The Boomtown Rats – I Don’t Like Mondays

This is my contribution to Song Lyric Sunday for Jim Adams’s blog. This week’s prompt…Days of the Week.

From their 1979 album, The Fine Art of Surfacing. The song reached #73 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and #1 on the UK’s singles chart.

From Songfacts

This is about Brenda Spencer, a 16-year-old high school student who lived across the street from Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, California. On Monday, January 29, 1979, she opened fire on the school with a rifle her father had given her for Christmas, killing two adults (including the principal) and injuring nine children before going back to her home. Police surrounded her home and waited for seven hours until she gave herself up. In that time, she spoke with a reporter on the phone. When asked why she did it, she replied, “I just started shooting, that’s it. I just did it for the fun of it. I just don’t like Mondays. I just did it because it’s a way to cheer the day up. Nobody likes Mondays.”

This was #1 hit in 32 different countries, but it flopped in America, probably because the subject matter hit too close to home. Gun violence is a big problem in America.

At a basic level, this is often heard as a song lamenting the beginning of the work week. Some radio stations play it every Monday at a certain time.

Group leader Bob Geldof wrote this. He went on to organize charity efforts Band Aid, Live Aid and Live 8, earning a KBE (the equivalent of knighthood given to people born outside of England) for his efforts. The Boomtown Rats played this as part of their set at Live Aid.

While in Atlanta touring, Bob Geldof heard the news story about Brenda Spencer. Geldof composed the song on the spot, originally as a reggae number. Back in Los Angeles after the tour, a studio demo was recorded with grand piano and vocals. By the time ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’ was introduced onstage in Loch Lomond, Scotland, the song had been transformed dramatically.

 

I Don’t Like Mondays

The silicon chip inside her head
Gets switched to overload
And nobody’s gonna go to school today
She’s going to make them stay at home
And daddy doesn’t understand it
He always said she was as good as gold
And he can see no reason
‘Cause there are no reasons
What reason do you need to be sureOh, oh, oh tell me why
I don’t like MondaysTell me why
I don’t like MondaysTell me why
I don’t like Mondays
I want to shoot
The whole day downThe Telex machine is kept so clean
As it types to a waiting world
And mother feels so shocked
Father’s world is rocked
And their thoughts turn to their own little girl
Sweet sixteen ain’t that peachy keen
Now, it ain’t so neat to admit defeat
They can see no reasons
‘Cause there are no reasons
What reason do you need oh, woahTell me why
I don’t like MondaysTell me why
I don’t like MondaysTell me why
I don’t like Mondays
I want to shoot
The whole day down
Down, down
Shoot it all downAll the playing’s stopped in the playground now
She wants to play with her toys a while
And school’s out early and soon we’ll be learning
And the lesson today is how to die
And then the bullhorn crackles
And the captain tackles
With the problems and the how’s and why’s
And he can see no reasons
‘Cause there are no reasons
What reason do you need to die, dieOh, oh, oh and the silicon chip inside her head
Gets switched to overload
And nobody’s gonna go to school today
She’s going to make them stay at home
And daddy doesn’t understand it
He always said she was as good as gold
And he can see no reason
‘Cause there are no reasons
What reason do you need to be sureTell me why
I don’t like Mondays
Tell me whyI don’t like Mondays
Tell me whyI don’t like, I don’t like, I don’t like Mondays
Tell me why
I don’t like, I don’t like, (tell me why) I don’t like Mondays
Tell me why
I don’t like Mondays
I want to shoot, the whole day down, uh, uh, uh

Source: LyricFindSongwriters: Bob Geldof