Songfacts®:

• While Easton may be a liberated, independent woman, in this song she sings about how dull her life is while she's waiting for her man to come home and show her a good time. The song presents an odd vision of suburban happiness, as the man takes the train into work, does his eight hours, then returns home and entertains his wife with movies, dancing or anything else she wants. Then they make love. It's not the vision of romance portrayed in many love songs, but Easton here seems thrilled to have a man who is gainfully employed.
  
  There is quite a disconnect between the character Easton plays in this song and the real Sheena (she didn't write it). When the song was released, she was 20 years old, recently divorced, and on her way to becoming a global superstar. Easton had a talent for taking on any role, so she had no problem becoming a dance diva ("Strut"), sex kitten ("Sugar Walls") or even a Bond singer ("For Your Eyes Only").
• Sheena Easton was perhaps the first star to emerge from a reality TV show. In 1980, she appeared on a BBC show called The Big Time, which followed ordinary people on their quests for success. Easton was going to school at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and got the gig when the show's producers contacted one of her teachers looking for a suitable subject. Easton was granted a made-for-TV audition with EMI, which turned real when they realized that she was stunningly beautiful and could really sing.
  
  EMI released Easton's first single, "Modern Girl," before the episode aired, and it peaked at #56. "9 To 5" was released after the show was broadcast, and the exposure helped send it up the UK charts, where it peaked at #3. To capitalize on the sudden interest in Easton, EMI re-released "Modern Girl," which this time made it to #8, making her one of the few British female singers to have two songs in the UK top 10 at the same time.
• Outside of the United States, this was released as "9 To 5," but the title was altered in America to avoid confusion with the Dolly Parton hit. Parton's song came from a movie she starred in of the same name, where she played a rebellious working woman struggling to find satisfaction with her job - quite a different storyline than Easton's song. Parton's "9 To 5" spent the last two weeks of February 1981 at #1 in America; Easton's was at the top for the first two weeks of May.
• This was written by a female songwriter named Florrie Palmer (sometimes spelled "Florri"). She also wrote Easton's songs "When He Shines" and "Take My Time," as well as Agnetha Fältskog's "The Heat Is On."
• This was used in the movies Eurotrip and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and also appeared in the TV series Seinfeld.
• The song peaked in the UK in August 1980, but didn't reach it's zenith in America until May 1981. By the time she caught on in America, Easton had become more refined and media savvy, which helped her promotional endeavors stateside. At the Grammy Awards in 1982, she won for Best New Artist.