(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please refer down below)
The Mamas & the Papas - "Monday, Monday"
Hit Number 1: May 7, 1966
Stay at Number 1: 3 Weeks
We live in a time where it seems no one can agree on anything. I can't tell you how many times I log into my social media accounts and I see people bickering about some stupid crap. It's an endless cycle. But there's one thing I think most of us can agree on: Monday sucks. After the fun of the weekend, no one is in the mood to go back to work or school. We would all rather sleep the whole day instead. Well in the Mamas & the Papas' smash hit "Monday, Monday", the morning is the GOOD part of the day. But at the end of the day, the narrator's lover has left them alone. The lyric explains "Monday morning couldn't guarantee/that Monday evening you would still be here with me". So Monday still sucks in the song, but not in the ways it sucks for everyone else.
The Mamas & the Papas were made up of a couple, John and Michelle Phillips, and two of their friends, Denny Doherty and Cass Elliott (popularly known as "Mama Cass"). John, who was the leader of the band, wrote "Monday, Monday" in just 20 minutes. The song is what made the group popular in the later half of the 60s: sunshine pop mixed with swirling harmonies and a steady beat. It's a lot like the group's first big hit "California Dreamin'", a complete masterpiece dedicated to the warm state of California during a cold fall/winter away. (It made it to #4 earlier in 1966, it's a 10) The group relied mostly on their harmonies, which contrasted greatly with the female voices of Michelle Phillips and Cass Elliott, and the male voices of Doherty and John Phillips. It's not too easy to blend in voices of the opposite gender, but these guys could be the best example of it.
"Monday, Monday" is not as great as "California Dreamin'", but it's still a great piece of quality song craft. Despite the song's somber lyrics, it's more on the happy side rather than the sad side. Though I think the lyrics are just placeholders to show off the group's musical skills, and there isn't supposed to be any "deep meaning" to the song. It's a song about Monday, and the fact that it sucks in more ways than one. The group's harmonies blend in together amazingly, and there's a free and easy vibe to it, making it one of the more simpler songs I've covered on this blog to date. It's not hard to see that Phillips put this song together in just 20 minutes. There's a false ending too, which I like for reasons I can't quite explain. I guess it just sounds cool. The song is a poor man's "California Dreamin'", though it's really not that "poor". It's just hard to top a song like "California Dreamin'".
Unfortunately, the Mamas & the Papas didn't last very long, and the group split up in 1968, just two years after "Monday, Monday" hit #1. They reunited for a brief time in 1971 to record the album "People Like Us", though by then they were done touring and performing live shows. It was the last thing they would ever do together. Mama Cass' death in 1974 all but ruined any chance of a reunion with the group, and today, Michelle Phillips is the only surviving member. But the group was a force in the late-1960s, and "Monday, Monday" is only scratching the surface of the importance of the Mamas & the Papas.
GRADE: 8/10
JUST MISSED:
Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Woman #12 & 35", which commands us to "get stoned", peaked at #2 behind "Monday, Monday". It's a 5.
SONG REFERENCED:
"California Dreamin'" - The Mamas & the Papas
MY INSPIRATION / MORE INFORMATION:
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