I Don't Like Mondays - The Boomtown Rats, 1979

The silicon chip inside her head
Gets switched to overload
And nobody’s gonna go to school today
She’s gonna make them stay at home
And daddy doesn’t understand it
He always said she was good as gold
And he can see no reasons
'Cus there are no reasons
What reason do you need to be show-ow-ow-ow-own?

Tell me why
I don’t like Mondays
Tell me why
I don’t like Mondays
Tell me why
I don’t like Mondays
I wanna shoo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oot the whole day down

The Telex machine is kept so clean
And it types to a waiting world
And mother feels so shocked
Father’s world is rocked
And their thoughts turn to their own little girl
Sweet 16 ain’t that peachy keen
Now that ain’t so neat to admit defeat
They can see no reasons
'Cus there are no reasons
What reasons do you need?
Oh Oh Oh Oh

Tell me why
I don’t like Mondays
Tell me why
I don’t like Mondays
Tell me why
I don’t like Mondays
I wanna shoo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oot
The whole day down, down, down, shoot it all down

And all the playing's stopped in the playground now
She wants to play with the toys awhile
And school's out early and soon we'll be learning
And the lesson today is how to die
And then the bullhorn crackles
And the captain tackles
(With the problems of the how's and why's)
And he can see no reasons
'Cus there are no reasons
What reason do you need to die, die?
Oh Oh Oh

---

Long before the name Columbine became synonymous with mass murder and youth alienation, 16 year old Brenda Ann Spencer of San Diego made the headlines. On January 29, 1979, she shot and killed two men, and wounded eight students along with a police officer. When first asked why she would commit such brutal and seemingly incomprehensible crimes, she replied simply: "I don't like Mondays"

Bob Geldof of an Irish New Wave band named The Boomtown Rats heard this news first on a Telex machine, and was inspired to write I Don't Like Mondays. Released in July of that year, it was a #1 hit in the UK but only #79 in the United States. This, apparently, was due to Bob Geldof's antagonistic attitude towards that country and its radio stations. The San Diego stations refused to play the song at all for sensitivity reasons. It should be noted that the song went to #4 in Canada.

The Boomtown Rats had limited success after that, and disbanded in 1986. Bob Geldof, on the other hand, went onto become one of the world's best known humanitarians. He spear-headed Band Aid, a make-shift effort on the part of musicians to raise money for the plight of Ethiopia. This was followed by Live Aid, and even more ambitious effort on behalf of Africa.