10 Best Songs About Mondays

Feature Photo: Mark Kent, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

We all don’t like Mondays. There is no day more dreaded in the week than Monday. It starts when you’re just a kid, knowing that Monday means back to school. Of course, as we all got older, it meant that many of us had to go back to work, unless you worked weekends, which, if you do, really means you work every day. Musicians usually like Mondays because it’s their day off, but for the rest of us, Mondays mean the blues.

# 10 – Welcome to the Working Week – Elvis Costello

“Welcome to the Working Week” opens Elvis Costello’s 1977 debut album My Aim Is True with barely a minute and a half of sarcasm aimed at work, privilege, and the grind waiting for everybody else. Costello recorded the song in 1976 at Pathway Studios in London with members of Clover backing him and Nick Lowe producing. It is short, sharp, funny, and a perfect way to begin a list about the one day of the week most people would gladly skip.

# 9 – The Day Will Come (Between Sunday And Monday) – Kiki Dee

Kiki Dee’s “The Day Will Come (Between Sunday And Monday)” was released by Motown in 1970 during the British singer’s brief but fascinating period with the label. Written by Pamela Sawyer and Joe Hinton and produced by Clay McMurray, the song turns Monday into something impossible: the day between Sunday and Monday is the day the singer says she will finally stop loving someone. Dee’s soulful vocal fits the Motown arrangement beautifully, and the title alone earns it a place on any serious list of Monday songs.

Read More: Top 10 Kiki Dee Songs

# 8 – Long Monday – John Prine

“Long Monday” comes from John Prine’s wonderful 2005 album Fair & Square, his first collection of new original material in years. Prine wrote the song with Keith Sykes, and instead of treating Monday as a joke, they use it to describe the lonely stretch of time after a weekend with someone you love. That simple idea is pure John Prine: everyday language, a little humor, and just enough sadness to make the song stay with you. Fair & Square later won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

Read More: Top 10 John Prine Songs

# 7 – Monday’s Rain – Bee Gees

“Monday’s Rain” takes us back to the Bee Gees before the fame, the falsettos, and the disco era. Written by Barry Gibb and recorded at St. Clair Studios in Hurstville, Australia, the song appeared on the group’s 1966 Australian album Spicks and Specks. In fact, that album was originally going to be called Monday’s Rain before the success of “Spicks and Specks” prompted the title change. The song already contains the melancholy melody and close harmonies that would become such an important part of the Bee Gees’ sound.

Read More: Top 10 Bee Gees Songs

# 6 – I Don’t Like Mondays – The Boomtown Rats

There was no way we were putting together a Monday list without “I Don’t Like Mondays.” Released in 1979 on The Fine Art of Surfacing, the Boomtown Rats song grew out of the tragic Cleveland Elementary School shooting in San Diego earlier that year, giving the title a much darker meaning than the usual complaints about going back to work or school. The record spent four weeks at No. 1 in the United Kingdom and became one of the band’s signature songs, with Bob Geldof’s vocal and Johnnie Fingers’ piano giving it an unforgettable dramatic edge.

Read More: Top 10 Boomtown Rats Songs

# 5 – Rainy Days and Mondays – The Carpenters

“Rainy Days and Mondays” is one of those records where Karen Carpenter’s voice makes sadness sound almost comforting. Written by Roger Nichols and Paul Williams, the song was released in 1971 on the album Carpenters and climbed to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Jack Daugherty received the production credit, while Richard Carpenter created the arrangement that surrounds Karen’s vocal without ever getting in its way. Few songs have ever connected rainy weather and the Monday blues as perfectly as this one.

Read More: Top 10 Carpenters Songs

# 4 – Monday Morning – Fleetwood Mac

“Monday Morning” opens Fleetwood Mac’s 1975 self-titled album and immediately announces the arrival of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks into the band. Written and sung by Buckingham, the song has far more energy than most Monday records, driven by his guitar and the new lineup’s tight harmonies. It was originally part of the material Buckingham had intended for a follow-up to Buckingham Nicks, but instead it became the first song listeners heard on the album that changed Fleetwood Mac’s career forever.

# 3 – Monday, Monday – The Mamas & The Papas

“Monday, Monday” is probably the first song many people think of when someone mentions Mondays in popular music. Written by John Phillips and released in 1966 on the Mamas & the Papas’ debut album If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears, the single spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became the group’s only American chart-topper. Its beautiful harmonies make Monday sound almost pleasant until the lyric reminds us that the day cannot be trusted. The song also earned the group a Grammy for Best Contemporary (R&R) Group Performance, Vocal or Instrumental.

# 2 – Manic Monday – The Bangles

“Manic Monday” turned the Bangles into major stars in 1986. Prince wrote the song under the name Christopher and gave it to the band after becoming a fan of their music, and it became the lead single from Different Light. The record climbed all the way to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, where the only song keeping it out of the top spot was Prince’s own “Kiss.” Anyone who has ever overslept, rushed to work, or wished Sunday could last one more day understands exactly why this song has never gone away.

# 1 – Stormy Monday – The Allman Brothers Band

We close with the Allman Brothers Band’s magnificent version of T-Bone Walker’s blues classic “Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad).” The performance heard on At Fillmore East was recorded on March 13, 1971, at New York’s Fillmore East, with Gregg Allman’s vocal and organ surrounded by Duane Allman and Dickey Betts on guitars, Berry Oakley on bass, and Butch Trucks and Jai Johanny Johanson on drums. The band stretches the blues into something far bigger without losing the sadness at the heart of Walker’s song. If Mondays have to be miserable, they might as well sound this good.