Pennsylvania 6-5000

"Pennsylvania 6-5000" (also written "Pennsylvania Six-Five Thousand") is a 1940 swing jazz and pop standard recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra as a Bluebird 78 rpm single. The music was by Jerry Gray and the lyrics by Carl Sigman.

Many big band musicians played in Hotel Pennsylvania's Cafe Rouge in New York City, including the Glenn Miller Orchestra. "Pennsylvania 6-5000" is the phone number of the Pennsylvania Hotel in New York City. Before area codes, the first two numbers were called the "Exchange Code," and were represented by a word whose first two letters were used as the numbers. Thus, "Pennsylvania" represented the PE exchange code, which translates to the number 73 (P=7, E=3). The number today, complete with area code, is [phone].

Sigman's son Michael writes: "in 1940, Carl came up with 'Pennsylvania 6-5000,' cashing in on the popularity of Café Rouge, a hot nightclub situated in New York City's Hotel Pennsylvania, frequented by Swing Era icons like Goodman, the Dorsey Brothers, Artie Shaw, and Glenn Miller. (Its phone number was, yes, you guessed it.) The Glenn Miller recording—which repeats 'Pennsylvania 6-5-0-0-0' over and over, sometimes at the expense of the clever verses—became a smash hit, reaching the top five on the pop charts. The song was also covered by the red-hot Andrews Sisters, who sang all the verses that other artists omitted. Sixty-five years later, 'Pennsylvania 6-5000' is still a worldwide standard covered by artists from Brian Setzer to Heptet and used in movies from The Glenn Miller Story to Oliver Stone's football flick Any Given Sunday.” The Pennsylvania Hotel, located across the street from Penn Station, closed in 2020 and is being demolished to be replaced by the 68 story Penn Tower.

Pennsylvania 6-5000 by Jerry Gray
Arr S Schultz