In November of 1980, Dolly Parton released what would become a No. 1 crossover hit and a beloved signature track, making history behind Jeannie C. Riley, a country one-hit wonder whose song Parton had covered years earlier on her third studio album, In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad). Fittingly, Parton’s song helped push along the shifting narrative started by artists like Riley and Loretta Lynn. Unlike their heartbroken and forlorn counterparts, these types of songs saw women taking back their voice and advocating for themselves.
Indeed, “The Pill” and “Harper Valley P.T.A.” walked so songs like Parton’s 1980 smash hit, “9 to 5”, could run. Like the songs that came before hers, Parton’s working-class anthem elevated women’s voices in a way that was as empowering as it was catchy. The country star wrote her song about “a way to make a livin’” for the comedy film of the same name. Parton starred in the film as Doralee Rhodes, alongside Jane Fonda as Judy Bernly and Lily Tomlin as Violet Newstead.
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“9 to 5” has become a staple of Parton’s catalogue and an important milestone in country music history. When her track topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs chart, Parton became the second woman to achieve such great crossover success. Jeannie C. Riley was the first.
The Beauty of How Dolly Parton Wrote Her No. 1 Hit From 1980
At a time when more and more women were ditching traditional housewife roles and entering the workforce, Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” spoke to the uniquely female experience of working in a patriarchal society. The plight of a worker bee versus the wealthy boss is one thing. The plight of a worker bee whose superiors sexualize and belittle them is another altogether.
In what could only be seen as a beautiful coincidence, Parton used her acrylic nails as a percussion instrument to write without access to a guitar or piano while on the set of the comedy film, after which she named her song. This ingenious way of songwriting was yet another example of Parton using female stereotypes (and, in this case, beauty standards) to celebrate and empower working women everywhere. The country music icon described the process of writing “9 to 5” during a 2017 appearance on Harry Connick Jr.’s show, Harry.
“I would go home at night after being on the set all day, and I would just write whatever I saw,” she explained. “Then, I’d put it all together when I went home. Of course, you try to think of what working people do. What do you do? You just tumble out of bed, and you run to the kitchen, get a cup of ambition, which is one of my favorite lines. It just came, and I went, ‘Yes, thank you, Lord, for that one! That’s a good one!’” Everyone else seemed to think so, too. In addition to topping multiple charts in the States, “9 to 5” reached the Top 10 in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, throughout Europe, and South Africa.
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