Tag: 9 to 5

Big Hair, Big Heart, Big Personality and A Very Big Songbook: RIP Dolly Parton

I’ve now had many days to process this one, but I still can’t quite come to terms with a world that no longer has Dolly Parton in it. We all know that many of the music stars of our youth are now on borrowed time, but when it came to, “Who might be next?” I just didn’t think it would be Dolly. Perhaps it was because she never seemed to age (she was happy to admit the minute anything sagged or drooped, she had it nipped and tucked), but also because she was such a glittering force of nature, it was inconceivable that something mortal, like cancer, could take her away from us. But no more of that, suffice to say I don’t think anyone will ever have the world lit up in pink again when they pass. She truly was one of a kind.


As for this blog, I can’t believe I haven’t yet added a category for Dolly on my sidebar as I have written about her no less than four times. Once this one is published I’ll rectify that glaring omission.

I think we all already know Dolly’s story, and if anyone didn’t they certainly will now after the news coverage her death has generated. Ironically I had just finished re-watching her documentary Here I Am on the BBC iPlayer a few days before she passed. I had the telly to myself for once and perhaps because she had recently issued a message to fans about how she’d had heath issues but was now healin’, it jumped out at me. When the news broke on social media about her death I assumed it was a fake story, used as clickbait, but once I switched on the news at 10pm it became very real.

Dolly in the 1970s and Dolly in the 2020s


What I’ve noticed from the news coverage is how much snobbery and rudeness she had to put up with in the early years of her career. The American broadcaster Barbara Walters, when interviewing her, told her she didn’t have to look like that. It’s a wonder Dolly didn’t sock her one. She was a Nashville country music star and if I’m not mistaken that was very much the look of choice for such stars back then, albeit Dolly possibly took it to extreme lengths with the big ’70s wigs. Dolly came from exceptionally humble beginnings and now was her chance to look glamorous, something she had always aspired to. If people like Barbara associated the look with being a dumb blonde, Dolly soon put them right. As she said at the time, she knew she wasn’t dumb and she also wasn’t blonde. In recent decades, although Dolly always poked fun at her appearance, I think she looked just right for the industry she was in – the make-up was a bit more subtle, the wigs a bit less flamboyant and the clothes less showy (although they still had their fair share of rhinestones). I can’t believe we’ll never see her on a chat show sofa again.

It’s hard to sum up the many talents and achievements of Dolly Parton so I’m not going to try. Instead I’m going to leave it to this lovely lady, Pink, who gave a beautiful speech when she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022. Pink also performed Jolene with her, along with many other stars from the world of music (and Simon Le Bon). Dolly at this point was aged 76.

Jolene by Dolly Parton:


Although Dolly enjoyed a remarkable Billboard Chart career spanning almost five decades, she didn’t ever reach the No. 1 spot on either the Official UK Singles Chart or Official UK Albums Chart. What were we thinking? She came closest with the studio album Blue Smoke which was released around the time of her celebrated 2014 Glastonbury appearance. The UK version also included a “Best Of Dolly Parton” bonus disc which probably was the draw. It made the No. 2 spot on the Album Chart. Among her most enduring songs, Jolene was the only one to reach the Top 10 although that may change as both it and 9 To 5 have re-entered the Singles Chart as of yesterday.

9 To 5 by Dolly Parton:


Talking of 9 To 5, it came from the 1980 film of the same name and how bizarre that my last post around here was about a bunch of blonde, high-heeled secretaries who turned out to be a lot smarter than their male counterparts gave them credit for. That personal story was from the mid-1980s so maybe Dolly’s character in the film, Doralee, had given us the confidence to take on the men at their own game. To think I shared that a day before the news broke that she had died. Did I have a premonition?

But before I end there will have to be some more music. Over the last few days the songs most associated with her have been shared widely, but there have also been a few I wasn’t aware of before, that have made me smile. Her first single to reach the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Country Chart was Joshua, released in 1970. The song is about an adventurous young girl who dares to visit the little rundown shack of a rural recluse, who has a reputation for being mean and hostile. As it turns out she finds that he is quite the opposite and ends up living in his shack with him. A fun story song written by Dolly.


The next song, Little Sparrow, was the title track from one of the three bluegrass albums she recorded at the turn of the millennium. Dolly had continued to reinvent herself over the years and it made total sense for her to return to the kind of music that was very much part of her upbringing in the Great Smokey Mountains of East Tennessee. It’s a gentle beauty.


So, we are now living PD – post Dolly. I still can’t quite get my head round it. She is leaving behind so much however. All those songs, the films, her theme park, her Imagination Library and the Dollywood Foundation. Managed properly, her humanitarian work will continue for decades to come. Her husband of 60 years died only last year and despite never appearing with her at public events, they sound as if they were a very close couple. Tough to get over something like that and keep your health intact.

Until next time, a fitting picture from Lucy Claire Illustration. Dolly, you will be sorely missed.


Joshua Lyrics
(Song by Dolly Parton)

Well a good ways down the railroad track
There was this little old rundown shack
And in it lived a man I’d never seen
Folks said he was a mean and a vicious man
And you better not set foot on his land
I didn’t think nobody could be that mean

So I took me out walking down the railroad track
I was a-gonna go down to that little old shack
And just find out if all them things I’d heard was true
There was a big black dog laying out in the yard
And it growled at me and I swallowed hard
And I heard somebody say well who are you

Oh and there he stood in the door of that shack
His beard and his hair was long and black
And he was the biggest man I’d ever seen
When he spoke his voice was low and deep
But he just didn’t frighten me
‘Cause somehow I just knew he wasn’t mean

He said what you doing snooping ’round my place
And I saw a smile come across his face
So I smiled back and I told him who I was
He said come on in and pull you up a chair
You might as well since you already here
And he said you can call me Joshua

Joshua Joshua
Whatcha doing living here all alone
Joshua Joshua
Ain’t you got nobody to call your own
No no no no

We talked ’til the sun was clean out of sight
And we still talking when it come daylight
And there was just so much we had to say hey
I’d spent my life in an orphan’s home
And just like him I was all alone
So I said yeah when he asked if I’d stay

Oh we grew closer as time went on
And that little old shack it was a happy home
And we just couldn’t help but fall in love
That big black dog and that little old shack
Sitting down by the railroad track
It’s plenty good enough for me and Joshua

Joshua Joshua
Why you’re just what I’ve been looking for
Joshua Joshua
You ain’t gonna be lonesome anymore
No no

Yodel-a-he-ho

Me and Joshua
Me and Joshua
Me and Joshua yeah yeah
Me and Joshua

A Return to Live Theatre, Dolly Parton and the Legacy of ‘9 to 5’

Last time I wrote a bit of a frivolous post about people in the music business with very ‘big’ hair, inspired by the fact my own locks are currently proving troublesome (damp winter weather I think). It didn’t take long for me to get to Dolly Parton, as although in today’s world her look could almost be seen as understated, back in the 1970s her blousy, blonde wigs did raise a few eyebrows.

Dolly then and Dolly now

I was probably also drawn to Dolly because last week I had my first time back in our local theatre since before the pandemic. If you live in the far north of Scotland, the opportunities to see a West End show are limited indeed, so if a production comes to us, it feels only right we should support it.

My friend and I had bought tickets for Dolly’s stage musical 9 to 5 nearly two years ago, but after having been postponed twice, this time the show actually went ahead. Sadly the friend I should have been going with has not been well for some time, another victim not of the virus, but of one of the many side-effects of the pandemic itself. I wish her well and hope she is back to her old self soon, but in the meantime she very magnanimously said I could give her ticket to another. In the end it wasn’t easy, as some of us are still nervous about attending mass gatherings and no-one relished the prospect of wearing a mask throughout the show, but quite appropriately an old colleague from my days of working in offices said she’d love to come.

I went to see the film 9 to 5 when it first came out back in 1980. It was the first time Dolly had appeared on the big screen and just as with everything else she turns her hand to, she rose to the challenge beautifully, and ended up winning several awards, both for her acting and for the title song. The film was the brainchild of fellow 9 to 5 actor Jane Fonda, and she wanted it to be a comedy rather than a preachy, feminist drama, in order to get the message across more subtly. If you’ve never seen it, the basic premise is that three very capable women live out their fantasies of getting even with, and overthrowing, the company’s ‘autocratic, sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot’ boss (the full gamut). They show you can run an office without a boss, but you can’t run an office without the secretaries.

9 to 5 by Dolly Parton:


To be honest I think I just took it at comedic face value first time around and I hadn’t yet stepped foot in a working office to know how things were anyway. Watching the stage show last week, in 2021, I was blown away by how much things have changed over the decades. Just possibly, the empowerment given to female office workers back in 1980 via the film, kickstarted the revolution that led to equal pay for equal work, flexible working, job-share schemes and so on. I know it was well underway by the time I joined the workforce, and by the time I had DD, the opportunity to work part-time or flexibly was firmly in place.

It’s not lost on me that since the pandemic, most people now seem to work from home, and a return to the 9 to 5-style office will probably never happen again, but I really appreciate that I entered (and left) the workplace at probably just the right time. Coincidentally, C over at Sun Dried Sparrows recently shared some job adverts from 1975 which were a real eye-opener. As I say, we’ve come a long way.

An unexpected surprise for me at last week’s show was that Dolly herself appeared on stage, albeit via a big screen. She wrote all the songs for the musical but is also the narrator. In her inimitable style, she gives us many ‘Dollyisms’ and also sings 9 to 5. It was a fun way to break myself back into theatre-going. If you listen carefully to the song’s intro, the clacking typewriter rhythm was devised by running her acrylic fingernails back and forth against one another.

So, ‘What’s It All About?’ – I’m not sure if this is a temporary blip or what, but when I returned to blogging this time last week I was a bit down and admitted to not feeling myself. Turns out she doesn’t even have to bottle it, all you have to do is immerse yourself in Dolly World (as opposed to Dollywood) for 48 hours and your spirits are raised no end. The feedback to my first Dolly post was very positive which shows just how much she is loved and admired. She seems to be a genuinely ‘good’ person who is now putting all her energies into making life better for others, whether it be through scholarships, her Imagination Library, creating local job opportunities, or simply through her music.

There are many, many famous quotes from her out there but I think most of us know them already, so to finish off I’m going to share the address she delivered to students at the University of Tennessee when she received her honorary degree. I think she won over a great many of the sceptical academics that day, and quite rightly so (we’ll ignore Prof Grumpy to her right) – She may be blonde but Dolly is most definitely not dumb. If you scroll through to 3:55 you will get to the point where she passes on some of the wisdom she has used to great effect in her own journey through life. I really hope the graduating students took heed, as they have one helluva fairy godmother in Dolly.

Until next time…

9 to 5 Lyrics
(Song by Dolly Parton)

Tumble out of bed
And stumble to the kitchen
Pour myself a cup of ambition
And yawn and stretch and try to come to life

Jump in the shower
And the blood starts pumpin’
Out on the streets, the traffic starts jumpin’
For folks like me on the job from 9 to 5

Workin’ 9 to 5
What a way to make a livin’
Barely gettin’ by
It’s all takin’ and no givin’

They just use your mind
And they never give you credit
It’s enough to drive you
Crazy if you let it

9 to 5
For service and devotion
You would think that I
Would deserve a fat promotion

Want to move ahead
But the boss won’t seem to let me
I swear sometimes that man is
Out to get me, hmmm

They let you dream
Just a watch ’em shatter
You’re just a step on the boss man’s ladder
But you got dreams he’ll never take away

In the same boat with a lot of your friends
Waitin’ for the day your ship’ll come in
And the tide’s gonna turn
And it’s all gonna roll you away

Workin’ 9 to 5
What a way to make livin’
Barely gettin’ by
It’s all takin’ and no givin’

They just use your mind
And you never get the credit
It’s enough to drive you
Crazy if you let it

9 to 5
Yeah, they got you were they want you
There’s a better life
And you think about it, don’t you?

It’s a rich man’s game
No matter what they call it
And you spend your life
Putting money in his wallet

9 to 5
Oh, what a way to make a livin’
Barely gettin’ by
It’s all takin’ and no givin’

They just use your mind
And they never give you credit
It’s enough to drive you
Crazy if you let it