Tragedy is the inspiration for a famous hit

The song “I Don't Like Mondays” is now seen as an “anthem” for all those who find Mondays difficult and who look forward to the start of the work week without enthusiasm. However, in 1979, when the band “The Boomtown Rats” reached its peak with this single, there was a much darker story behind it.

At first glance, the song sounds like a typical late 1970s “new wave” hit, with a bright melody and catchy rhythm. That’s why it became a huge commercial success, becoming the sixth best-selling single in the UK in 1979. However, the song’s lyrics are about an event that has nothing light or fun about it.

The song was inspired by the 1979 Cleveland Elementary School shooting in San Diego, when sixteen-year-old Brenda Spencer, who lived across the street from the school, opened fire, killing the school principal and a janitor, and wounding eight children and a police officer. When asked about her motive, her answer was simple and shocking: “I don’t like Mondays.”

Bob Geldof, the song's author, later explained how the idea came about almost by accident. During a radio interview in Atlanta, while a telex was working next to him, he read the news about the event and was taken aback.

“For someone to say that they didn't like Mondays as a reason for such an act was completely incomprehensible,” he said. On the way back to the hotel, he began to think about it and wrote down a few verses.

Geldof emphasized that it was the senselessness of the entire event that led him to write the song.

"It was a perfectly senseless act, and this was a perfectly senseless reason. I may have written a perfectly senseless poem to portray that. It was not an attempt to exploit the tragedy," he said.

Because of the contrast between the cheerful melody and the heavy subject matter, the song initially seemed like a risky choice. Geldof even considered it unsuitable for a single and thought it might end up on the B-side. When the record company insisted on releasing it, his response was: "It's not a hit."

Nevertheless, the song was a huge success, winning the title of Single of the Year in the UK and spending four weeks at number one. Over time, it entered the general culture and became a recognizable expression, although its creation is linked to a tragic event.

Years later, Brenda Spencer wrote a letter to Geldof from prison, saying she was glad she had done so because the song had made her famous. The contact left a deep impression on him, and, as he later said, it was “not easy to live with.”

MV