1983 No. 1 Power Anthem, Written on a 'Piece of Toilet Paper,' Became a Timeless Tribute to Hard-Working Women
By 1983, Donna Summer was already an enormous star with eight Top 5 singles under her belt, including four #1 hits. But all that success didn't make the Queen of Disco lose touch with reality; in fact, it was a very real-life encounter with a bathroom attendant that inspired yet another #1 song.
Released on Summer's 1983 album of the same name, "She Works Hard for the Money" spent three weeks at #1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart and earned Summer a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Though she didn't win, she did perform the song at the Grammys ceremony that year - which was fitting, because she was originally inspired to write the song at a Grammys after-party when she saw an exhausted restroom attendant asleep on the job.
As Summer explained in an interview with ABC News, "I was at the Grammys party and I went to the ladies room and on my way in I saw the bathroom attendant and my first thought was, 'God, she works hard for the money.'"
According to Summer, after she ran and got her manager, the two went back in the bathroom, "grabbed some toilet paper," and wrote down the concept for the song:
It's a sacrifice working day to day
For little money, just tips for pay
But it's worth it all
Just to hear them say that they care
She works hard for the money
So hard for it, honey
She works hard for the money
So you better treat her right
"I had such a feeling of love and compassion for this woman. I really appreciated her role in society and began to think of other people with similar roles who do odds and ends, like waitresses, hat-check girls and mothers without husbands who keep society where it should be but don't get credit," Summer told a reporter in a separate interview, per The Grio.
As anyone who was around at the time will remember, the video for "She Works Hard for the Money" - featuring a triumphant group of hard-working women at the end - was one of the most popular of the era. As a result, Summer became the first Black woman to be nominated for an MTV Video Music Award.
Years later, the song is still a radio classic and cultural touchstone.
"I don't know if I could say I'd forseen how long this music would last," Summer said in a Billboard interview. "I think all performers would love to see there's no generation gap in music. People still listen to my songs on the radio. DJs still spin them in the club. You just hope that the music you make will still be around and have a second life, a third life, a fourth life. I mean, look at the Beatles. Come on!"
Related: Bob Dylan Wrote the Lyrics to This Classic Song on a Napkin and Didn't Want Any Credit
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This story was originally published June 3, 2026 at 6:17 PM.