# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/21 "2015-03-24T19:10:00Z")
Doesn’t everybody have 10-digit phone numbers now? Nothing would happen if I tried dialing this number here, unless I put our local area code first, in which case I’m trying too hard… ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/22 "2015-03-24T20:47:20Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > 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. Just reading this thread puts you at risk. I was apprehensive about playing my Ipod on rock shuffle this afternoon - I just had a _feeling_ that damn song would come up. Instead, the very first song that played was [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h90Jy1ycB9g). ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/23 "2015-03-24T20:51:13Z")
I have been told that when shopping and you need to get the discounts for being a member, try using Jenny’s number. It seems many people have programmed that into their frequent shopper card. ---
**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, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/24 "2015-03-24T21:43:51Z")
> [@MrSquishy](#): > > Doesn’t everybody have 10-digit phone numbers now? Nothing would happen if I tried dialing this number here, unless I put our local area code first, in which case I’m trying too hard… In many parts of the U.S., including where I live, you don’t need to use the area code in dialing. Seven digits will connect you to any number within the area code. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/25 "2015-03-24T23:39:14Z")
> [@TommyTutone](#): > > Am… am I a zombie? Try calling the Zombie Hotline to find out. Ask for Jenny. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/26 "2015-03-25T03:13:01Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > 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. [QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir’s Wiki link] In 1982, WLS radio obtained the number from a Chicago woman, receiving 22,000 calls in four days. [/QUOTE] I guess they gave it back. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/27 "2015-03-26T20:39:18Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > 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. For a while here in the Dallas/Fort Worth (Texas) area, the number belonged to Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, and the the commercial jingle went to the tune of “Jenny”, with “Benny” replacing “Jenny” and the other lyrics being all plumbing-related. ---
**Author:** ![I-VI-ii-V](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c89c15/32.png) [@I-VI-ii-V](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I-VI-ii-V)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/28 "2015-03-29T03:19:14Z")
> [@Algher](#): > > I have been told that when shopping and you need to get the discounts for being a member, try using Jenny’s number. It seems many people have programmed that into their frequent shopper card. It works in (323) at Vons Market and CVS Pharmacy. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/29 "2015-03-29T04:19:39Z")
Well this isn’t the first song to use a phone number in the lyrics. In the early 1960s The Marvellettes had a hit with **[BEechwood 45789](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us18AUBM2RI)**. Back then phone exchanges had names instead of numbers. And several years later Wilson Pickett had a hit with **[“6345789”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My2apquxKKQ)**\* which was a slightly different number and a much better song IMHO. I’m sure the owners of those particular phone numbers received a good many calls from teenagers as well. \*Recognize the guitar player at 1:40 in the video? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/30 "2015-03-29T11:46:04Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > \*Recognize the guitar player at 1:40 in the video? Nice tune. Easy to guess who the guitarist would be, without seeing the photo, given what I knew of his sideman work. Fun photo. Hendrix ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/31 "2015-03-29T13:13:30Z")
Whenever I am asked for a phone number during a retail transaction, I give them 634-5789. In the Midwest, at least, it usually goes unnoticed. One afternoon I was buying something at Cabela’s the checker was an African American woman about my age. Her response to the number was “Yeah, sure…” but she smiled and entered it. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/32 "2015-03-29T18:16:30Z")
Thanks for bringing up 6345789. Love that song and hadn’t heard it in ages. Just added it to my MP3 library. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/33 "2015-03-29T18:43:22Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > 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. Must have been an earworm for Bruce Springsteen as well. He couldn’t get it out of his head so 26 year after “Jenny” was released, he stole the opening riff and made it his own in his song “Radio Nowhere” . What a tool. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828/34 "2015-03-29T18:54:44Z")
I’ll give [777-9311](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WEAXSIG-40) as a fake telephone number. No one will get it. Not even if you pronounce exactly like Morris Day. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-867-5309-any-story-behind-it/295828.md?page=1)