‘9 to 5’: The iconic Dolly Parton sleeper hit that initially failed to break the top 40
In 1980, Dolly Parton created one of the most important roles of her career, starring in her debut film, 9 to 5, alongside two of Hollywood’s leading feminists: Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.
The film follows three working women who kidnap their boss and run things their way – all in an effort to quash his “sexist, egotistical” ways and to encourage equal opportunities for women in the workplace. A move that significantly boosted Parton’s career, 9 to 5 was so popular it even sparked a television offshoot and a Broadway show, with songs written by Parton that would come to define her entire career.
The obvious one, ‘9 to 5’, carried all the same messages, with Parton singing about the daily grind of working tirelessly, only to face diminishing returns. The song’s achievements also reflect many of the film’s themes, including the fact that it made Parton only the second woman to top the Billboard Hot 100 and the country singles chart with the same single, and its broader cultural positioning as a feminist anthem against exploitation.
On top of that, Parton’s main inspiration for the song wasn’t solely the problematic inequalities it stemmed from, but rather a more unsuspecting culprit that somehow still serves the song’s purpose: her nails. At the time, she had long acrylic nails and realised that, when she clicked them together, it made an oddly addictive percussionist-type rhythmic sound.
Anyone who’s ever had acrylic nails will understand the satisfaction of creating that familiar typewriter-clicking sound, and Parton used this not only to get into the mindset of playing someone working as a secretary in a man’s world, but also in the studio, where she recorded the sound over the song’s drums to create that upbeat, cracking rhythm you hear on the track.
One of its defining lyrics, “Pour myself a cup of ambition”, also sparked a lightbulb moment for Parton the first time she came up with it, when she already knew it would follow her “through the years”, sowing the seeds for what would eventually become a quintessential piece of wordplay set to the soundtrack of her clicking nails in a hotel in Bel-Air.
Most of the lyrics came together that way – with Parton giving space to her everyday musings, like tumbling out of bed and stumbling to the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee. “Sometimes when those lines come, you just think, ‘Oh my goodness, that is so good. I’m so proud of myself,” she later told Mojo. “And then of course, many things spiritual-based, I always look up and say, ‘Hey, thank you, Lord. I like that one.'”
However, as history tells us, timing is a strange beast. Upon its release in November 1980, Parton’s ‘9 to 5’ struggled somewhat, reaching number one in the US only once its film counterpart bolstered its popularity in January 1981. Over in the UK, things were worse – and ‘9 to 5’ peaked at number 47 on the UK singles chart, likely due to cultural factors, but also because Parton seemed to experience higher volatility in the UK, where often her sales figures overseas didn’t always seem proportionate to her obvious popularity.
Nevertheless, the song remains one of her most iconic, cited in countless spaces in different cultures, with its original message still very much intact. Success in those early stages might have appeared a little messy and fragmented, but its lasting appeal speaks for itself. After all, ask anybody anywhere about Parton today, and, likely, they’ll immediately conjure up the chorus to ‘9 to 5’.
