9 to 5 (Sheena Easton song)

"9 to 5 (Morning Train)"
Single by Sheena Easton
from the album Take My Time
B-side	"Moody (My Love)"
Released	16 May 1980 (UK) February 1981 (USA)
Format	7"
Recorded	1980
Genre	Synthpop
Length	3:20
Label	EMI
Writer(s)	Florrie Palmer
Producer	Christopher Neil
Certification	Gold Single[1]
Sheena Easton singles chronology
"Modern Girl" (1980) "9 to 5 (Morning Train)" (1980) "One Man Woman" (1980)

"9 to 5" is the title of a popular song written by British songwriter Florrie Palmer and recorded by Sheena Easton in 1980, becoming her biggest hit. It peaked at number three in the United Kingdom in August 1980 and was released in the United States in February 1981 (retitled "Morning Train" to avoid confusion with Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5”), where it reached number one.

Background

Easton had released one single prior to "9 to 5": "Modern Girl". This had failed to chart highly, but after exposure on the BBC documentary, The Big Time, both "9 to 5" and "Modern Girl" were propelled into the top ten at the same time, making her the first female artist to achieve this feat. "9 to 5" became a top three hit and was one of the best-selling singles of the year.^[2]

Early in 1981, EMI Records decided to launch Easton in the US and released "9 to 5" as her debut single. The title of the song was changed to "Morning Train (Nine to Five)" to avoid confusion with the Dolly Parton song of the same name. Easton's song went to #1 on both the U.S. pop and adult contemporary charts; it remained at the top for two weeks on Billboard's pop chart. On Billboard's 1981 year-end charts, it came in as the twelfth-biggest pop and thirteenth-biggest AC hit of the year 1981. It also topped the RPM magazine pop and AC charts in Canada, reigning over the former for two weeks in May 1981.

The song is about a woman who waits at home all day for her man to come home from work. The music video was filmed on the Bluebell Railway, a heritage line running between East and West Sussex in England. The video stars London and South Western Railway No. 488, a preserved LSWR 0415 Class locomotive.

Other versions

Swedish-born Norwegian singer Elisabeth Andreasson covered the song in Swedish, as "Han pendlar varje dag" ("He commutes every day") with the new lyrics by Olle Bergman, on her 1981 album Angel of the Morning.^[3] This version also stayed at Svensktoppen for 9 weeks during the period 21 February-18 April 1982, with a chart peak of #4.^[4]

Sylvie Vartan remade "Morning Train" for the French market as "L’amour c'est comme une cigarette" ("Love is like a cigarette"): the lyrics were written by Michel Mallory who reworked a number of English language hits for Vartan. The concept of Vartan's version was echoed in the Dutch remake by Benny Neyman: "Liefde is als een sigaret", which reached #49 in the Netherlands in 1982.

In 1980 Margot Werner recorded the German rendering "Du lebst nur einmal auf der Welt"

Helena Vondráčková recorded the Czech rendering "Nac vlastne v puli vzdavat mac" for her 1982 album Podivej, kvete ruze.

A Portuguese rendering of "Morning Train": "Uma Noite De Solidão" ("A night of solitude"), was recorded in 1989 by Mara for her eponymous album.

Auth Csilla recorded the Hungarian rendering "8-tól Fél 6-ig" ("Party from eight to six") for her 2000 album Mindenrendben.

Appearances in other media

The tune was featured in the 2004 movie EuroTrip as the Manchester United Supporters Club theme and was also played as part of a montage in two episodes of Seinfeld: "The Bizarro Jerry" episode in which Kramer finds himself working 9 to 5 at Brand/Leland, and "The Butter Shave" episode in which George fakes a handicap at Play Now. Of note, David Mandel has writing credits on EuroTrip and the two Seinfeld episodes. Alec Berg holds writing credits on EuroTrip and "The Butter Shave."

The song also features in a sketch in Not The Nine O'Clock News, in which Pamela Stephenson sings it in relation to her "husband", Rowan Atkinson. Atkinson, having come home from work, corrects Stephenson's lyrics ("I don't take the train, I've taken the bus for fifteen years!", Stephenson obligingly changes the lyrics), before revealing that "he spends all day with a whore" (again sung by Stephenson) and attempting to kill her. The sketch ends with Stephenson singing "and then he tries to strangle me".

In an episode of South Park ("Kenny Dies"), Eric Cartman briefly sings the song as he happens upon a truck that went off the side of a road.

In an episode of the 1997 sitcom Soul Man, Anthony Clark's character begins to play the song on a church organ.

On the season 26 finale episode of Saturday Night Live (host: Christopher Walken; musical guest: Weezer), in a "Mango" sketch, Mango (Chris Kattan) sings "Morning Train" as he's working out in his dressing room.

In the Drawn Together episode "Xandir and Tim, Sitting in a Tree", Jimmy Kimmel sings the song during a story in which Spanky Ham has left the Drawn Together house and taken a 9 to 5 job as a hostage negotiator.

The song was also featured in a 2004 television commercial for Connex Melbourne where a trainload of passengers take turns in singing a line from the song while the train pulls up at Burnley railway station where a woman boards the train. One of the passengers says "Sheena!" and the woman is then revealed to be Easton who responds with a scream; the ad concludes with all the passengers singing the chorus of the song as the train is shown leaving the station.

It was revealed in the documentary John Peel's Record Box that British radio DJ John Peel loved the record so much that he kept two copies of it in a small wooden box of his 142 favourite singles.^[5]

In the 7th episode of the mini-series Generation Kill (Bomb in the Garden), Corporal Josh Ray Person sings this song while waiting to move into combat.

Charts

Chart (1980/1981)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart	1
Canadian RPM Top Singles	1
Dutch Singles Chart	14
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	1
Swiss Singles Chart	3
UK Singles Chart	3
US Billboard Hot 100	1
US Billboard Adult Contemporary	1
Chart (2008)	Peak position
Japan Hot 100 Singles	98

See also

• List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1980s
• List of RPM number-one singles of 1981
• Cashbox Top 100 number-one singles of 1981
• List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1981 (U.S.)
• List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1981 (U.S.)

Preceded by "Antmusic" by Adam and the Ants	Australian Kent Music Report number-one single 27 April 1981 - 4 May 1981	Succeeded by "Jealous Guy" by Roxy Music
Preceded by "Kiss on My List" by Daryl Hall and John Oates	Billboard Hot 100 number one single May 2, 1981 – May 9, 1981	Succeeded by "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes
Preceded by "9 to 5" by Dolly Parton	Canadian RPM number-one single May 2, 1981 - May 9, 1981	Succeeded by "Angel of the Morning" by Juice Newton
Preceded by "Being with You" by Smokey Robinson	New Zealand Singles Chart number one 12 June 1981	Succeeded by "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division

References

1. ^ BPI - search Sheena Easton (Certification and UK release date)
2. ^ Chartstats - "9 to 5", UK Chart details
3. ^ Information at Svensk mediedatabas
4. ^ Svensktoppen - 1982
5. ^ Barnes, Anthony (2005-10-30). "Revealed: John Peel's 142 favourite records". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/revealed-john-peels-142-favourite-records-513173.html. Retrieved 2008-06-27.