♫ Rainy Days And Mondays ♫

Posted on by under music

Given the fact that it’s Monday, I thought I’d play Monday, Monday by The Mamas And The Papas, but a search of the archives shows me that I just played that in July!  How do I forget these thing so quickly???  Anyway, the next ‘Monday’ song that came to mind was this one by the Carpenters, and it actually seems more apt today anyway.

Paul Williams wrote this with Roger Nichols. It was an early effort for the duo, who went on to write hits for Three Dog Night and separately wrote popular TV themes: Williams for The Love Boat and Nichols for Hart To Hart.

Sometimes song lyrics are written on the fly, and that was the case with a line in this song. Says Williams:

“On ‘Rainy Days And Mondays’ Chuck Kay, who was head of publishing at A&M, said, ‘That’s a perfect song for The 5th Dimension, let’s play it for them.’ I said, ‘Well, there are a couple of lines that aren’t done yet.’ He said, ‘You’ll finish it in the car.’ So in the car going over there, I came up with a fill line, which was ‘What I’ve got they used to call the blues.’ I didn’t have that line done yet, so I wrote it as just a quick fill line, because I wanted to mention the blues, but it was such a hackneyed expression, ‘I’ve got the blues.’ So I just wrote, ‘What I’ve got they used to call the blues.’ And it actually became my favorite line in the song. I think it’s the best line in the song. I met Johnny Mercer once at A&M Records, and he sat down and I introduced myself, ‘Paul Williams,’ and he shook my hand. And he walked back into the studio where he was mixing, then he stuck his head back out into the hall and he went, ‘Paul Williams, ‘what I’ve got they used to call the blues,’ that Paul Williams?’ I said, ‘Yes, sir.’ It was funny. It was one of the great moments of my life, to meet Johnny Mercer, who I think was the lyricist’s lyricist.”

The 5th Dimension passed on this song, but the Carpenters picked it up, giving them their second hit written by Williams and Nichols, who also wrote We’ve Only Just Begun. Williams’ acting career took off as he landed roles in Battle For The Planet Of The Apes and Smokey And The Bandit. He also appeared in The Muppet Movie and wrote songs for the film, including the classic Rainbow Connection.

Rainy Days and Mondays
The Carpenters

Talkin’ to myself and feelin’ old
Sometimes I’d like to quit
Nothin’ ever seems to fit
Hangin’ around
Nothin’ to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

What I’ve got they used to call the blues
Nothin’ is really wrong
Feelin’ like I don’t belong
Walkin’ around
Some kind of lonely clown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

Funny, but it seems I always wind up here with you
Nice to know somebody loves me
Funny, but it seems that it’s the only thing to do
Run and find the one who loves me (the one who loves me)

What I feel has come and gone before
No need to talk it out (talk it out)
We know what it’s all about
Hangin’ around (hangin’ around)
Nothin’ to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

Funny, but it seems that it’s the only thing to do (only thing to do)
Run and find the one who loves me (ooh)

What I feel has come and gone before
No need to talk it out (to talk it out)
We know what it’s all about
Hangin’ around (hangin’ around)
Nothin’ to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down
Hangin’ around (hangin’ around)
Nothin’ to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get
Me down

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Paul H. Williams / Roger S. Nichols
Rainy Days and Mondays lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

40 thoughts on “♫ Rainy Days And Mondays ♫”

  2. I wasn’t exactly a fan of the Carpenters but this song is lovely. It was a shame Karen became so ill and finally died so suddenly. It seems there are better treatments for her condition now. You don’t hear of as many people dying of it. It seems they find a treatment for one thing and another one comes along. Thanks, Jill. 🙂 — Suzanne

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  4. I was talking to the American pride in you, which came out loud and clear. As a person with indigenous blood in me, we cannot forgive. As it is, considering what both the USA and Canada did to my ancestors, I am lucky I was ever born. The anger is historic.
    My comment wasnever meant to be taken personally, except in that you were the one to show that American pride.

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    • Hah! I have no pride in this country any more, if I ever did. I see some good things that have happened here, but in the past four years, this nation has been stripped of any claim to pride. I did not take your comment personally at all, but perhaps I misunderstood it. I took it as banter, and responded in kind. But do remember, rg, that this is a very difficult time for me and others in this country who are watching our nation go up in flames, and sometimes it isn’t necessary to pour salt in the wounds. LuL

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      • Hmmm, that comment was actually directed to Dweezer, maybe your blog doesn’t show that.
        But as far as pouring salt into wounds, and I know you have a lot of them right now, maybe this the best time to remind you, once again, to use the phraseology of the Catholic Church, your house is built on sand, sand that soaked up the blood of unknown numbers of people indigenous to this continrnt named for a European. We, meaning my indigenous relatives, should have realized right away, white men were nothing but liars and thieves…

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  5. Sorry, but I never took to the Carpenters – too sickly sweet for my taste, though I appreciate Karen had a lovely voice. My favourite Monday song is I Don’t Like Mondays, by the Boomtown Rats. The story behind why it was written would make a good post for you, I think: music and a political rant!

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  11. JILL! Smack yourself on the head. Paul Williams, is the writer and star of the cult classic, The Phantom of the Paradise, the total flop that we in Winnipeg saved from the garbage heap, and now is known around the world. No musicology, discology, of filmology for Paul H. Williams is complete without The Phantom of the Paradise and all the great music in it.
    If ever a wake is held for me when I die, there are three songs from this album that I want played at it. Along with a number of others I have forgotten over the years. (I once made a list, but lost it!) Starting with The Phantoms Theme (Beauty and the Beast), followed by Old Souls, and climaxing with The Hell of It, Paul Williams was incredible.
    Along with Eric Burdon and a host of others, Paul had a cameo in Oliver Stone’s, The Doors, My memory if faulty, but I believe he played Andy Warhol.
    I actually did not know Williams wrote the lyrics for this song, but knowing this it is fairly obvious. The phraseology is definitely his style.
    I am normally not a big Carpenters fan. This is one of their better releases.

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    • Well, as it happens, rg, I DID smack myself upside the head, though for an entirely different reason! I have never heard of The Phantom of the Paradise!!! However, I have duly made note of your eulogy requests, though I shall likely be gone long before your, my friend.

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      • You gone first? Neither of us will ever be gone, Jill, our spirits will always exist, as as the words to Old Souls suggest, our souls have passed and parted, this love affair was started long, long ago. Our love survives the ages, in its story lives are pages, fill them up, may ours turn slow…. We need never say goodbye, no tears, in time we kiss “Hello!”
        The three songs I mentioned are songs for the ages.
        The movie, in its own right, is a piece of shit. Totally nonsensical. But the music! This is the music of the spheres. When he wrote it, Paul was in touch with his eternal spirit. He gave voice to the voiceless. From the first time I saw the movie, I knew I was caught in a web I would never want want to escape. The spider, whoever or whatever it might be, would not suck me dry, but rather replenish my spirit, over and over and over. If I wax poetic, it is only because I connect with what I hear in these songs. Always I forget about them, and then, something, like your post reconnects me, and I feel the wonder of discovering life all over again. I can never get enough.
        A tale of beauty, and the beast… beauty being our spirits, the beast being our material bodies. I can even love the iDJiT today, he is definitely the Beast this lifetime. And while he will have a long long way to go, he will become Beauty. It is inevitable, as it is for all of us.

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      • Now, on the Beast side of life, I just learned that in Humboldt County, California, they have a bylaw that reads something like: It is illegal to sleep prone on the ground overnight. People are arrested and thrown in jail if they are found lying asleep on the ground.
        This cannot be legal! It certainly is not humane. Yet, amazingly enough, there are still homeless people there. They have learned to sleep sitting up. Unconscionable!!!

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