The “867-5309/Jenny” Awareness Center

867-5309/Jenny

Overview

"867-5309/Jenny" by Tommy Tutone was released in 1981 on the album Tommy Tutone-2. It reached #4 on the Top 40 music chart in 1982 and was on the charts for 40 weeks. It was written by Alex Call and Jim Keller.

Download the full song at the official Tommy Tutone site (Click "Songs" » Tommy Tutone-2).

Watch the video on YouTube.

Listen to a 30 second clip on VH1.com (Disk 1, Song 12)

Listen to a midi version (meh) (25K).

Who is Jenny?

One of the most frequently asked questions about this song is, "Who is Jenny?" Was she a girlfriend? A groupie? An actual number on a wall?

Alex Call, one of the songwriters, explains,

Despite all the mythology to the contrary, I actually just came up with the "Jenny," and the telephone number and the music and all that just sitting in my backyard. There was no Jenny. I don't know where the number came from, I was just trying to write a 4-chord Rock song and it just kind of came out. This was back in 1981 when I wrote it, and I had at the time a little squirrel-powered 4-track in this industrial yard in California, and I went up there and made a tape of it. I had the guitar lick, I had the name and number, but I didn't know what the song was about.

This buddy of mine, Jim Keller, who's the co-writer, was the lead guitar player in Tommy Tutone. He stopped by that afternoon and he said, "Al, it's a girl's number on a bathroom wall," and we had a good laugh. I said, "That's exactly right, that's exactly what it is."

I had the thing recorded. I had the name and number, and they were in the same spots, "Jenny... 867-5309." I had all that going, but I had a blind spot in the creative process, I didn't realize it would be a girl's number on a bathroom wall. When Jim showed up, we wrote the verses in 15 or 20 minutes, they were just obvious. It was just a fun thing, we never thought it would get cut. In fact, even after Tommy Tutone made the record and "867-5309" got on the air, it really didn't have a lot of promotion to begin with, but it was one of those songs that got a lot of requests and stayed on the charts. It was on the charts for 40 weeks.

Jim Keller goes along with this version. In the clip of VH1's "One Hit Wonders" on on the band's site (in the "news" section), he says, "There really wasn't a 'Jenny;' you know, there were Jennys around, but there wasn't one person and that wasn't really her phone number."

The Access Hollywood clip on their site, however, claims that "the real Jenny was Jim Keller's girlfriend." The mystery goes on.

According to Keller in a recent interview, Tommy Heath makes up different stories about "Jenny" every time he is asked about it. This may explain the confusion.

Jona Denz-Hamilton writes that she knew the Jenny while working as the program director for KLRB in Carmel, California (the band was from the Bay Area when it released the song):

I programmed an AOR format and had contact with a lot of Bay Area bands. A local girl was known to be the "Jenny" of the song. I tended to believe her, since everyone else seemed to. She was a very cute, petite girl with long curly hair—if I remember correctly.... As I remember, she had changed the number or never actually had it.

One thing is for sure, many, many people prank-called (and still call) the number, "driving the phone companies (and their customers) nuts" (snopes.com).

Other Jenny Info

Who has the number now?

16 Jennys in the US

Sandra E., writes that she went "through every area code in the AnyWho.com database and found 16 people across the US who are cursed with this number. One of them is named Jennifer."

But I'm not going to tell you which one.

Four of Them Plumbers

Interestingly, Eric W. of Charlotte, NC writes, that of these 16 people:

There are four 867-5309's in America that are plumbers. What's up with that? I tried to figure out if 867-5309 spelled something cool that had to do with plumbers, but couldn't figure anything out.

That's 25% of Jennys that are Plumbers. I'm not going to give you specifics but one's in Richfield, Minnesota, another in Boston, one in Hazel Crest Illinois, and the last in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

One Norwegian Jenny

Jenny A. in Norway writes:

I just found this song some months ago and can't stop listening to it. My name is Jenny and my first phone number, when I lived in Iceland, was 867-5309!

I only had one Jenny call but then I didn't really know what the guys were laughing at. I only heard, "I saw your name and number on the wall," and then this laughter hehe ;).

This was some years ago when I hadn't heard the song :)

When I found this song I loved it immediatly. Then I saw that the name and the number was the same as mine. Well now isn't that fun ;) I just had to get it out :D.

Jenny Fan Calls 'Em

Another devoted fan has called all the 867-5309s in North America. He has written down what each answerer has said.

"666 the number of the beast"

Dan Perez makes note that the first ever usenet posting mentioning "867-5309" was in January 1983. It asks, "666 the number of the beast: Could the number really be 867-5309?"

Interestingly, or not, the first posting mentioning "876-5309" was ten years later, in July 1993.

867-5309/Jenny Lyrics

(Hey!)

Jenny, Jenny, who can I turn to?
You give me something I can hold onto.
I know you think I'm like, the others before
Who saw your name and number on the wall.

Chorus:
Jenny, I've got your number
I need to make you mine.
Jenny, don't change your number
Eight six seven five three oh nine (eight six seven five three oh nine)
Eight six seven five three oh nine (eight six seven five three oh nine)

Jenny, Jenny
You're the girl for me
You don't know me but you make me so happy.
I tried to call you before, but I lost nerve;
I tried my imagination, but I was disturbed.

Chorus

I got it (I got it) I got it,
I got your number on the wall.
I got it (I got it) I got it,
For a good time,
For a good time call.

*Instrumental Break*

(HEY!)