09/07/2026
This Yiddish Cover of Dolly Parton’s ‘9 to 5’ Has a Fascinating Backstory
You need to watch this recording right now.
By Daci Platt for Keveller
When singer, actor and absolute angel on earth Dolly Parton passed away last month at the age of 80, tributes poured in from, well, everyone. One tribute that caught the eye of the Kveller editors actually came together back in 2023, when Jewish singer and artist Lea Kalisch recorded a version of Parton’s 1980 hit song “9 to 5” in Yiddish, translated by activist, author and Yiddishist Ellen Cassedy.
In 1971, Cassedy, the granddaughter of Lithuanian Jews, and her friend Karen Nussbaum worked together in an office at Harvard. Quite quickly, the two friends and the rest of the women in the office realized they were being treated unfairly — and that they could do something about it. They started the organization 9to5 in 1973 to respond to inequities and harassment they and other women faced.
The work inspired Nussbaum’s friend Jane Fonda — the two knew each other through antiwar advocacy — and gave her the idea for a movie.
“Jane Fonda came to us and said she wanted to make a movie about the concerns of office workers,” Ellen Cassedy said in 2023, speaking at Kalisch’s show Shtetl Cabaret before a performance of the Yiddish ‘9 to 5.’ “We were thrilled. She brought her team to meet with our members, and they popped a question none of us had ever thought of. ‘Have you ever fantasized about doing in your boss?’”
Cassedy says that after a stunned silence, the group unanimously answered that yes, not only had they thought about this, they had created detailed fantasies, many of which made it into the film. That film, of course, is “9 to 5,” starring Fonda, Parton and Lily Tomlin. Parton’s song of the same name was written for the film.
In the late 1980s, Cassedy, who was by then a writer, decided to learn Yiddish after her mother’s death as a way to stay connected with her roots. She studied at the Vilnius Yiddish Institute, among other places, and went on to become a prolific Yiddish translator. She told the audience at Shtetl Cabaret that one night she just decided to try to translate Parton’s “9 to 5” into Yiddish.
The result, and Kalisch’s recording, are a beautiful piece of the Jewish Dolly Parton musical universe.
“It was so amazing to find out the backstory to the song,” Kalisch told Kveller. “Life is about story. I love things that are rooted in reality and take on a creative new life.”
Did you know that Dolly Parton's song 9 to 5 was inspired by 9 to 5...
