| "I Don't Like Mondays" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single bythe Boomtown Rats | ||||
| from the albumThe Fine Art of Surfacing | ||||
| B-side | "It's All the Rage" | |||
| Released | 13 July 1979 (UK)[1] | |||
| Recorded | Trident Studios[citation needed] | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 4:19 (LP) 3:47 (single/video) | |||
| Label | Ensign (UK) Columbia (US) | |||
| Songwriters | Bob Geldof,Johnnie Fingers | |||
| Producer | Phil Wainman | |||
| The Boomtown Rats singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Music video | ||||
| "I Don't Like Mondays" onYouTube | ||||
| Audio | ||||
| "I Don't Like Mondays" onYouTube | ||||
"I Don't Like Mondays" is a song by Irish new wave groupthe Boomtown Rats about theCleveland Elementary School shooting inSan Diego. It was released in 1979 as the leadsingle from their third album,The Fine Art of Surfacing. The song was a number-one single in theUK Singles Chart for four weeks during the summer of 1979,[4] and ranks as the sixth-biggest hit of theUK in 1979.[5] Written byBob Geldof andJohnnie Fingers, the pianoballad[6] was the band's second single to reach number one on the UK chart.
According to Geldof, he wrote the song after reading atelex report[7] atGeorgia State University's campus radio station,WRAS, onthe shooting spree of 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer, who fired from her bedroom window 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".[8] Her flippant response attracted a lot of media attention and inspired the song.[9] Geldof had been contacted bySteve Jobs to play a gig for Apple, inspiring the opening line about a "silicon chip".[7] The song was first performed less than a month later.
Geldof explained how he wrote the song:
I was doing a radio interview inAtlanta withJohnnie 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'.[7] 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.[10]
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.[10] Spencer's family tried to prevent the single from being released in the United States, but were unsuccessful.[10]
In later years, Geldof stated that he regretted writing the song because he "made Brenda Spencer famous".[11]
In 2019, Geldof and 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.[12]
Released on Friday 13 July 1979, the song reached number one in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and South Africa, and the top 10 in several other countries. It was less successful in the US, reaching only number 73 on theBillboard Hot 100.[13]
In 1994, the song was re-released to promote the greatest-hits albumLoudmouth. It then peaked at number 38 on the UK singles chart.[14]
In the UK, the song won the Best Pop Song and Outstanding British Lyric categories at theIvor Novello Awards.[15]
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Canada (Music Canada)[42] | Gold | 75,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[43] | Gold | 500,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
On 9 September 1981, Geldof was joined on stage by fellow Boomtown Rat Johnnie Fingers to perform the song forThe Secret Policeman's Ball sponsored byAmnesty International.[44] A recording of that performance appears on the 1982 albumThe Secret Policeman's Other Ball.[45]
The Boomtown Rats performed the song forLive Aid atWembley Stadium in 1985.[46] 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 atWembley Stadium. This recorded performance features on Bon Jovi's live albumOne Wild Night Live 1985–2001, as well as on the bonus 2-CD edition ofThese Days.[47] Bon Jovi was again joined by Geldof for a performance of the song at TheO2 Arena on 23 June 2010, the 10th night of their 12-night residency.
Bob Geldof performed the song solo atLive 8 in 2005. Using much of the musical equipment used by rock bandTravis, who had just left the stage, Geldof decided on the "spur of the moment" to perform the song.[48] His performance included the mid-song "how to die" pause famously added during Live Aid.[citation needed]
A music video directed byDavid Mallet was used to promote the song. The video begins with the Boomtown Rats performing in a choir with children in the pews miming the chorus ("Tell Me Why?"). It then cuts to a family living room with the daughter just coming back from school but here the chorus is mimed by the other three band members to lead singerBob Geldof. It then transitions to a soft piano fill with Geldof in front of a white background wearing sunglasses singing the final verse of the single version. After the line "And the lesson today is how to die" a series ofjump cuts of Geldof quickly appear before he sings the last few lines. Afterwards the final chorus is presented this time mimed with the same children from the beginning. The clip ends with the Boomtown Rats looking at achroma key image of the house in a grassy plain from the video's opening image.
