She Works Hard for the Money (song)

She Works Hard for the Money is the lead single from Donna Summer's eleventh studio album "She Works Hard for the Money."

The single was released on May 27, 1983. The song was written by Donna Summer & Michael Omartian (who also produced the song).

Song Composition
The song told a story about a woman who "works hard for her money."

It was based on an actual encounter that Donna had with an exhausted bathroom attendant named Onetta (who was later mentioned in the song and featured on the album's back cover).

Music Video
The music video for the song was directed by Brian Grant.

It debuted on MTV and became the first video by an African-American female artist to be placed in "heavy rotation" (which was a term used by MTV at the time to indicate a frequently-aired video).

The video shows a woman, working as a waitress in a diner who is burdened with many situations in her life such as work and raising two unruly and ungrateful children. It is also seen that she has abandoned her hopes of being a ballerina.

Donna appears as an observer through a kitchen window, a woman who assists the fallen-down protagonist of the video and at the end, a leader of a troupe of women in various work uniforms, who have taken to the streets to signify their independence and gain recognition for their "hard work."

The protagonist is also seen dancing in the street with them.

In a parody of the image created by this song (and its cover art picture), Donna herself appears in the Frank Sinatra video for "L.A. Is My Lady" (which was released in 1984) as a waitress who serves a patron and then wipes her brow.

There are two version of the music video; one version is the single edit and the other version remains faithful to the original length of the album version of the song.