In the grand scheme of things, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m a bit weird when it comes to remembering inane bits of trivia and assorted episodes from my past. I remember people much better than they remember me, and it can be rather alarming when I can spew the most minute, trivial details about past encounters when the person in question doesn’t even remember my name. I’ve got a collection of birthdays filed away, mostly for friends whom I haven’t spoken to in years, and I can remember my login name for my very first computer account (back in elementary school, when we used small black-and-white televisions as monitors and connected to the local network by dialing a certain telephone number and placing the receiver in a specially-designed piece of equipment).

I can remember plots from random episodes of 70s television shows, not to mention the names of actors and actress from various shows. In college, no one was more surprised than my roommate S when I was able to quickly name the actress/singer who played the role of Leather Tuscadero on Happy Days, and quite frankly, I’m not surprised that I actually remember how the subject came up. My friend C shares my appreciation for entertainment trivia, and our emails often incorporate these useless tidbits of knowledge to evoke memories and provoke raucous laughter on a regular basis (though chances are, no one else will get the joke but us…).

I’m also good at remembering numbers, whether it be dates, addresses, telephone numbers (a skill that’s deteriorated with the advent of the cellular phone, of course), and so on. I can still remember my grandmother’s phone number in Brooklyn, though the number hasn’t been in service since 1984 or so, and I remember the phone numbers of some of my old neighbors in the town where I grew up. I can reel off my aunt and uncle’s home address and phone number as necessary. Like many of my peers, I’ve memorized the mailing address for Zoom (that’s 350, Boston, Mass, 02134), but I’m not sure that I can recite it without actually singing it as the Zoom kids did. I can also still do Bernadette’s butterfly – can you?

Of course, for those of us who grew up in the 80s, there’s one telephone number that none of us are ever likely to forget, belonging to a certain young lady named Jenny. Thanks to Tommy Tutone, an overwhelming number of telephone calls were made to increasingly frustrated individuals in a variety of area codes whose greatest misfortune was to have the phone number 867-5309.

867-5309/Jenny
Tommy Tutone

Jenny Jenny who can I turn to
you give me something I can hold on to
now you think I’m like the others before
who saw you name and number on the wall

Jenny I got your number
I need to make you mine
Jenny don’t change your number
867-5309, 867-5309, 867-5309, 867-5309

Jenny Jenny your the girl for me
you don’t know me, but you make me so happy
I tried to call you before but I lost the nerve
I tried my imagination but I was disturbed

Jenny I got your number
I need to make you mine
Jenny don’t change your number
867-5309, 867-5309, 867-5309, 867-5309

I got it, I got it, I got your number on the wall
I got it, I got it, for a good time, for a good time call

Jenny don’t change your number
I need to make you mine
Jenny I got your number
867-5309, 867-5309, 867-5309, 867-5309

Jenny Jenny who can I turn to (867-5309)
for the price of a dime I can always turn to you

Comments

comments

5 Comments