She Works Hard For The Money (1983)
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There is nothing in so-called women's music... that approaches the
impact of this video...
And the song itself is nothing to sneeze at either. ;-) She
Works Hard For The Money is an anthem for women everywhere - and at
the same time it's a fun dance song that always gets the crowd to their
feet at concerts. I've always thought it would be great if I could pipe
that song into my workplace and play it in a continuous loop on the days
that my boss does employee evaluations. ;-) Maybe someday
Donna will write us a sequel called Now Gimme A Raise! LOL
But seriously, She Works Hard For The Money is a great song
with a great message - and that means it usually overshadows everything
else on the album. That's unfortunate because many other tracks are
standouts in their own ways. I Do Believe (I Fell In Love) is an
outstanding ballad that has been a personal favorite of mine ever since it
came out. It takes the Summer formula of starting out slow and then
bringing in the beat to a new level. This one stays slow and then waits
until the very end to pick up the pace. Then there is He's A Rebel
- an inspirational rock & roll number that Rolling Stone said
could have just as easily been about James Dean instead of Jesus Christ.
I remember when it was nominated for a Grammy for Best Inspirational
song I was surprised. The song did not fit any of my preconceived
notions of what an inspirational song was. It wasn't until I read the
lyrics that I finally got it. And we can't forget about Stop Look
& Listen. It describes some of "life's vivid
realities" and manages to remain upbeat and funky at the same time.
I could go on, but you get the idea.
She Works Hard For The Money is in my opinion one of
Donna's best albums from the 80s. Like all of Donna's best albums, it
manages to have enough musical diversity to appeal to just about
everyone without sacrificing any of its cohesiveness in the process. It
is a very spiritual album, obviously coming from Donna's heart, and yet
it's also a fun album too. You can dance to it. So this month I
invite you to Stop Look & Listen to the magic of She
Works Hard For The Money.
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Front
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Back
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Inside |
| Tour book pictures, click
any image for a larger version.
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On She Works Hard For The Money being released on Mercury:
"That
came out of a lawsuit between Casablanca and myself when I left the label.
At the time, I was owed large sums of money (by Casablanca) and the only
way to get it was to sue. At about the same time Polygram had just
purchased Casablanca, and unbeknownst to them, bought into this lawsuit as
well. It wasn't their fault, and they were upset that I wasn't going to be
on the label anymore. As part of the settlement, we agreed to give
Polygram one more album."
–
Donna Summer Dance Music Report,
c 1990
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| "To
everyone's surprise [the album] became a big hit. The song became
an anthem for many working-class people, and the single shot up the
charts. Because no one had anticipated its success, it threw everyone at
both labels into a king-sized tizzy! Polygram was upset because I was
back on top and they had let me out of my contract. That meant whatever
follow-up was to he had, it wasn't going to be for them. They had a Top
Ten lame duck on their hands.
"But
Geffen Records was also upset because I had a hit with my old label.
They felt I should have saved that material for them, especially after
it went on to become one of the biggest albums I'd had in a long
time."
-
Donna Summer, Ordinary Girl (Villard 2003)
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"As
a result of [working with] Chris*, I got a call from her. She loved
Sailing. She said, 'I've got to have you produce this record.' It
was a very fun album to make. It was real spontaneous and She Works
Hard For The Money
was the last song written."
–
Michael Omartian, Billboard September 3, 1994
*Christopher
Cross
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| "Michael
[Omartian] was a godsend. He was like Giorgio [Moroder]
– mild-tempered, incredibly creative. I mean the guy could play his
bazookas off… He does whatever he does to perfection."
–
Donna Summer, Billboard September 3,
1994
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| That’s
how the LP unrolls; sultry rock one minute, AOR pop the next, and Summer
overpowering all the way through.
-
K.W. Record World, 1983
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| "Stop Look & Listen
combines a lilting catch-phrase melody with a sizzling salsa rhythm; He's
A Rebel melds the defiant sentiments of the old Crystals hit with
swirling, chiaroscuro textures more suggestive of new wave bands like
the Motels. Backed by Jamaican sensations Musical Youth, Unconditional
Love is a charming paean to the healing powers of the spirit, while
the LP's title track, with its rolling pop-disco beat, lets you know
Donna hasn't completely abandoned her considerably more profane roots.
Yet
for all its variety, She Works Hard sounds every bit as cohesive as,
say, Michael Jackson's Thriller, a tribute to Summer's
elastic vocal range and the strength of her latest compositions."
-
Mark Rowland, Playgirl November 1983
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| "The
title song by Donna and producer Michael Omartian was
inspired by washroom attendant Onetta Johnson, whom Summer
encountered
at Chasen's restaurant in Los Angeles. It is infectious, and
Donna simmers
down nicely for a romantic duet with Matthew Ward, Love Has a
Mind of Its
Own."
-
People Weekly, August 15, 1983
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| "The
title song, She Works Hard For The Money, was based partly on my
ongoing fascination with the working woman. I saw it as a follow-up to Bad
Girls that also offered some insight as to how I was feeling about
the whole music industry."
-
Donna Summer, Ordinary Girl (Villard, 2003)
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| "Like
[Diana] Ross, Summer is able to be all things to all people, and
the success of this album’s title track on both the R&B and pop
charts attests to her accomplishments. That more than five minutes long
number is everything a pop song should be. Written by Summer and
producer/keyboardist Michael Omartian, it has a 100-megaton strong beat,
a hook more infectious than beri-beri, goosed by Gary Herbig’s sax
break and more synthesizer programming time than is used by many small
countries for their software.
-
K.W. Record World, 1983
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| BONUS AUDIO CLIP: Donna talking about the inspiration for She Works
Hard For The Money on You Write The Songs in 1986. |
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| BONUS AUDIO CLIP: Onetta and Donna telling the Hard For The Money
story. This clips comes from the movie Off The Menu: The Last Days
Of Chasens (1997). The women were filmed separately and then the
footage was cut together - the first person you hear will be Onetta. |
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| BONUS AUDIO CLIP: Donna promoting She Works Hard For The Money
on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1983. |
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| "The
most obvious hit here is the title track, a driving Giorgio
Moroder-style riff
that was eclipsed this summer only by Moroder's own Flashdance...What
a
Feeling."
-
Michael Hill, Rolling Stone, September 29, 1983
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| Donna
Summer's She Works Hard For The Money video is exceptional, a
notable contrast to the film school outtakes that currently clog the
airwaves. The song itself is pleasant dance music, nothing more,
but the video vividly portrays the daily lives of a waitress and
sweatshop worker, both on the job and single-handedly raising their kids
at home. There is nothing in so-called women's music, from Helen Reddy's
I Am Woman to the antimale drivel of the Olivia Records axis that
approaches the impact of this video.
-
Rock & Roll Confidential, 1983
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| "Summer
is at her best when she keeps us guessing. He's a Rebel,
with its West Side Story sense of drama, could be about
James Dean, not
Jesus Christ; the arrangement of Stop, Look & Listen
is jauntily upbeat,
despite the fact that Summer is actually trying to rewrite Sounds
of Silence
(with lines like 'The prophets of the times are written on
streetcar walls')."
-
Michael Hill, Rolling Stone, September 29, 1983
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|
Unconditional Love, backed by Musical Youth, is a rhythmically
powerful piece of pseudo-reggae that’s at least as strong as songs
done in that style by Grace Jones, while Love Has A Mind Of It’s
Own a brooding, romantic duet with Matthew Ward, is a sort of a
Summer response to the Ross-Lionel Richie duet of Endless Love.
Guitarist Marty Walsh and the horn section are featured prominently on Woman,
a sledgehammer rocker, while Ray Parker Jr.'s rhythm guitar and presence
gives that tune the same lilt that he brings to his own sessions.
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K.W. Record World, 1983
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"But
Unconditional Love could be a sleeper--it's a collaboration with
Musical Youth that's so utterly charming you scarcely wonder what
Summer is doing preaching about Jah."
-
Michael Hill, Rolling Stone, September 29, 1983
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| The woman on the back of the album cover with Donna is
Onetta - the washroom attendant who inspired the title song. |
| She Works Hard For The Money was used in a popular
McDonald's ad campaign back in 1999. Donna sang the song with new lyrics
("You get more for the money"), and it was used in numerous TV
and radio ads. There were several versions of the jingle with different
mixes to suit the different commercials. Here is an audio clip from one of the original ads. |
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| In 1997, Donna made her second appearance on the sitcom Family
Matters as Aunt Oona in an episode called Pound Foolish.
Those of you who have seen the show know that Donna's storyline centered
around Oona's weight gain, so Donna spent most of the episode wearing a
hilarious fat suit. At the very end of the show, one of the characters
turned on a radio and She Works Hard For The Money started
playing. So as the credits rolled, you had Donna in that fat suit,
boogying to her own song, and really working that fat suit. Funny stuff!
The sitcom is in syndication here in the USA, so try to catch a rerun if
you can. |
| Videos were made for both the title song and Unconditional
Love. Both can be found on the video compilation, Endless
Summer. |
| In the "blink and you'll miss it" category,
Bruce makes an appearance in the She Works Hard For The Money
video as a customer in the diner. Shortly after you hear Donna sing the
line "Nine AM on the hour hand...", the waitress comes out of
the kitchen and is pinched by a customer at the counter. (See "other
art" above.) That's Bruce.
All I can say is it takes a brave man to pinch another woman in his
wife's video. LOL
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| According to VH1's Pop-Up Videos, when they filmed
the last scenes of She Works Hard For The Money (the ones with
all the dancers in the street), it rained hard enough to where the
director thought they wouldn't be able to finish shooting. He went to go
tell Donna that and found her on her knees praying. After that, the sun
came out. That got me to thinking...... hey Donna, next time you find
yourself praying, could you mention to the Big Guy that a few winning
lottery numbers dumped into my lap wouldn't go unappreciated.
;-) (It's worth a shot, right? LOL)
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| The video for She Works Hard For The Money was
filmed over 2 days in downtown Los Angeles. A few (admittedly crazy)
fans have watched the video endlessly for clues as to exactly where it
was filmed, and the consensus is that it was filmed on South Main Street
between 5th and 6th Streets. I did a little research of my own, and
found a picture
of the Hotel Rosslyn (located on 5th and Main) that shows a
red sign on the side of the building near the top that says
"hotel" and "TV" (and if you can read the rest you
have better eyes than I do! LOL). If you watch the video closely,
you will see that very same sign on the upper left side of your TV
screen. It's easiest to see at the very beginning of the street scene.
(See the "other art" above.)
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| She Works Hard For The Money was selected by the
RIAA and the National Endowment For The Arts as one of 365 songs to be
used in a Songs Of The Century school program.
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| She Works Hard For The Money was nominated for a
Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance Female, and He's A Rebel
picked up the award for Best Inspirational Performance. It was her
second nomination in that category and her first win. |
| She Works Hard For The Money peaked at #3 on Billboard's
Pop Chart and at #1 on Billboard's R&B chart. The album was
certified gold in August of 1983. |
| Hard For The Money was also the title of one of
Donna's better-known paintings. (It is included on the Art
Gallery page.) |
| She Works Hard For The Money can be found
used at Amazon,
Amazon
UK, among other places The Endless Summer video
seems to be out of print but you can find used copies at Amazon.com,
gemm.com, musicstack.com
or even eBay. (There
was a Brazilian DVD release of the compilation that can be found at
Brazilian vendors and eBay.) There is a 20th Century Masters
DVD that includes both videos from She Works Hard For The Money
- it can be found at
Amazon,
Amazon
UK and other on and offline vendors. |
Thanks to Anthony for all his articles and to Phil for letting
me pick his brain.
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