10 Songs About Monday You’ll Love to Overcome Monday Blues
When the alarm goes off and that dread sinks in, you’re left to face a cold, harsh truth–the weekend is over and Monday has arrived. And that’s never a fun feeling. So here are some of my favorite songs about Monday—ones that express the range of emotions we all feel when it’s time to roll out of bed and head back to work.
Best Songs About Monday We Love
Let’s begin with a song by The Bangles.
Manic Monday by The Bangles
“Manic Monday” might be the most recognizable Monday song there is. Singer Susanna Hoffs is in the midst of a dream involving a dreamy Italian lover in a picturesque blue paradise backdrop, when she rudely awakens and realizes it’s Monday morning and she’s late for work.
This single never reached a number one spot, but gave The Bangles more worldwide attention than they ever enjoyed previously. Although it was a breakthrough single for them, it was actually written by Prince.
There are a lot of little nuances to the song that work to make it so hopelessly catchy– the strings behind the chorus, the vocal harmonies, the fun meandering keyboards between lines in the verse. Roll in the fact that literally no one wakes up happy to go to work on Monday, and we’re all singing along with Susanna dreading the 9 to 5.
Blue Monday by New Order
Few songs define an era quite like New Order’s “Blue Monday.” Coming in with a thumping beat and slow-building dance groove that dominated the club scene in the 1980’s, the song fused various synth sounds, hooks, and parts from other singles to create an amalgam of pure dance new wave pop.
In contrast to the upbeat music and dance vibes, the lyrics deal with emotional turmoil. Singer Bernard Sumner has learned something startling about the subject of the song, presumably his lover, and he’s not sure how to feel about it. He urges repeatedly, “How do I feel? Tell me now, how do I feel?”
Despite the massive success that it became, the band did not care for the song and felt that, despite the feelings expressed in the lyrics, that it was mostly devoid of emotion and focused purely on music. Nonetheless, “Blue Monday” is one of the most recognizable songs from the 80’s and remains a killer track to this day.
Monday by Imagine Dragons
Imagine Dragons have always been a polarizing band. With a number of chart-topping singles and breakthrough successes throughout the 2010’s era, many fans were attracted to the band’s synthesis of pop, rock, alternative, and dance.
Nowhere is this fusion more present than in 2021’s “Monday,” which features a thick sawtooth bass, a groovy beat, twangy guitars, and breathy vocals by Dan Reynolds that build into layered harmonies and falsettos that soar. Although Monday gets a bad rap, Reynolds equates the subject of the song as his Monday, “the best day of the week” since it always brings a “brand new start.” Overall, “Monday” is a killer tune that’ll get the party moving and grooving all the way to the weekend.
Monday, Monday by The Mamas & The Papas
Break out the tie-dye bandanas and tambourines for this 1960’s classic by The Mamas & The Papas. “Monday, Monday” is a fun tune about the not-so-fun feeling that we get after the weekend disappears and the work week begins on Monday morning. Released in 1966, it was the first even number one single with a day of the week in the title, and the only one to date that used “Monday.”
The Mamas & The Papas use a quiet, clean guitar tone against a mid-tempo tambourine, soft sweeping string melodies, a quirky bass line, and vocal harmonies that are more robust than a full-bodied Cabernet. The verse and chorus are great, but the real fun begins when the bridge comes in with, “Every other day, every other day of the week is fine.”
Unfortunately, even The Mamas & The Papas are “cryin’ all of the time” when Monday comes.
Monday Monday Monday by Tegan and Sara
Indie pop duo Tegan and Sara might have developed into a dance pop, indie alt fusion, but “Monday Monday Monday” from their third studio album drips with punk rock potential. Beneath the clean guitar tones and the upbeat bass-snare drum combo, there’s a rawness conveyed by the vocals and a frustration. She says “damn your mood swings! Damn your mood swings!”
What we have here is a song about a breakup or hot-and-cold type relationship that burns and cools on a weekly basis, and by Monday it’s stone cold. By “Monday Monday Monday,” their lover has moved on, and although she tries convincing herself that she doesn’t “really care about it anymore,” she does “lay awake and miss [them] when [they] go.”
The guitar chords, vocal harmonies, and repeating refrain of “Monday Monday Monday” just make this song an absolute earwig. It’s an underrated classic from this Canadian duo.
Thank God It’s Monday by NOFX
On their eighth studio album, NOFX and singer “Fat Mike” bring that trademark fast punk, hard rockin’ riffs from start to finish. “Thank God It’s Monday” takes the trope of dreading Monday and flips it on its head, sung from the perspective of someone extremely grateful that it’s Monday.
To them, every day is virtually the same because they “don’t gotta go to work. Every day is a holiday.” Since they’ve got nowhere to be, they love weekdays and Mondays and hate Fridays instead since the movies are packed and the restaurants are booked.
Clocking in at just over a minute and a half, “Thank God It’s Monday” is your straightforward no-nonsense power chord driven punk tune. It’s in-your-face, rocks hard, and brings a tongue-in-cheek humor that’s so classic for Fat Mike and NOFX.
Monday to Monday by Roy Woods
Rapper, singer, and songwriter Roy Woods got his big break back in 2015 when Drake’s manager discovered and signed him. This track, “Monday to Monday,” has an understated subtlety in its heavy bass, ethereal strings, melancholic piano melodies, and Roy’s smooth vocals perched atop a flawless mix. You can expect nothing less from OVO Sound.
“Monday to Monday” is a special kind of soundscape that works best as a backdrop during a lonely night drive. Lyrically, the chorus juxtaposes the hustle of making money all week with the escape offered by ecstasy and Xanax on the weekend. The result leaves Woods with a mix of good and bad karma, made all the more tolerable by church on Sunday before putting his “mind on [his] money” come Monday.
Monday Mornin’ Missin’ You by Blake Shelton
Even folks that don’t listen to country music know Blake Shelton from his massive musical career success and his role since 2011 as a coach on The Voice. Hailing from his twelfth studio album comes “Monday Mornin’ Missin’ You.”
Lyrically, Shelton paints a picture of himself out at the bar all weekend “drinking 2-for-1s way past two.” He’s partying big and drinking away the weekend, but come Sunday he starts to reflect that it might be a mask for his pain. By Monday morning, he’s ready to admit that it’s a coping method for the loss of his lover, who may be “layin’ there with somebody else.”
He keeps the pain at bay all weekend with drinking and partying, but really he is mourning the loss of the relationship. Come Monday morning, he must face the reality that she’s left him, and it hurts.
If you’re looking for some good country songs about Mondays, definitely give this Blake Shelton track a spin.
Come Monday by Jimmy Buffett
Jimmy Buffett is most known for his bright Hawaiian shirts, unrivaled chill vibes, and wasting away again in “Margaritaville,” but that doesn’t detract from his more serious side. In “Come Monday,” Buffett shows us a little insight into the mind of the chill-licensed future superstar, singing about how he’s looking forward to coming home after a set of consecutive shows.
The song was written as a love song to future wife Jane Slagsvol, and became his first single to enter the Top 40. Today, Buffett includes “Come Monday” as part of his “Big 8,” which are played at almost all of his live shows and features other classics like “Margaritaville” and “Cheeseburger in Paradise.”
I Don’t Like Mondays by The Boomtown Rats
Unless you’re paying attention to the lyrics of “I Don’t Like Mondays” by The Boomtown Rats, you may not notice the dark content present in the otherwise light-hearted sounding tune. It was their second number one single and most recognizable song today, featuring a bright and soulful piano melody and minimal percussion present only in the chorus where the backing vocals urge singer Bob Geldof to “tell me why” he doesn’t like Mondays.
The song was written about, or at least inspired by, Brenda Spencer, a 16-year-old who openly fired on children at a school playground across the street from her home. The shooting injured eight children and one police officer and killed two adults. When asked why she committed the atrocity, she simply stated, “I don’t like Mondays.”
Unfortunately, The Boomtown Rats created an incredibly catchy song to draw attention to the simplicity and absurdity of Spencer’s logic. According to Geldof, it was not “an attempt to exploit tragedy” and rather a “senseless song to illustrate” a senseless act.
Conclusion
Monday may not be the most popular day of the week, but that didn’t stop our favorite artists and bands from pumping out hit after hit about the unpopular day of the week. These various songs about Monday can fill us with a wide array of emotions, which is what makes us keep coming back to them year after year and decade after decade.
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