The Boomtown Rats' 'I Don't Like Mondays:' The Strange Story Of Its Lyrics And Meaning

By | July 25, 2020

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Left: The Boomtown Rats on the single sleeve of 'I Don't Like Mondays.' Right: Brenda Spencer in handcuffs following the shooting. Sources: discogs.com; Wikimedia Commons

The Boomtown Rats' "I Don't Like Mondays," a fun-sounding little song that went to #1 in the UK, isn't about mere start-of-week grumpiness -- it was inspired by the Grover Cleveland Elementary School shooting in San Diego. On January 29, 1979, 16-year-old Brenda Spencer fired 30 shots into a crowd of children waiting to be let in to school, killing two adults and wounding eight kids; when asked why she did it, she replied “I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day.” Bob Geldof, singer and songwriter of the Boomtown Rats, found a song pouring out of him with this infamous phrase as its chorus.

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Four little words to spark Bob Geldof's creativity. (ohshit.riotfest.org)

Sometimes greatness can emerge from the worst situations. There’s no better example of that than the Boomtown Rats’ 1979 hit song, “I don’t like Mondays.” Brenda Spencer's remorseless response struck a chord with Geldof, who immediately came up with the song's opening lines:

The silicon chip inside her head
Gets switched to overload
And nobody's gonna go to school today
She's going to make them stay at home

The song continues:

And daddy doesn't understand it
He always said she was as good as gold
And he can see no reason 'cause there are no reasons
What reason do you need to be shown?
(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 shoot
The whole day down
The telex machine is kept so clean
And it types to a waiting world
Her 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
No, it ain't so neat to admit defeat
They can see no reasons 'cause there are no reasons
What reason do you need, oh, ohoho
(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 shoot
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 a while
And school's out early and soon we be learning
And the lesson today is how to die
And then the bullhorn crackles and the captain tackles
With the problems and the hows and whys
And he can see no reasons 'cause there are no reasons
What reason do you need to die, die, ohoho
And the silicon chip inside her head
Gets switched to overload, oh
And nobody's gonna go to school today
She's going to make them stay at home
And daddy doesn't understand it
He always said she was as good as gold
And he can see no reason 'cause there are no reasons
What reason do you need to be shown?
(Tell me why) I don't like Mondays
(Tell me why) I don't like Mondays
(Tell me why) I don't like, I don't like
(Tell me why) I don't like Mondays
Tell me why I don't like, I don't like
(Tell me why) I don't like Mondays
Tell me why I don't like Mondays
I wanna shoot
The whole day down

The single about “shooting down” the worst day of the week ranked #1 in the UK for four weeks and became an 80’s classic despite its incredibly morbid inspiration.