867-5309/Jenny

"867-5309/Jenny"
Single by Tommy Tutone
from the album Tommy Tutone 2
B-side	"Not Say Goodbye"
Released	November 16, 1981
Format	7-inch vinyl
Recorded	1981
Genre	Rock
Length	3:47
Label	Columbia 02646
Writer(s)	Alex Call Jim Keller
Certification	Gold (RIAA)
Tommy Tutone singles chronology
"Angel Say No" (1980) "867-5309/Jenny" (1981) "Get Around Girl" (1983)

"867-5309/Jenny" is a 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 #1 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart in 1982 (see 1982 in music).^[1] Co-writer Call came up with both "Jenny" and the telephone number and completed the song with Keller.^[2]

The song caused a fad of people dialing 867-5309 and asking for "Jenny".^[3][4]

Creation

"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."^[5] However, 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.^[6]

Covers

The song Jenny has been covered by a number of artists, including Everclear, Foo Fighters, Less Than Jake, Mötley Crüe, Green Day, Bracket, Crease, Blink 182, Jenny's Gentleman, and the Goo Goo Dolls.

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

• Brown University, which in 2002 owned the number in the 401 area code, transferred the number to Gem Plumbing & Heating,^[7] 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). Gem trademarked the number in 2005.

• 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.^[4]

• In 2006, Benjamin Franklin Franchising, a large national plumbing franchise, began using a toll-free version of the number (+1-866-867-5309). In 2007, Gem 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. Currently (as of July 1, 2011), +1-866-867-5309 is back in the hands of Benjamin Franklin Franchising and is considered a valid method of reaching BFF customer support.^[8][9]

• In July 2009, a Pennsylvania company had the number assigned to a Vonage phone line in the name of a small business, and then listed the entire business for sale on eBay.^[10] Whereas telephone numbers are the legal property of the wireline carrier, so 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.^[11][12]

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".^[13]

Chart performance

Other media references

The 1996 video game Duke Nukem 3D featured an appearance of the phone number above a urinal in an early level of the game.^[14] The same game's 2011 sequel, Duke Nukem Forever also included the same gag 15 years later again above a urinal in a bathroom however it included the name Jenny and not just the phone number.

The 2000 video game MDK2 also included a reference to the song, where an alien invasion is reported to take place in sector 8675309 of the planet Earth, which happened to be Edmonton, Alberta.^[15]

In the Family Guy episode "Road to Rhode Island", Stewie attempts to call Lois and remembers the number to be 867-5309. When he realizes his error, he shouts, "Damn you, Tommy Tutone!"

In the game Deus Ex, the longest keypad in the game (using 7 characters) has the code "8675309."

In the game EverQuest, the developers included a breastplate called "Jenniy's Two-tone Cuirass" whose stat boosts were "STR: +8 DEX: +6 STA: +7 CHA: +5 WIS: +30 INT: +9."^[16]

On the ABC Family Original Series Greek, 8675309 was "Cappie's" test subject number for a physics project to make quick money.

On the science fiction television show Eureka, when the research facility Global Dynamics changes directors, the new director enters her pass-code as "8675309" (which also traces out a diagonal pattern on the keypad).

In the game Heroes of Might and Magic II, "8675309" is a cheat code that removes the fog of war.

Referenced in xkcd #1047: Approximations ^[17] as "Jenny's Constant". Evaluated to seven digits of precision, Jenny's Constant is 867.5309.

See also

• Fictitious telephone number

References

External links

• 867-5309/Jenny at Allmusic