It reached a peak of number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1972, spending twelve weeks on the chart.

Cash Box described the lyrics saying that "in James Taylor fashion, Jim Croce tries to track down his long lost lover with the help of the operator.

The speaker is trying to find the phone number of his former lover, who has moved to Los Angeles with his former best friend.

He then changes his mind and tells the operator not to place the call, appreciatively adding "you can keep the dime" (the then-standard toll he had deposited in a payphone).

The story was inspired during Croce's military service, during which time he saw lines of soldiers waiting to use the outdoor phone on base, many of them calling their wives or girlfriends to see if their Dear John letter was true.