♫ Monday, Monday ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

Another Monday, another Monday song!  Don’t know how much longer I’ll keep this up, but at least for this week and next week, I have Monday songs to play!

While awaiting the release of California Dreamin’, band member Denny Doherty was prodding songwriter John Phillips to come up with some new material. Phillips said he would come back in the morning with “A song with universal appeal.”  Monday, Monday was that song, which Phillips said took him all of about 20 minutes to write.

Interestingly, Doherty, who sang lead on this song for The Mamas & the Papas thought very little of Monday Monday when they recorded it.

“Nobody likes Monday, so I thought it was just a song about the working man. Nothing about it stood out to me; it was a dumb f–kin’ song about a day of the week.”

As you can imagine, he was taken by surprise when the song became a huge hit. Doherty wasn’t alone in his incredulity: Mama Cass and Michelle Phillips didn’t like the song either, and John Phillips claimed he had no idea what the song meant.

The Mamas & the Papas used top-tier Los Angeles studio musicians on their recordings. On this track, Larry Knechtel played keyboards, Joe Osborn played bass, Hal Blaine was on drums and P.F. Sloan played guitar. Sloan was the baby of the bunch, just 20 years old when the song was released in 1966.

On March 2, 1967, the Mamas & the Papas won a Grammy Award for this song, in the category Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.  The song was performed at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. The performance was filmed for the movie of the festival, but not included in the final print.

The song charted at #1 in Canada and the U.S., #3 in the UK

Monday, Monday
The Mamas & the Papas

Bah da bah da da da
Bah da bah da da da
Bah da bah da da da

Monday, Monday, so good to me
Monday mornin’, it was all I hoped it would be
Oh Monday mornin’, Monday mornin’ couldn’t guarantee
That Monday evenin’ you would still be here with me

Monday, Monday, can’t trust that day
Monday, Monday, sometimes it just turns out that way
Oh Monday mornin’ you gave me no warnin’ of what was to be
Oh Monday, Monday, how could you leave and not take me

Every other day, every other day
Every other day of the week is fine, yeah
But whenever Monday comes, but whenever Monday comes
A you can find me cryin’ all of the time

Monday, Monday, so good to me
Monday mornin’, it was all I hoped it would be
But Monday mornin’, Monday mornin’ couldn’t guarantee
That Monday evenin’ you would still be here with me

Every other day, every other day
Every other day of the week is fine, yeah
But whenever Monday comes, but whenever Monday comes
A you can find me cryin’ all of the time

Monday, Monday, can’t trust that day
Monday, Monday, it just turns out that way
Oh Monday, Monday, won’t go away
Monday, Monday, it’s here to stay
Oh Monday, Monday
Oh Monday, Monday

Writer/s: JOHN EDMUND ANDREW PHILLIPS
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

25 thoughts on “♫ Monday, Monday ♫ (Redux)”

    • Glad you liked the song! Yes, Mondays for me are a chance to get back into my routine, but I remember when I had a job, Mondays were the pits! Hope you had a good Monday and that the rest of the week will be calm and peaceful! xx

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  5. Yes I agree with Clive and rawgod it’s the harmony and voices we love in their songs. I seem to recall my favourite pop star in my Australian teen years, Ronnie Burns, who nobody outside Australia has heard of, made a cover version of this, but not as good as the original.

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  6. Whatever it was about, and whether they liked it or not, I’ve always liked this one. Their harmonies were so good and this song displays them at their best. By the way, did you know that P.F. Sloan, who plays on this, wrote Eve Of Destruction?

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  7. Listening to the words and the sentiment expressed, one might almost think John had a weekend fling and was surprised when he came home Mondsy night to discover the girl was still in his apartment. (Michelle, maybe?)
    I doubt it was the words made this song a hit, it was the upbeat sound and the beautiful mix of melodious voices. Harmony was a watchword of the age, “Peace and Harmony,” and one thing the Mamas and Papas portrayed beautifully was harmony. The words would have been superfluous.
    Just my interpretation for today. Tomorrow might be totally different.

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