Dolly Parton Proves Her Genius Once Again by Perfectly Capturing the Rhythm of This 1980 Movie Theme Smash. ML

Key Points

• Dolly Parton created the beat for the lead song of the film ‘9 to 5’ soundtrack in a rather unusual way.
• She expressed gratitude for achieving her dreams despite sacrifices and a fast-paced life.
• Parton released a memoir in 2025; a musical based on her life opens in 2026.

In 1980, Dolly Parton spent her days filming her first movie, 9 to 5, and her nights writing its soundtrack. But there was one quirky detail in the film’s signature song that Parton truly nailed. Can you guess what it was?

Instead of using a guitar to come up with the song’s beat, Parton did it on her acrylic fingernails. “They sound like a typewriter,” she told in 2025.

“I didn’t have my guitar (on set) because I didn’t want to get too scattered. We were trying to stay in the mood, and they were trying to do lights and all that,” she continued. “So I would just look around and get ideas, watching whatever was going on the set.”

While sitting there observing the magic of moviemaking, Parton came up with the riff that’s the backbone of the song, created by tapping her acrylic nails together. “Then, I would go back to the hotel at night, write down the words, get my guitar, and start singing.”

“That’s kind of how it worked. I played my nails on [‘9 to 5’] as well.”

Parton told Howard Stern in 2023 that “9 to 5” was written over a period of weeks before she sat down and put all the elements of the song together. On the soundtrack’s liner notes, it reads “nails by Dolly” after a separate track of her nails was recorded and mixed into the final version, earning a credit for their contribution.

Dolly Parton is ‘thankful’ she got to see her dreams come true

In an interview with PEOPLE Magazine, Dolly Parton claimed that she is “thankful” that she got to see her dreams come true. She said that despite the speed at which her life moved, she was able to manifest her hearts’ desires.

“You know, I have just been going so fast my whole life,” she explained. “And I just start thinking, ‘How in the world did I even have a life? How did I even get it done?’”

She added, “I really realized when I was putting this book together just how much I had sacrificed in my life. I never had children, so at least I didn’t have a guilty feeling. I’m thankful that I got to see my dreams come true.”

Parton concluded, “You have to grow into things, and you have to grow out of things; that’s how I handled my career,” Parton says. “I needed to try things. A lot of people think that because you’re a girl, you don’t always know what you’re doing.”

“I don’t care about what other people are doing. I only care about what I need to be doing.”

In 2025, Dolly Parton released the book, Star of the Show: My Life on Stage, and a musical based on her life, Dolly: A True Original Musical, is slated to premiere in 2026.