There are almost as many songs about Monday as there are Mondays in a year (that’s 52 this year).
From Fleetwood Mac’s “Monday Morning” and Duran Duran’s “New Moon on Monday” to Wilco’s “Monday” and NOFX’s “Thank God It’s Monday” — and let’s not forget “Monday Monday Monday” from Canada’s Tegan and Sara — the first business day of the week has inspired a lot of music.
Here are five of our favourite Monday songs.
“Manic Monday” — The Bangles
Who can’t relate to lyrics like: “It’s just another manic Monday / Wish it were Sunday / Because that’s my fun day / My I-don’t-have-to-run day.”
Released in January 1986, “Manic Monday” was written by Prince (using the pseudonym Christopher) and appeared on The Bangles’ second studio album, Different Light. The song was the band’s first hit, reaching the top of the charts all over the world.
“Monday Monday” — The Mamas & the Papas
This 1966 song, penned by John Phillips of the Mamas & the Papas, was the group’s only No. 1 hit and earned a Grammy Award in 1967.
“Every other day of the week is fine / But whenever Monday comes / you can find me crying all of the time,” Phillips sings.
Fun fact: Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles (who had a hit called “Manic Monday,” recorded a cover of “Monday Monday" with Matthew Sweet in 2006.
“I Don’t Like Mondays” — The Boomtown Rats
In the 1979 hit “I Don’t Like Mondays,” Bob Geldof of Irish band The Boomtown Rats admits: “I want to shoot the whole day down.”
The song, in fact, is pretty dark.
Geldof has said he was inspired by a real-life school shooting in San Diego that killed two adults and wounded eight children and a police officer. The shooter, 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer, said she did it because “I don’t like Mondays.”
“Rainy Days and Mondays” — The Carpenters
Karen Carpenter perfectly summed up the days that always get us down — rainy days and Mondays. (And don't even think about rainy Mondays!)
Written by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols, the 1971 song features music by the same session musicians who played on The Mamas & the Papas hit “Monday Monday.”
“Blue Monday” — New Order
English group New Order debuted “Blue Monday” in 1983 — and released new versions in 1988 and 1995.
The song isn’t about Blue Monday — the third Monday in January, which is considered by many to be the most depressing day of the year — and doesn’t even include the words “blue” or “Monday.” But damn, it’s catchy.