Jenny doesn’t live here anymore.
The 1980s one-hit wonder “867-5309/Jenny” was so relentlessly drilled into the heads of MTV viewers that even younger generations know the digits by heart — and that’s good news for cancer patients.
Cancer Support Community has repurposed the catchy number as their national cancer helpline — CSC-867-5309,” the group said this week.
“Some songs don’t need lyrics on the screen,” the group said on Instagram. “Do you know Jenny’s number? The number you and your friends sing at karaoke is now the number for cancer support.”
The csc8675309.com website not only pitches the number but includes a couple of clever radio ads with Tommy Tutone’s hit tune playing in the background.
“Hey, it’s Jenny,” one ad said. “Yeah, that Jenny. People call my number all the time to see who picks up — they were dared, karaoke, bachelor parties, road trips. And I love that you all know my number better than your own mother’s. But it’s time this number did some good.”
Both ads feature “Jenny,” a woman who urges listeners to turn their obsession with the number into something good for a change.
“You guys call me a lot,” she said in the second ad. “Days, nights, weekends, holidays. Any time you hear my number, you call. And it’s always the same: ‘Jenny, who can I turn to?’
“I’m just a girl in a song. But since you have my number memorized better than your social security one, I’m forwarding it to someone who actually wants to be called.”
The promotion is a stroke of genius for CSC — Business Insider last year called it “one of the most famous phone numbers of all time” and named the tune as one of the 56 best one-hit wonders of all time.
It was the only top 25 song for Tommy Tutone, a band founded in California by pals Jim Keller and front man Tommy Heath, who continues to tour under the name.
Heath has explained in a 2020 interview with Forbes that Jenny was not a hooker as some have rumored — but rather a girl he met in a bar, and said “she did give me her number, and I did write on the bathroom wall instead of giving it to” his friend.
The cancer help group now hopes the tune’s staying power can pay off for patients and their families.
