Sheena Easton enjoyed an extremely successful run throughout the 80s. The Scottish performer just seemed to sense which way tastes were trending with the music that she released. And she managed that without making it seem like a calculated act.
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Her first hit was pop music about as light as it could get. That made sense, considering that she was only beginning her career at the time. Thanks to Easton’s bubbly performance, “Morning Train (Nine To Five)” topped the charts then. And it still holds a significant place in the hearts of many fans today.
Documentary Diva
Barbra Streisand changed the course of Sheena Easton’s life. Even though she had shown singing talent from a young age, she didn’t consider music as a potential career path until she heard Streisand perform the song “The Way We Were.” From that point, she powered forward, full speed ahead.
Interestingly, Easton’s career looks not all that dissimilar from many modern-day divas in that television was involved. Instead of winning her way to fame on a competition show, however, it was a documentary called The Big Time that gave Easton a crucial springboard early in her career.
The show ran in the United Kingdom and highlighted a bunch of young hopefuls trying to make it in the career of their choice. Easton was chosen as an example of someone seeking pop music stardom. Sure enough, she came away with a recording contract from the experience.
By the time the show aired, her first single, “Modern Girl”, had mostly come and gone without making much of an impact. Next up for her was “Morning Train (Nine To Five)”. Sure enough, the stardom that Easton was seen striving for in the documentary soon belonged to her. And, as it would turn out, it ranged much farther afield than the United Kingdom.
Title Complications
“Morning Train (Nine To Five)” had to overcome a bit of weird coincidence to become a worldwide hit for Easton. The songwriter, a British woman named Florrie Palmer, had wanted to record it herself but couldn’t get a bite from record labels. However, one of the producers who heard the song was working with Easton and asked for permission for her to record it.
Unbeknownst to Palmer, when she wrote the song, which was originally titled “9 To 5”, Dolly Parton had written a song of the same name for inclusion in a film she was doing. Since Parton’s song beat it to the shelves, Easton’s record company had to quickly print up copies of her song with the name adjusted to “Morning Train (Nine To Five)”.
Even with that bit of lost momentum, the song took off and eventually hit the top of the charts in America. Palmer became the first British woman to have ever been the sole writer of a US no. 1 pop hit. And Easton’s career was off and running in a big way.
Behind the Lyrics of “Morning Train (Nine To Five)”
The plot of “Morning Train” is a bit quaint, almost like what you would expect from a 50s sitcom. Easton’s heroine pines all day for her man, who spends his day hard at work until he can take that train back to her for their time together. “Night time is the right time,” she exults. “We make love.”
Easton helps to keep the song on track by imbuing it with a sense of innocence. “Only when he’s with me,” she sings. “I catch a light.”
The chorus captures the cyclical feel of the guy’s daily routine, which is mirrored in the way the melody keeps coming around. And Easton belts it with enough urgency to make you root for her character’s nightly reunion.
Sheena Easton’s career took some wild twists from there. This was an artist who scored big hits on duets with Kenny Rogers and Prince, which tells you a little bit about her versatility. “Morning Train (Nine To Five)”, her debut smash, doesn’t dig too deep. But Easton lends it drama and flair enough to render it a winning 80s pop artifact.
Photo by Richard E. Aaron/Redferns
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