George Costanza’s Answering Machine Music

March 13, 2008

george_costanza_answer_machine

If you have ever called my phone you know I love to change my messages up. In fact, one of my favorite things to do is hear reactions (annoyed and humored) to the strange things I leave as a message. One of the crowd favorites was when I took cue from Seinfeld’s George Costanza’s answering machine message. You may remember:

George's Answering Machine Message Play Now | Play in Popup

I used to love “The Greatest American Hero”, the show where the music from the message originally came, but I’ll talk about that another day. I have had in my possession for some time now the mp3 to make your own “Believe it or not” phone message. Be the envy of all your friends! (Thanks to Brewster’s Millions for reminding me about the song.) Here is the record your own version of George Costanza’s answering machine music.

In case you need a script, here is what George said originally:

Believe it or not, George isn’t at home.
Please leave a message at the beep.
I must be out, or I’d pick up the phone.
Where could I be?
Believe it or not, I’m not home!

You’ll have to be a bit more creative if it is your cell phone, but I trust you can come up with something. Now, simply download, hold your phone to your computer speaker and record. Have a great time with it and let me know about your messages, responses, etc.

Enjoy!

Previously: ‹ the Name Tracy Theory from How I Met Your Mother

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Category Posted in Television

Tyler

i made a greeting for my cell phone voice mail with this by playing the song and recording it into garage band. then i recorded my name over George’s. then i played it over and over on AT&T’s voice mail message recorder (which is really annoying and hard to use). finally i got a recording that was acceptable. the problem is all the applause. every time they applaud, it gets staticky and hard to hear george singing. i should make my own and change the lyrics a little to make since for a cell phone but i cant sing.
http://www.beawesomeinstead.com aaron

Tyler,
That rocks! And don’t worry about the singing… that’s part of what makes it so funny. I just use the blank track I link to at the bottom of the page and read a script… it ALWAYS gets great comments…though some messages are jsut people laughing…
Thanks for visiting and the comment!
ToneDeaf and Horse voice

Since I cannot carry a tune even if it had handles – what i need is an MP 3 of the Costanza voicemail message with all the words in it and a blank space where he says “George” so i can insert my name!
ToneDeaf and Horse voice

Since I cannot carry a tune even if it had handles – what i need is an MP 3 of the Costanza voicemail message with all the words in it and a blank space where he says “George” so i can insert my name!

any ideas?
http://www.beawesomeinstead.com aaron

@Tone Deaf.
First off, I would encourage you to reconsider. The fact that George wasn’t a great singer made his message even funnier. I would say try your tonedeaf version with the blank mp3. George really talks more than sings it anyways. Otherwise I would try to use Audacity or Garageband to edit his name out.

If I get some free time I’ll see what I can work up.
Thanks for the visit!
ToneDeaf and Horse voice

Thanks for the tips!
Chris

Hey, thanks for providing the blank track. I just recorded myself on Garage Band and I have to say it turned out to be pretty funny, I’m definitely going to use it for my home phone however I can’t think of how to change it so that it can be used on my cell, any ideas?

Thanks
http://www.beawesomeinstead.com aaron

You Welcome Chris…
I did it on my cell saying something like:

Believe it or not, aaron isn’t at home.
Please leave a message at the beep.
I must be out, or I’d pick up the phone.
Where could I be?
Believe it or not, I’m just gone!

But I’m sure you could make other mods…Most people are too busy laughing to think about it too much. Enjoy.
Pingback: 365 Days to a Greener You » Day 86- Leave Your Name and Number After the Beep
http://www.pianosfallfromthesky.weebly.com molly

Ahahaha i have been looking everywhere for this!
i put:
Believe it or not, I don’t have my phone
please leave a message at the beep
I must be gone or I’d pick up the phone
Where could I be?
believe it or not, don’t have my phone
I am using it on my cell so i had to get a little creative
http://www.beawesomeinstead.com aaron

@molly
That is AWESOME! I love the wording to your cell phone message. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Piemanthe3rd

I was just thinking of a good answering machine message for my new phone and I thought of Georges. So I came online to look for the song to put my own voice on and boom I found this. Thank you very much.

I didn’t much change the lyrics just left it as

Believe it or not
Dustin isn’t home
Please leave a message at the beep
I must be out or else I’d pick up the phone
Where could I be?
Believe it or not, I’m not home

As for people with no singing talent (like myself ) I’d say just do it. That’s what makes it funny!
http://www.beawesomeinstead.com aaron

@Piemanthe3rd (Dustin)
About the singing that is EXACTLY my point! the more tone deaf the better! Thanks for your comment!
matt benjamin

OMG, thank you so much for finding this. a couple of times I sung the song w/o the music as my message, but this is awsome!!
Garbear

Hey man, could u somehow just get the audio of georges version without the audience laughing and without geirges voice or just leave a blank where u say ur name? lol thatd be great if some1 knows how to do that
http://www.beawesomeinstead.com aaron

@matt… your very welcome

@Garbear…I think the version you are looking for is the one at the bottom of the article. Here is the direct link just in case your “scroll up” button isn’t working. (j/k)
George Costanza Answering Machine Music (blank version)
toolfool

george costanza is my hero ha. i looked everywhere for the black track. i made somethin like this

believe it or not
im screening my calls
if your hearing this now
then just hang up
i dont want to talk right now
just leave a message at the beep
believe it or not
im screening my calls

the reactions are priceless. and its as tone deaf and out of time as you can get haha
http://www.beawesomeinstead.com aaron

@toolfool
that’s sweet. I truly love it… If i wasn’t having to use my phone for so much business now your version would be on my phone!
Tony

Hello,
finally i have found this, but how do you download the blank track to audacity, when I click on the link a new tab opens and it plays, doesnt download.’
http://www.beawesomeinstead.com aaron

Tony,
Instead of just clicking on the link, right click on the link and select “Save Link As”…otherwise it will just open up in your Internet window.
Mourad

You could download realplayer and instal the Download tab: while going through the instalation process then while you are on internet explorer, move your mouse over any type of video or media being played and a botton (most likely on the top right hand corner) move you mouse imeadiatly over the botton and click download. Then a download window should apear. When the download is complete, right click on the downloaded object and click “Locate file on Disk.” Then a window should apear, then just look in THAT folder and copy the file to the desktop or were ever else you want it to be copy. (DO NOT CLICK AND DRAG the file because that will move the file from that folder and will be moved to the location you designated (in other words that file will no longer be in the folder you clicked and draged from)).

I hope this helps you out.
Important: You can do this with ANY Media INCLUDING YOUTUBE VIDEOS!!!!!!!!!!
Tony

Ok,
I right clicked on the link from Aaron (i think), its the blank version 3/4 of the way down dated Oct. 1st. I now have the mp3 thank you this is going to be a funny message.

I am trying to do the same with the one with George’s voice (on the top of page), when I right click it gives me flash player info. Can anyone set up a link like the blank version but with George’s voice as well. thanks

TONY
George

Being a New Yorker named George, I’ve always wanted this voicemail. I found the blank version of the ‘Greatest American Hero’ theme here a few months back and recorded myself doing the greeting exactly how Costanza did it. The reactions I get are priceless. Everyone loves it, and I was even hired over several other people recently because the office manager was a huge Seinfeld fan and got such a kick out of my voicemail.
John

Thanks for putting this together! Much appreciated!
Mike

I love it. Thanks so much for posting this, I’m gonna use it for my celly:

Believe it or not, I can’t pick up the phone,
Please leave a message at the beep,
I must be out, or I’m screening my calls,
Where could I be?
Believe it or not, I’m not home (or I can’t pick up the phone)
http://www.beawesomeinstead.com/television/2008/george-costanzas-answering-machine-music/ Mario

Below is what I did for my cell phone…..i love the things you can find on the internet.

Believe it or not I’m screening your call
Please leave a message at the beep.
I must be screening or I’d pick up the phone
I’m screening calls
believe it or not you’ve been screened.
Enjoy.
Benjamin

I recently put this on my cell phone but I changed it a bit.

Believe it or not, Ben can’t hear his phone.
Please leave a message at the beep.
I must be in class, or I’d pick up the phone.
Where could I be?
Believe it or not, I’m busy!

It works well for me!
Bucky

I keep trying to record the blank one, but it sounds incredibly distorted when I play it back. Solutions?
Shawn

This is not the same music as Georges Answering Machine… This is just the Greatest American Hero Theme Music… Can someone please put the real instrumental up?
darryl

my wife and I used this song many years ago, not knowing about this. We have a great Christmas one we use. We made up a few others as well.
http://www.purplepantsmjb.yolasite.com Melissa

LOL. Love George! My sisters and I made up a dance and everything to the song, it’s awesome.
123456

I successfully voiced-over my name in place of “George” in the ORIGINAL message from Seinfeld…It was fairly simple to do for anyone who has a Mac with garageband.
Just re-record the original message from YouTube or whatever…Import it to Garageband. Then cut out the name George and record your name. Then create two new instrument tracks (one Hollywood strings and the other rock drums).

You will simply fill in the background track portion that was cut when you deleted the “george” part of the song. Get the correct key down for the stringed portion…then switch to the drums and alternate between the snare and bass. (You’ll have to listen to the original message a few times before you figure out the tempo and correct key. Then adjust the track volumes for the strings and drums accordingly, and it sounds almost perfect! (However you still are stuck with the laugh track)

Enjoy!
Commenter

believe it or not i cant hear my phone
please leave a message at the beep
it must be off or id pick up the phone
why wont it ring
believe it or not i cant hear my phone