"Jenny I've got your number/I need to make you mine/Jenny don't change your number..."
Tommy Tutone is a California pop band best known for their 1981 song "867-5309/Jenny". The band was formed by Tommy Heath and Jim Keller in the late 1970s, and they released three albums in the early 1980s. The band released two more albums in The '90s, and their latest single was released in 2017.
Trope Namer and Trope Maker for Jenny's Number.
Studio discography:
- Tommy Tutone (1980)
- Tommy Tutone-2 (1981)
- National Emotion (1983)
- Nervous Love (1994)
- Tutone.rtf (1998)
Tropes applying to Tommy Tutone's work:
- Arc Number: 867-5309 is Jenny's number, and in the music video 8675309 turns out to be her lover's prison number.
- The Band Minus the Face: Inverted. Tommy Heath is the only original band member on the albums from the 90s.
- Bathroom Stall Graffiti: Jenny's name and number is written is on a bathroom wall. In the music video, however, she gives it to him at a bar.
- Break Up Song: "Not Say Goodbye" is about a guy who pleas for his ex-lover to at least say goodbye before leaving him.
- Freudian Couch: In the music video for "867-5309/Jenny", the person who gets Jenny's number lies down on a couch talking to a therapist with a picture of Sigmund Freud in the background.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: Zig-zagged. Jim Keller and Tommy Heath have stated that "867-5309/Jenny" is based on an actual girl named Jenny who actually did have the phone number 867-5309. However, the songwriter Alex Call says he just made up the phone number and name for the song.
- Repurposed Pop Song: "867-5309/Jenny" is sometimes used as a Phone Number Jingle by those businesses fortunate (or quick) enough to snag the number. Probably the best-known example of this is Benjamin Franklin plumbing services, which actually has a national 1-800 number.Benny's a punctual plumber, get me that Benny on the line. 866, that's his prefix, then 867-5309
- Spelling Song: The chorus of "867-5309/Jenny" is in the same vein of a spelling song.
- Stalker with a Crush: Jenny's lover in the music video, who gets arrested for stalking.
- Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: "867-5309/Jenny" follows "you're the girl for me" with "you make me so happy". Given the stalkerrific nature of the song, one would normally have expected a more lascivious word.
- Telephone Song: "867-5309/Jenny"
- Vanity License Plate: Used on the covers of their albums Tommy Tutone and Tommy Tutone 2. TOMMY acts as the plate's state, and either TUTONE or TUTONE-2 is the vanity message.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Jenny's Number gives the phone number with the exchange-number combination of 867-5309, but it doesn't reference an area code or a country code. Meaning that "Jenny" could be in any country (the US, Canada, many Caribbean countries, or a US territory such as Guam) that uses that phone number format. There's no telling which town or city, county, state, province, or country she's in from the number, though.
