We have just had a week off and now it’s Monday morning again, so I thought we might be in need of some good music to ease us into the new week. So here are some Monday songs. I have tried to restrict myself to songs that actually reference Monday in their lyrics but obviously I felt that I could make a slight exception with our first selection.
“Blue Monday” is a song performed by English band New Order. It was released as a 12 inch single in March 1983 through Factory Records. It appeared on certain versions of the band’s second studio album, Power Corruption & Lies (1983). The original single was a commercial hit, making the top 10 in many countries. In New Zealand, it peaked at number 2 and spent 74 weeks (spread across three calendar years) in the top 50. The 1988 remix reached number 3 on the British chart, number 4 on the Australian chart, and topped the dance chart in the United States. It is the best-selling 12″ single of all time. In the United Kingdom, it has sold 1.16 million copies in all formats.
Our second offering is also called “Blue Monday” This however is a song originally, written by Dave Batholomew, first recorded in 1953 by Smiley Lewis and issued as a single, in January 1954. It was later popularized in a recording by Fats Domino in 1956, Domino’s version was featured in the 1956 film The Girl Can’t Help It. It became one of the earliest R&B songs to make the Billboard, peaking at number five and reaching the number one spot on the R&B Best Sellers chart. The single reached number 23 on the UK Singles Chart.
“I Don’t Like Mondays” is a song by Irish new wave group The Boomtown Rats about the 1979 Cleveland Elementary School shooting in San Diego. It was released in 1979 as the lead single from their third album, The Fine Art of Surfacing. The song was a number one in the UK Singles Chart for four weeks during the summer of 1979, and ranks as the sixth biggest hit of the UK in 1979. Written by Bob Geldof and Johnnie Fingers it was the band’s second single to reach number one on the UK chart.
On a happier note our next piece comes from the mid 1960’s. Monday, Monday” is a 1966 song written by John Phillips and recorded by the Mamas and the Papas using background instruments played by members of The Wrecking Crew for their 1966 album. It was the group’s only #1 hit on the U.S. Billboard, and the first time this had been achieved by a recording act containing both genders. On March 2, 1967, the Mamas & the Papas won a Grammy Award for this song, in the category Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
Finally for today, “Manic Monday” is a song by the American band The Bangles, and the first single released from their second studio album, Different Light (1986). It was written by Prince using the pseudonym “Christopher” and was originally intended for the group Apollonia 6 in 1984. Lyrically, it describes a woman who is waking up to go to work on Monday, wishing it was still Sunday so she could continue relaxing. The single, released in January 1986, received generally positive reviews from music critics and some comparisons with the Mamas and the Papas. It became the Bangles’ first hit, reaching number two in the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as in Austria, Canada, Germany and Ireland, and peaked within the top five in Australia, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland. It was later certified silver in the UK.
If you have further suggestions for the Monday Song list, then why not leave a comment here.
