I Don't Like Mondays

"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 single in the UK Singles Chart for four weeks during the summer of 1979,[3] and ranks as the sixth biggest hit of the UK in 1979.[4] Written by Bob Geldof and Johnnie Fingers, the piano ballad[5] was the band's second single to reach number one on the UK chart.

"I Don't Like Mondays"
Single by The Boomtown Rats
from the album The Fine Art of Surfacing
B-side"It's All the Rage"
Released13 July 1979 (UK)[1]
October 1979 (US)[2]
RecordedTrident Studios
Length4:19 (LP)
3:47 (single/video)
LabelEnsign (UK)
Columbia (US)
Songwriter(s)Bob Geldof, Johnnie Fingers
Producer(s)Phil Wainman
The Boomtown Rats singles chronology
"Rat Trap"
(1978)		 "I Don't Like Mondays"
(1979)		 "Diamond Smiles"
(1979)
Music video
"I Don't Like Mondays" on YouTube
Audio
"I Don't Like Mondays" on YouTube

Background and writing

According to Geldof, he wrote the song after reading a telex report[6] at Georgia State University's campus radio station, WRAS, on the shooting spree of 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer, who fired at children in a school playground at Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, California, on 29 January 1979, killing two adults and injuring eight children and one police officer. Spencer showed no remorse for her crime; her explanation for her actions was "I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day".[7] Geldof had been contacted by Steve Jobs to play a gig for Apple, inspiring the opening line about a "silicon chip".[6] The song was first performed less than a month later.

Geldof explained how he wrote the song:

I was doing a radio interview in Atlanta with Johnnie Fingers and there was a telex machine beside me. I read it as it came out. Not liking Mondays as a reason for doing somebody in is a bit strange. I was thinking about it on the way back to the hotel and I just said 'silicon chip inside her head had switched to overload'.[6] I wrote that down. And the journalists interviewing her said, 'Tell me why?' It was such a senseless act. It was the perfect senseless act and this was the perfect senseless reason for doing it. So perhaps I wrote the perfect senseless song to illustrate it. It wasn't an attempt to exploit tragedy.[8]

Geldof had originally intended the song as a B-side, but changed his mind after the song was successful with audiences on the Rats' US tour.[8] Spencer's family tried to prevent the single from being released in the United States.[8]

In later years, Geldof admitted that he regretted writing the song because he "made Brenda Spencer famous".[9]

In 2019 Bob Geldof and Johnnie Fingers reached an agreement in their dispute over who wrote the song, until then credited solely to Geldof. Fingers received a financial settlement and co-credit.[10]

Chart performance

Despite reaching number-one in the United Kingdom, it only reached number 73 on the US Billboard Hot 100.[11] The song was played regularly by album-oriented rock format radio stations in the United States throughout the 1980s, although radio stations in San Diego refrained from playing the track for some years to respect local sensitivities about the shooting.

In the UK the song won the Best Pop Song and Outstanding British Lyric categories at the Ivor Novello Awards.[12]

Live performances

On 9 September 1981, Geldof was joined on stage by fellow Boomtown Rat Johnnie Fingers to perform the song for The Secret Policeman's Ball sponsored by Amnesty International. A recording of that performance appears on the 1982 album The Secret Policeman's Other Ball.

The Boomtown Rats performed the song for Live Aid at Wembley Stadium in 1985. This was the band's final major appearance. On singing the line, "And the lesson today is how to die", Geldof paused for 20 seconds while the crowd applauded the significance to those starving in Africa that Live Aid was intended to help.

At a concert in London in 1995, almost ten years later to the day, Bon Jovi covered the song after being joined on stage by Geldof at Wembley Stadium. This recorded performance features on Bon Jovi's live album One Wild Night Live 1985–2001, as well as on the bonus 2-CD edition of These Days. Bon Jovi was again joined by Geldof for a performance of the song at The O2 Arena on 23 June 2010, the 10th night of their 12-night residency. Geldof himself performed a version of the song while hosting the Live 8 concert in London, on 2 July 2005.

"I Don't Like Mondays" was subsequently covered by Tori Amos on her 2001 album Strange Little Girls and later by G4 on their 2006 album Act Three.

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See also
  • List of 1970s one-hit wonders in the United States

References
  1. "The Boomtown Rats – I Don't Like Mondays". 45cat.com. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
  2. "Record World" (PDF). 20 October 1979. p. 36. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  3. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 370–1. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  4. "Top 100 1979 - UK Music Charts". Uk-charts.top-source.info. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  5. Hermann, Andy (25 January 2017). "10 Underrated '80s Bands You Need to Hear Now". L.A. Weekly.
  6. "BBC Radio 6 Music – Classic Singles, I Don't Like Mondays". BBC.
  7. Mikkelson, Barbara (29 September 2005). "Urban Legends Reference Pages: Music (I Don't Like Mondays)". snopes.com.
  8. Clarke, Steve (18–31 October 1979). The Fastest Lip on Vinyl. Smash Hits. EMAP National Publications Ltd. pp. 6–7.
  9. Bob Geldof reveals the truth of "I Don't Like Mondays"!. Event occurs at 2:08. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  10. "Geldof and Fingers reach settlement over 'I Don't Like Mondays'". The Irish Times. 26 January 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  11. Whitburn, Joel (2000). Top Pop Singles 1955–1999. Record Research Inc. p. 65. ISBN 0-89820-139-X.
  12. "I Don't Like Mondays". Songfacts.com. Retrieved 5 April 2009.
  13. "Australian-charts.com – The Boomtown Rats – I Don't Like Mondays". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  14. "Austriancharts.at – The Boomtown Rats – I Don't Like Mondays" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  15. "Ultratop.be – The Boomtown Rats – I Don't Like Mondays" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  16. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 6884a." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  17. "Offiziellecharts.de – The Boomtown Rats – I Don't Like Mondays". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  18. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – I Don't Like Mondays". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  19. "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 38, 1979" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40 Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  20. "Dutchcharts.nl – The Boomtown Rats – I Don't Like Mondays" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  21. "Charts.nz – The Boomtown Rats – I Don't Like Mondays". Top 40 Singles.
  22. "Norwegiancharts.com – The Boomtown Rats – I Don't Like Mondays". VG-lista.
  23. "SA Charts 1965 – March 1989". Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  24. Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  25. "Swedishcharts.com – The Boomtown Rats – I Don't Like Mondays". Singles Top 100.
  26. "Swisscharts.com – The Boomtown Rats – I Don't Like Mondays". Swiss Singles Chart.
  27. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  28. "The Boomtown Rats Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  29. Downey, Pat; Albert, George; Hoffman, Frank (1994). Cash Box Pop Singles Charts, 1950–1993. Englewood, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, Inc. p. 33. ISBN 1563083167. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  30. Steffen Hung. "Forum – 1970 (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)". australian-charts.com. Archived from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  31. "Image : RPM Weekly – Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  32. "Top Selling Singles of 1979 | The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Nztop40.co.nz. 31 December 1979. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  33. "Top 20 Hit Singles of 1979". Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  34. "Top 100 Singles of 1979" Record Mirror 5 January 1980: 30
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