A manager for Dolly Parton called out Democratic 2020 hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) saying she did not get approval to use Parton’s song “9 to 5” at her campaign events.
At a recent campaign launch event Warren played the Dolly Parton song “9 to 5,” which features lyrics that describe working class concerns.
Parton sings in part:
Workin’ 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin’
Barely gettin’ by, it’s all takin’ and no givin’
They just use your mind and they never give you credit
It’s enough to drive you crazy if you let it
9 to 5, for service and devotion
You would think that I would deserve a fat promotion
Want to move ahead but the boss won’t seem to let me
I swear sometimes that man is out to get me!
However, Parton’s manager, Danny Nozell, told the Associated Press, “We did not approve the request, and we do not approve requests like this of (a) political nature”
Nozell, CEO of CTK Management, did not respond to a question about whether Parton’s team might register any formal complaint about Warren’s use of the song, which she played during a Friday town hall meeting in New York City.
If Parton escalates the matter, there’s no shortage of precedent: The late Tom Petty reportedly sent a cease-and-desist letter to Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., over the use of his song “American Girl” in her 2011 campaign, and former President George W. Bush got a similar letter from Petty over his choice of the singer’s “I Won’t Back Down” during the 2000 campaign.
Parton is notoriously quiet about politics. However, in 2017, she stood beside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin at the Emmys while they attacked President Trump.
Fonda called the president a “sexist, egotistical, lying hypocritical bigot.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.