Song: 9 to 5
Artist: Dolly Parton
Year: 1980
Album: 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs
Language Feature: Fluency and Idioms
Episode Description
English as a Singing Language has created an episode especially for International Workers’ Day on May 1st. We work hard as language teachers and podcasters, and we believe that ALL workers should be paid fairly and work in safe conditions.
We chose the 1980 hit song “9 to 5,” written and sung by Dolly Parton for the film, “9 to 5.” We talk about the descriptive vocabulary and useful idioms that Dolly included in these lyrics, and we celebrate workers all over the world!
Happy International Workers’ Day!!
Episode Transcript
<Intro>
E: Hi! I’m Ece.
H: And I’m Heather.
E: We’re the hosts of the podcast, “English as a Singing Language.”
H: We are both language teachers, and we both love using music to make learning pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and fluency more memorable-
E: -and more fun!
H: Definitely. So, Ece, what is the focus of this song?
E: The song for this episode is a country song, from a movie, from 1980.
H: And this episode is to celebrate International Workers’ Day, right?
E: Yes! May first is celebrated in many countries as May Day or Workers’ Day.
H: And it celebrates how hard workers have had to fight to get fair treatment and fair pay in the workplace.
E: Yes. This song is just perfect for this episode. And it is great for fluency practice.
H: It also has so many great vocabulary words, expressions and idioms.
E: It sure does. I can’t wait to talk about it all.
H: Me neither. Let’s get started.
<end intro>
H: (humming Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5) Hey, Ece. What are we doing in the office on a beautiful day like this?
E: Well, you know a teacher’s work is never done. There are always lessons to plan, workshops to attend, papers to grade, and so many meetings.
H: You’re right. Being a teacher is quite a job, but I love being a language teacher.
E: Me too. Even if it isn’t a traditional 9 to 5 job.
H: You’re right. We spend a lot of evenings and weekends working, not like the traditional 9 am to 5 pm hours that Dolly Parton was singing about in her 1980 hit song, “9 to 5.”
E: That’s the song you were listening to just now! I thought it sounded familiar.
H: Yep. Dolly Parton is an internationally famous country music singer. The song 9 to 5 was actually from the first movie she starred in.
E: So, she’s a singer and an actor? That’s amazing.
H: She’s incredibly talented. In fact, she won a Grammy award for Best Country Song and Best Country Vocal Performance, Female in 1980 for the song 9 to 5.
E: What is the movie about, Heather?
H: The movie is about three women, played by Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, and Lily Tomlin, who work for a terrible boss, played by Dabney Coleman.
E: A typical office situation for the time.
H: Right. The women feel powerless to change their situation, until they join together to kidnap their boss and make demands for a better work environment.
E: So, this song is about workers’ rights, and specifically the rights of women in the workplace.
H: Yes. I saw this movie in 1980 when it came out in the theater, and I can’t express how big of an impact this film made on me. The movie is extremely funny, but it also has a powerful message. For me, as a young girl at that time, it was incredible to see women fighting for respect and equality in the workplace.
E: In fact, Dolly Parton has said, <quote> “I'm not going to limit myself just because people won't accept the fact that I can do something else.”
H: That’s something that everyone needs to hear, I think. We shouldn’t limit ourselves because other people think that we are not able to do something.
E: Agree. And 9 to 5 is the perfect song for this episode. It is all about workers fighting for their rights in the workplace.
H: Exactly. And it also has wonderful vocabulary and idioms and fluency practice.
E: Remember back in Season 2, Episode 4, The Sound of Sunshine?
H: Oh yes! That song has excellent fluency practice. Listeners should definitely go back and check out that episode for some fluency practice if they haven’t already.
E: Listeners, it is going to take you many tries to be able to sing along with this song.
H: But it has a very natural rhythm which makes it good for fluency practice.
E: If you listen carefully, you will hear the sound of a typewriter ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta keeping time in the song.
H: We have to remember that this song is from 1980, so there were no computers in the office - only electric typewriters.
E: So, the song starts, “Tumble out of bed and stumble to the kitchen.” Right away, she is using really great vocabulary. She doesn’t say, “I get out of bed and walk to the kitchen,” right? What do “tumble” and “stumble” mean?
H: Well, a “tumble” is when you fall and roll over and over and “stumble” is when you trip, but you do not fall down. We can picture her, very tired, falling out of bed and kind of walking with heavy feet to the kitchen.
E: I love the next line, “pour myself a cup of ambition.” What a great description. Where do we get our morning ambition for the day?
E + H: Coffee!!
H: Again, she doesn’t say, “pour myself a cup of coffee,” but describes the feeling that coffee gives to us.
E: Exactly. What would we do without coffee?
H: Not much. The next lines go on to describe the rest of her morning getting to work, “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.”
E: You can really hear the rhythm of English in these lines. This is great fluency practice, and there are reductions in the words, “pumpin’” and “jumpin’.” Instead of “pumping” and “jumping.” “Pumpin’” and “jumpin’.”
H: She really describes the busy traffic and people on the sidewalk getting to work.
E: Next comes the refrain, and pay attention to all of the -ing reductions, “Workin' 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin'.”
H: And, “make a living or livin’” means what you do to make money, right?
E: Yes. We make our livin’ as language teachers.
H: And since she says, “What a way to make a livin’” she’s saying that she thinks it’s a difficult or crazy way to make money. It’s a lot of time and effort.
E: Like this morning I had so many crazy terrible things happen to me, so I could say, “Oh! What a way to start the day.”
H: We all have those days. The next line of the refrain is, “Barely gettin' by. It's all takin' and no givin'.” And there’s a phrasal verb “to get by.” What does that mean, Ece?
E: “To get by,” means that you almost didn’t succeed. You succeeded by a very small amount. Like, “I work so hard, but I don’t have a lot of money. I’m barely getting by.”
H: Many workers feel that way. And the last part of the refrain is, “They just use your mind, and they never give you credit. It's enough to drive you crazy if you let it.”
E: Unfortunately, this happens at work sometimes. It happened to the women in the movie, 9 to 5. The boss “uses your mind” or “takes your ideas.”
H: And they don’t give you credit, or acknowledge where the idea came from. For example, Ece, I have to give you 100% credit for coming up with the idea for this podcast. It was a great idea.
E: And I give you credit for coming up with the ideas for episode scripts. We’re a good team.
H: We are. Ok, so the next verse starts, " For service and devotion, you would think that I would deserve a fat promotion.”
E: A “promotion” is when you receive a higher position, a better title and usually more money at your job.
H: I feel like for all of our service and devotion, we deserve a promotion, Ece.
E: Me too! And a big or “fat” promotion, too!
H: Agree! And the next lines are, “Want to move ahead, but the boss won't seem to let me. I swear sometimes that man is out to get me.” So, she wants to move ahead, or advance in her career, but the boss won’t let her.
E: And she thinks he’s “out to get her.” What does it mean to be “out to get someone”?
H: If someone is “out to get you,” it’s not good. It means that they are actively trying to stop you or prevent you from succeeding.
E: For example, your colleague deletes the file you need for a presentation because they don’t want you to succeed.
H: Oh! That’s terrible. That colleague is really out to get you! I am so glad we don’t have any colleagues like that!
E: Me too! The song continues, “They let you dream just a watch 'em shatter.”
H: So, your dream isn’t just broken, it’s shattered into tiny, tiny pieces.
E: And it continues, “You're just a step on the boss man's ladder, but you got dreams he'll never take away.” So, a little hopeful. Some dreams may shatter, but you still have other dreams that nobody can take away.
H: Right. And what’s the “ladder” she’s talking about?
E: Well, literally, a “ladder” is used to climb from a low place to a high place.
H: Like, to climb a ladder up in a tree or up on the roof.
E: Wait a minute, we mentioned the song, “Up on the Roof,” in our previous episode about, “Under the Boardwalk,” by the Drifters. Listeners should go back and check out that episode.
H: That is a good idea! But in this situation, she’s talking about “the corporate ladder.”
E: We think of a person’s career like a ladder. They start at the bottom, and then they get promotions and they move up the ladder as they become more successful.
H: That’s what should happen if you work hard, but it definitely isn’t for Dolly Parton in this song.
E: Or for a lot of other workers. Ok, in the next few lines we have some idioms related to boats or ships.
H: Like in Katy Perry’s song, “Roar”?
E: Yes! She likes to, “rock the boat,” or make trouble, make a mess.
H: And in this song, Dolly Parton sings, “In the same boat with a lot of your friends.”
E: If you’re “in the same boat,” you’re in the same situation, usually a bad situation, as other people.
H: So, the workers in her office are all, “in the same boat.”
E: And they’re, “Waitin' for the day your ship'll come in.”
H: Hmmmmm….What does it mean if my ship comes in?
E: When your ship comes in, it means that you are finally successful.
H: When do you think our ship is gonna come in, Ece?
E: Who knows? Maybe, “English as a Singing Language” will become a hit podcast with millions of listeners, and we can make millions of dollars and retire!
H: Wow! That sounds great, but you and I both know we wouldn’t retire. We’d keep making episodes of the podcast.
E: That’s true. Until then, I guess we’ll have to just keep waiting for our ship to come in!
H: Let’s hope it comes in soon! So, the last idiom in that verse is, “And the tide's gonna turn, and it's all gonna roll you away.”
E: “The tide” refers to how the ocean gets higher and lower over the course of one day.
H: Right. So there is “high tide” when the ocean is high, and “low tide” when the ocean is low.
E: And the tide goes out and at low tide you feel like nothing is going your way. But, the “tide will turn” and come in. The situation you are in will become better.
H: That’s a lot of great idioms about ships and the sea! “to be in the same boat…”
E: “…To wait for your ship to come in…”
H: And, “The tide’s gonna turn.”
E: In the last verse, she sings, “Yeah, they got you where they want you. There's a better life, and you think about it, don't you?
H: If you’ve “got someone where you want them,” what does that mean?
E: It means you are in a position of power. The other person can’t do or say anything. You are in control of the situation.
H: Oh, I see. And that’s how she feels about her boss. She doesn’t have any control over her salary or her working conditions. That’s bad.
E: Yes. The next line is, “It's a rich man's game, no matter what they call it.” I definitely feel like that’s true sometimes.
H: And then, “And you spend your life putting money in his wallet.” It does seem like workers have very hard jobs, but they don’t get much money. The money goes to the boss’s wallet.
E: It does seem like that. So, this song is really describing the situation of the average worker.
H: Particularly, in the case of this song, women in the workplace.
E: We have to keep fighting for better working conditions.
H: I agree. But right now, I think it’s time to sing.
E: Yes! Listeners, there is a link to Dolly Parton’s 1980 hit song, “9 to 5” in the episode notes.
H: Sing along and pay attention to the great vocabulary and idioms.
E: And don’t worry if it takes you several times to be able to sing it fluently. It’s a fast song!
H + E: “We’re working 9 to 5, what a way to make a podcast.”
<outro>
H: Well, Ece, I think we should call it a day. We’ve been here at the office since 9 o’clock.
E: And now it’s almost 5:00. Yes, we should call it a day and go home!
H: I’m so glad we did this song for International Workers’ Day!
E: Yes. Dolly Parton does a great job describing the frustrations and the unfair situations that many workers face.
H: And it’s a great song for learning vocabulary and idioms.
E: And practicing fluency.
H: So, listeners, make sure to like and follow the podcast.
E: Be sure to follow us on Instagram @singinglanguages!
H: You can also check out resources like episode transcripts on the English as a Singing Language website.
E: Until next time, have fun and …
H + E: …just keep singing!
Official YouTube Video of 9 to 5
Complete Lyrics
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
Songwriters: Dolly Parton
9 to 5 lyrics © Velvet Apple Music