# Jenny - 867-5309... Any story behind it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 23, 2005, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828 "2005-03-23T02:53:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Thylacinewas\_taken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@Thylacinewas\_taken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacinewas_taken)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/1 "2005-03-23T02:53:22Z")
Does anyone know if “Jenny (867-5309)” by Tommy Tutone was based on a true story and if it used Jenny’s real number? Has anyone heard stories of unfortunate people with that number? I saw in the message board history that (one instance of) the number was for sale on Ebay. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/2 "2005-03-23T03:03:15Z")
Snopes: [The Tommy Tutone song “Jenny (867-5309)” drove the phone companies (and their customers) nuts.](http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/8675309.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Thylacinewas\_taken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@Thylacinewas\_taken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacinewas_taken)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/3 "2005-03-23T03:07:40Z")
That answers all of my questions nicely, thank you! Wow… 5 messages a day… I didn’t think that after all these years people would still call it that much. I’m especially surprised that some guys seem to think there’s an easy woman on the other line! ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/4 "2005-03-23T04:17:42Z")
Yeah but arent all of these stories …AFTER it ? ---
**Author:** ![Thylacinewas\_taken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@Thylacinewas\_taken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacinewas_taken)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/5 "2005-03-23T04:54:37Z")
> [@Meeko](#): > > Yeah but arent all of these stories …AFTER it ? I stand corrected. It answers half of my question, and is enough to satisfy me for now. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/6 "2005-03-23T14:57:20Z")
Back when the song came out, I was living in Fort Bragg, NC. From what I was told, that phone number belonged to an elementary school in my area (never dialed it myself…really!). Our phone number at the time was 867-4622. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/7 "2005-03-23T16:04:21Z")
And I really have to wonder whether they have assigned a 530 exchange in _area code_ 867… :: pause :: :: checks [CNAC](http://www.cnac.ca/) site :: Evidently, [no](http://www.cnac.ca/ac867.htm). Fortunately. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/8 "2005-03-23T17:05:46Z")
As was mentioned in the snpopes article, a young woman named Jenny figured she should be allowed to have the phone number. She put **alot** of work into it. I don’t remeber all the details, but here is a reference, not to here, but to the issue. [http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/7957736.htm](http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/7957736.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/9 "2005-03-23T18:33:11Z")
In the Murfreesboro area, 867-5309 gets you a place called Auto Outlet, I think. I read an article a while back about how they enjoy their famous phone number, and like to talk to people who ask for Jenny. i would never think of calling a number like that, it just seems freaky to me. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/10 "2005-03-23T18:50:17Z")
In a book by Peter Gammons, he related a story about a game that the Boston Red Sox were playing once in which the Red Sox scored multiple runs in many innings and the press box people were challenging each other to call the number that the linescore revealed. ---
**Author:** ![Typically\_Sunday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Typically\_Sunday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typically_Sunday)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/11 "2005-03-23T18:52:29Z")
I was watching a short-lived VH1 program awhile back where they explained the stories behind songs and on one episode they did “Jenny”. I’m a little fuzzy on the exact details, but the members of Tommy Tutone said they knew a girl named Jenny who gave them that number. However, they found out after they wrote the song that the number didn’t exactly belong to Jenny… it belonged to Jenny’s parents. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Prize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/12 "2005-03-23T19:11:46Z")
> [@](#): > > Songwriter Alex Call came up with this while sitting under a plum tree. Says Call: “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.” [Songfacts](http://www.songfacts.com/detail.lasso?id=1670) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/13 "2015-03-24T14:29:55Z")
Bumped. The Wiki article, I just saw today, has an interesting account of how a particular phone number can become a commodity: [867-5309/Jenny - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/867-5309/Jenny) ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/14 "2015-03-24T15:33:31Z")
**Moderator Action** Moving thread from General Questions to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/15 "2015-03-24T15:48:25Z")
Way back around 1998-1999, I was working with another guy (both of us in our early 20s) and we decided to call the number. We were rewarded with a lengthy voice mail greeting from what sounded like a youngish woman telling us to fuck off and stop being immature dicks. Which I can’t say she was wrong in that instance. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/16 "2015-03-24T16:00:50Z")
I just called the number for my local exchange. It’s apparently an organization or business of some kind - doesn’t say what - and asks you to enter the name of the person you’re trying to reach. No reference to the song. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/17 "2015-03-24T16:20:02Z")
GAH!! The local middle school band gets taught this damn song every single year and they play it in every damned parade they march in. It’s a horrible earworm. ---
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/18 "2015-03-24T17:24:57Z")
Am… am I a zombie? ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/19 "2015-03-24T17:54:11Z")
There’s a local company here- though damn if I can remember their name or what they do- and they have that number and use the titular line of the song in their commercials. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/20 "2015-03-24T18:51:39Z")
While this is bumped, some trivia: Alex Call, the song’s co-writer, was in the band **Clover** with Hugh Cregg, aka **Huey Lewis** , until the band broke up and Huey formed the News… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828.md?page=2)