"867-5309/Jenny" is a 1981 song written by Alex Call and Jim Keller and performed by Tommy Tutone that was released on the album Tommy Tutone 2, on the Columbia Records label. It peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #16 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart in May 1982 (see 1982 in music).
The song caused a fad of people dialing 867-5309 and asking for "Jenny".
Creation
Lead guitarist Jim Keller, interviewed by People in 1982, said "Jenny is a regular girl, not a hooker. Friends of mine wrote her name and number on a men's room wall at a bar. I called her on a dare, and we dated for a while. I haven't talked with her since the song became a hit, but I hear she thinks I'm a real jerk for writing it."
On March 28, 2008, Tommy Tutone lead singer Tommy Heath stated on the WGN Morning News that the number was real and it was the number of a girl he knew. As a joke, he wrote it on a bathroom wall in a motel where they were staying. "We laughed about it for years," he said.
"There was no Jenny," songwriter Alex Call told a Tampa, Florida, columnist in June 2009. "The number? It came to me out of the ether."
In the music video, the "Jenny" character is played by Karen Elaine Morton.
How To Get An 800 Number For Your Business Video
Covers
The song "Jenny" has been covered by a number of artists, including Everclear, Foo Fighters, Less Than Jake, Bracket, Crease, the Goo Goo Dolls and Nirvana.
In 2003 singer-songwriter Mark Weigle included the song on his album Different and the Same. Weigle changed the title to "867-5309 Jimmy".
Popularity and litigation
The song, released in late 1981, initially gained popularity on the American West Coast in January 1982; many who had the number soon abandoned it because of unwanted calls.
"When we'd first get calls at 2 or 3 in the morning, my husband would answer the phone. He can't hear too well. They'd ask for Jenny, and he'd say 'Jimmy doesn't live here any more.' (...) Tommy Tutone was the one who had the record. I'd like to get hold of his neck and choke him."
Asking telephone companies to trace the calls was of no use, as Charles and Maurine Shambarger (then in West Akron, Ohio at +1-216-867-5309) learned when Ohio Bell explained "We don't know what to make of this. The calls are coming from all over the place." A little over a month later, they disconnected the number and the phone became silent.
In some cases, the number was picked up by commercial businesses or acquired for use in radio promotions.
- In 1982, WLS radio obtained the number from a Chicago woman, receiving 22,000 calls in four days.
- In 1982, Southwest Junior High School received up to two hundred calls daily asking for Jenny in area code 704.
- Brown University obtained the +1-401-867 prefix in 1999, assigning 867-5309 to a student dormitory room which was promptly inundated with nuisance calls. In 2002 the university transferred the number to Gem Plumbing & Heating, a local business in Lincoln, Rhode Island. Gem began using the number in advertising campaigns both in Rhode Island and in eastern Massachusetts (area code 617), trademarking the number in 2005.
- A February 2004 auction for the number in a New York City area code was shut down by eBay after objections from Verizon; bidding had reached $80,000. The US Federal Communications Commission takes the position that most phone numbers are "public resources" that "are not owned by carriers or their customers" but did not rule out the number being sold as part of a business.
- A subsequent February 2004 auction for the number in area code 800 and 888 listed Jeffrey Steinberg's Philadelphia business JSS Marketing for sale, including both numbers as part of the bundle. This circumvents eBay restrictions which prevent selling the numbers on their own.
- In 2004, Weehawken, New Jersey resident Spencer Potter picked up the number for free after discovering to his surprise that it was available in the 201 area code, hoping it would improve his DJ business. Unable to handle the overwhelming volume of calls, he sought to sell the number on eBay in February 2009. Although bids reached $1 million, his inability to confirm the identity of the bidders led him to sell it privately to Retro Fitness, a gym franchise with a location in Secaucus, New Jersey that felt the 1980s origin of the number tied in perfectly with their business's retro theme.
- In 2006, Benjamin Franklin Franchising, a large national plumbing franchise, began using a toll-free version of the number (+1-866-867-5309), which it advertises as "867-5309/Benny". In 2007, Gem Plumbing & Heating brought suit against Clockwork Home Services, the parent company of Benjamin Franklin Franchising, alleging a violation of its trademark. Clockwork contended that Gem's trademark was invalid. Effective in May 2007, Clockwork was ordered by a court to stop using the number in New England. As of 2011 +1-866-867-5309 remains in the hands of Benjamin Franklin Franchising as a valid method of reaching BFF customer support. According to Tommy Heath, lead singer of Tommy Tutone, "It's ridiculous. If I wanted to get into it, I could probably take the number away from both of them."
- In 2009, nutrition firm Natrient LLC leased +1-800-867-5309 from 5309 Partners Ltd for $25 million as part of a radio ad campaign.
- In July 2009, Jason Kaplan had the number assigned to a Vonage phone line in the name of a small business in area code 267 and then listed the entire business for sale on eBay. The auction closed at $5,500. Whereas telephone numbers are the legal property of the wireline carrier, the logic behind this company and several others was that Vonage as a VOIP provider did not own the numbers, making them open for sale, with eBay being the typical medium.
- When area code 855 was opened in 2010, +1-855-867-5309 was taken in the first 47 seconds on the first day, while Pennsylvania 6-5000 was assigned on the twenty-first day. A captive RespOrg "Voice Box International", controlled by the same people who operate "5309 Partners" and "Five309 LLC", also reserved +1-844-867-5309 in the first few seconds after that area code's December 7, 2013 opening. In January 2013, Five309 LLC announced plans to use 855-867-5309 and 888-867-5309 to promote website JennySearch.com but as of 2013 that site is not being actively updated.
- In 2011, Alex Call's biography 867-5309 Jenny, the Song That Saved Me used the number in its title.
- Associate Justice Elena Kagan's opinion in the unanimous 2013 Supreme Court case American Trucking Associations v. Los Angeles uses the number as a hypothetical placard on each truck inviting calls with safety or environmental complaints.
- In 2013, the number was still ringing up fifty misdialled calls daily for Florida realtor Carrie Routt in area code 850.
In the Family Guy episode Road to Rhode Island, Stewie tries to reach an operator. The only number he can think of is 867-5309, before saying "Wait a minute, that's not it. Damn you, Tommy Tutone!"
In episode seven of the seventh season of Parks and Recreation, a hungover Leslie Knope realizes that she called 867-5309 a hundred times in order to reach Jen Barkley. Later, Jen plays back one of Ben's drunken calls to her and in the background you can hear Leslie singing the song to which Jen replies "I love that song!"
A study on the security of numerical passwords in 2012 revealed that 8675309 is the fourth most common 7-digit password, speculating that it is easy to remember because of the popularity of this song, despite being otherwise fairly random (as opposed to the #1 most common 7-digit password: 1234567). On Microsoft's WebTV (in standby mode) 8675309 is a hidden code which causes the unit to call Microsoft for firmware updates. 8675309 is prime, and is part of a twin prime pair.
An October 2011 WBTV local newscast reported that a majority of retail loyalty programs which use the client's local telephone number alone as an identifier showed 867-5309 as registered and eligible for point-of-sale discounts.
In 2011, the Mayo Clinic released a public service announcement "Jenny please watch your numbers, Blood pressure, lipids and BMI", as an online music video which used portions of the 1982 original, including the number.
Jenny's constant has been defined by mathematicians as (sequence A182369 in OEIS),
Springsteen controversy
Singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen's popular single "Radio Nowhere" features a set of guitar riffs at the beginning that many fans considered particularly similar to "867-5309/Jenny", although the lyrics and the tone of the two songs are quite different. Heath said in response, tongue-in-cheek, "the kids do need braces so maybe I will [sue Springsteen for musical plagiarism]". Heath clarified later on that he had no actual intention whatsoever of taking action and that he felt "really honored at a similarity, if any". Both songs were released on Columbia Records.
Chart performance
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