Donna Summer - She Works Hard for the Money

Donna Summer hits on some heavy subjects in this song, but it always gets me motivated in the morning. Time to wake up and work hard for the money!

The song, co-written by the singer, told a story of a woman who "works hard for (her) money". It was based on an actual encounter that Summer had with an exhausted bathroom attendant.

The music video for the song debuted on MTV and became the first video by an African-American female artist to be placed in "heavy rotation" (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. Summer 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 video, Summer herself appears in the Frank Sinatra video for "L.A. Is My Lady", released in 1984, as a waitress who serves a patron and then wipes her brow.