblings in a foreign tongue..."[11] Taylor Parkes from Melody Maker named it Single of the Week, writing, "This is winter disco, sweet, sad and strong.

"[12] Brad Beatnik from Music Week's RM Dance Update gave it four out of five, saying the single has "a very upbeat Euro feel that's both sassy and trashy.

[14] John Robinson from NME wrote, "In fact, 'He's on the Phone' is very much entirely standard Etienne — slightly wistful initial melancholia daubed with essence of Peter Purves — and poses the same question: why the Hi-NRG drumbeats of marauding arse?

"[15] Another NME editor, Jim Wirth, called it "stunning", adding that the single, with 'Sylvie', are "a stellar amalgamation of handbag house and Bacharachian pop aesthetics.

Retrospectively, Glenn Swan from AllMusic praised the song as "smart", noting that it "once again [are] showcasing the gorgeous voice of Sarah Cracknell and the plaintive Brit-pop songwriting skills of Bob Stanley, Pete Wiggs, and Ian Catt.

[2] John Hamilton from Idolator ranked it among "The 50 Best Pop Singles of 1995" in 2015, remarking that the remixer had "painstaking rearranged Sarah's vocals into a more melodic chorus and injected the track with what can only be described as a high dose of poppers: a galloping bass line, bright keyboards and a relentless nu-disco beat, with Daho's spoken-word passage figuring powerfully in the breakdown.