Dolly Parton Teams Up With Kelly Clarkson for “9 to 5” Duet
Dolly Parton teams up with Kelly Clarkson and producer Shane McAnally to record a very different version of the Parton classic “9 to 5” as a duet for an upcoming documentary, “Still Working 9 to 5,” just announced for a premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March.
The documentary’s premiere at SXSW was announced Wednesday morning, but for the filmmakers, the new recording by Parton and Clarkson counts as a big reveal, too. “We could do a documentary just on the making of the duet,” co-director/producer Gary Lane tells Variety.
“This new version of the theme song from the original “9 to 5” movie has a distinctly different tone from the original. The first iteration, Dolly’s original version was very upbeat. There was a lot of hope I would say in the song,” says co-director/producer Camille Hardman. “And this version is just a little bit melancholic,” she notes, in deference to one of the themes of the doc, “that women are still trying to get equality and it hasn’t happened yet, 42 years after this song was created.”
The original plan was to ask Parton to do a new song for the documentary, but McAnally had a brilliant idea to refresh “9 to 5” and, created a demo that its singer-songwriter fell in love with. Dolly Parton and Kelly Clarkson recorded their parts in November and December, and filmed themselves in the studio as well for a forthcoming music video.
“Dolly actually called it ‘9 to 5: The Slow Version’,” says Lane. “It’s definitely slowed down and more haunting. Kelly — you can’t believe how she changes it, too. It’s really mind blowing.” He recalls playing it after both vocals were finished to Steve Summers, VP of Dolly Enterprises, and an executive producer on the film. “Steve said, ‘I’ve probably heard that song a thousand times, and I really never heard the words to the song till I heard them right there.’”
Needless to say, we are excited to hear the monumental version of such a classic song. To get us by until then, check out when Kelly Clarkson did her own version of “9 to 5” for The Kelly Clarkson Show.
You can view the full article at Variety . Make sure to stay tuned to Music On The Rox for all your entertainment needs.