Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton wrote "9 to 5" by clicking her acrylic fingernails together like a typewriter while on the film set. She couldn't use her guitar without disrupting production, so she composed the melody from the sound of her nails and refined it each night at the hotel. The film itself was made specifically to support Karen Nussbaum and Ellen Cassedy's labor rights organization for women office workers. RCA Records launched the single across country, pop, and adult contemporary radio simultaneously. According to Nussbaum, the song "just completely changed the debate in the country," with women reporting they refused certain workplace demands after seeing the film.
In our deep dive into 9 to 5, we trace the song from fingernails on a film set to a labor movement anthem, and what it reveals about a writer who found a way to say something serious while making it sound completely effortless.
