Cover Me Impressed: 'I Don't Like Mondays'

I just completed a less-than-stellar day. This one seems appropriate.

Bob Geldof's punk outfit the Boomtown Rats had a minor hit (No. 73) here in America with "I Don't Like Mondays" back in 1979. Through the years, I feel like this song has gained quite a bit more momentum than this weak charting suggests. First of all, it was a No.-1 smash in the UK, but Geldof's increased stature in the music community, as well as its appearance on numerous new-wave compilations and one-hit wonder lists, could have had something to do with it. Perhaps the best-known cover of the song, unfortunately, is by Bon Jovi, but I really like what Ron Sexsmith did with it. He's pretty true to the original, but it's done in that understated Sexsmith way. You can find the song on his 2003 import album 'Rarities.' The original can be found on the Boomtown Rats' 1980 album 'The Fine Art of Surfacing.' Both are worth spending a few bucks.

As for the origins of the song itself, Geldof tells quite a tale. He wrote it right after 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer went on a shooting spree at a playground in San Diego that killed two adults and injured eight children and one police officer. When a reporter asked "tell me why," Spencer said, without an ounce of remorse, "I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day." OK, maybe my Monday wasn't so bad after all.

The Boomtown Rats - I Don't Like Mondays (mp3)
Ron Sexsmith - I Don't Like Mondays (mp3)

More Cover Me Impressed:
"Half a Boy and Half a Man"
"Money Changes Everything"/"The Right Stuff"
"I Put a Spell on You"
"Johnny, Are You Queer?"
"Superman"
"Voices"
"Almost Saturday Night"
"Too Many Teardrops"
"Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me"
"They Don't Know"
"Everybody's Talkin'"
"What Goes On"
"There Is A Light That Never Goes Out"
Halloween Edition
"Porpoise Song"
"Prairie Rose"
"Come On Eileen"
"Walking On Thin Ice"
Jason Falkner Edition
"True Love Will Find You In The End"
"This Will Be Our Year"
"You're My Favorite Waste of Time"
"Nightime/Thirteen"
"The End Of The World"
"(Don't Go Back To)Rockville"
"God Only Knows"
"And Your Bird Can Sing"
"So Sad About Us"
"Everywhere"
"Walking The Cow"