On this day (November 17) in 1980, Dolly Parton released the album 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs. The album, which also served as the soundtrack for 9 to 5. The LP and two of its singles topped the country chart. Additionally, “9 to 5” became Parton’s only solo No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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After finding consistent success on the country chart in the mid-1970s, Parton began aiming for crossover hits. As a result, much of her output from the second half of the decade leaned heavily into pop arrangements and production styles. 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs, however, saw her return to a more stripped-down country sound.
Interestingly, the return to her roots brought Parton her biggest crossover hit. “9 to 5,” the film’s theme song and the album’s lead single, topped the country chart for a week. It also reached No. 1 on the Hot 100, where it stayed for two weeks. It was her first and only solo single to reach the top of the all-genre survey. “Islands in the Stream,” her duet with Kenny Rogers, topped the chart three years later.
Dolly Parton Wrote “9 to 5” on the Set
9 to 5 marked Dolly Parton’s acting debut. She also recorded the movie’s soundtrack. She wrote the movie’s theme song, which became one of her biggest hits, while working on the movie. While on set, she found that she could click her acrylic nails together, replicating the sound of a typewriter. Later, he used the sound as part of the song’s percussion.
“I would watch things going on on the set. At night, I would go back to the Hotel Bel Air. I would get my guitar, and I would start putting pieces together,” Parton recalled. “I would work on songs, clicking my nails on a typewriter,” she added.
“I had just made myself some coffee, because I was going to spend two or three hours working on the song,” Parton said. “I remember saying, ‘Tumble out of bed, and stumble to the kitchen.’ What else you doing? I looked at my coffee cup and thought, ‘I pour myself a cup of ambition,’” she added, explaining how she penned the song’s opening lines.
Featured Image by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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