Centrex
You may think of the ROLM Phone as some sort of pre-historic telecommunication contraption, but you'd be mistaken. That title goes to Centrex, a phone so advanced that it features "light-up pushbuttons to switch among lines".[1]
Lamentation for Centrex
On Fall Orgo Night, 1988, shortly after it was replaced by ROLM, CUMB sung this lamentation for the Centrex:
A long, long time ago I can still remember how that CENTREX used to make me smile, And I knew if I had my way, I'd still have my answering machine today, And then I could be happy when I dialed But the ROLM lady made me shiver With every message I'd deliver Bad news came this fall I couldn't get one more call I can't remember if I cried When I read that damn contraption's guide But something touched me deep inside The day the CENTREX died (CHORUS) And we were singing . . . Bye, bye my old CENTREX phone line Why the hell do we have ROLM when that old system was fine For that amount of money at Lutece we could dine Of the Apocolypse this must be a sign Of the Apocolypse this must be a sign
