867-5309/Jenny

"867-5309/Jenny"
Single by Tommy Tutone
from the album Tommy Tutone 2
B-side"Not Say Goodbye"
Written1981
ReleasedNovember 16, 1981 (1981-11-16)
Genre
Length3:45
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Tommy Tutone singles chronology
"Angel Say No"
(1980) 		"867-5309/Jenny"
(1981) 		"Get Around Girl"
(1983)
Music video
"867-5309/Jenny" on YouTube

"867-5309/Jenny" is a song by American rock band Tommy Tutone. It was released as a single on November 16, 1981. It peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Rock Top Tracks chart in April 1982. The song led to a fad of prank calling the number 867-5309 and asking for "Jenny".[6][7]

Bruce Springsteen's 2007 single "Radio Nowhere" has a set of guitar riffs at the beginning that are similar to "867-5309/Jenny". The lyrics and the tone of the two songs are quite different. Tommy Heath has stated he had no interest in suing. If anything, he felt "really honored at a similarity, if any".[8]

Creation

Lead guitarist Jim Keller has 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."[9]

Tommy Tutone lead singer Tommy Heath stated on the WGN Morning News that the number was real. He said 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.[10]

In a June 2004 interview with Songfacts, co-writer Alex Call explained the song's real origins. "There was no Jenny. "I was just trying to write a 4-chord Rock song and it just kind of came out." He added that "Tommy Tutone's been using the story for years that there was a Jenny and she ran a recording studio and so forth. It makes a better story but it's not true. That sounds a lot better than I made it up under a plum tree in my backyard."

In the song's music video, the "Jenny" character is played by Karen Elaine Morton.[11]

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1982) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[12] 22
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[13] 2
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[14] 32
US Billboard Hot 100[15] 4
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[16] 1
US Cash Box Top 100[17] 5

Year-end charts

Chart (1982) Rank
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[18] 20
US Billboard Hot 100[19] 16
US Cash Box Top 100[20] 38

References

  1. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the 80's, Vol. 5 - Various Artists | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  2. ↑ Adams, Bret. "Tutone.rtf - Tommy Tutone | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  3. ↑ "World Series Showdown: Music of Detroit vs San Francisco". Billboard. October 24, 2012. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  4. ↑ Billboard Staff (October 19, 2023). "The 500 Best Pop Songs: Staff List". Billboard. Retrieved February 10, 2024. The power-pop gem that turned seven digits' worth of bathroom graffiti into the catchiest (and most-pranked) phone number of the 1980s.
  5. ↑ Breihan, Tom (June 5, 2024). "David Lee Roth Shared A Random Acoustic Cover Of "867-5309/Jenny"". Stereogum. Retrieved September 2, 2024.
  6. ↑ "Did the Song 'Jenny' Produce a Flood of Calls to 867-5309?". Urban Legends Reference Pages. November 10, 2000. Archived from the original on September 12, 2012. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  7. ↑ LaMarca, Stephen (July 24, 2011). "Jenny 867-5309 Won't Lead to Jenny". The Hudson Reporter. p. 3. Archived from the original on February 3, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  8. ↑ Horowitz, Carl F. "Sue Me, Sue You: Musical 'Plagiarism' in Court". National Legal and Policy Center. Archived from the original on May 24, 2008. Retrieved November 23, 2008.
  9. ↑ Bricker, Rebecca (May 31, 1982). "Tommy Tutone's Got Your Number—if It's 867-5309—as America Dials Up a Musical Party Line". People. Vol. 17, no. 21. pp. 34–38. Archived from the original on June 4, 2009. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  10. ↑ Tutone, Tommy (March 28, 2008). "Tommy Tutone '867-5309/Jenny' Live". WGN Morning News. Chicago: WGN-TV. Retrieved September 1, 2011 – via YouTube.
  11. ↑ "The Girl in the Video: "867-5309/Jenny" (1981)". noblemania.com. Noblemania.
  12. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. Australian Chart Book, St Ives, N.S.W. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  13. ↑ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 6491." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
  14. ↑ "Tommy Tutone – 867-5309/Jenny". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  15. ↑ "Tommy Tutone Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  16. ↑ "Tommy Tutone Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  17. ↑ "Cash Box Top 100 Singles – Week ending May 22, 1982". Cash Box Magazine. May 22, 1982. Archived from the original on September 21, 2012. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
  18. ↑ "Top 100 Singles of 1982". RPM. Vol. 37, no. 19. December 25, 1982. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
  19. ↑ "Top 100 Hits of 1982/Top 100 Songs of 1982". Music Outfitters. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
  20. ↑ "Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles". Cash Box. December 31, 1982. Archived from the original on September 21, 2012. Retrieved July 14, 2018.

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