9. I Don’t Like Mondays
(Geldof, 1979)
The Boomtown Rats - The Fine Art Of Surfacing

“I do think some people have become desensitized to violence. And it troubles me deeply. I’ve read about kids who get brought into hospitals, and they can’t believe their [gunshot] wounds actually hurt… It’s sad that after 20 years, ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’ [a song about a kid shooting up a school for “no reason”] is more relevant than ever. We decided to do that one around the time of the 2001 San Diego school shootings. That line about being ‘switched to overload’; I’ve seen that happen in my own family. My niece chased her mother with a knife the other evening - seriously. She calls me afterward and says, ‘Auntie, sometimes I just get really mad.’ And I’m like, ‘Whew.’ But that’s the thing. You can’t say that only the bad seeds do this. And some strange little girl has access to a certain type of weapon on that day the chip slips...I know we have a gun culture in America. But it shouldn’t be easier to get a gun than it is to get a driver’s license.” [Spin - October 2001]

“This is told from the point of view of the Texas Ranger who goes to the school, finds the first body in the stairwell, then finds the girl who’s killed everybody and kills her. [The Ranger] is licensed to do this; you would think that she’s justified in her act, but she’s having a difficult time with it because she doesn’t think this particular girl is a bad seed.” [AP - October 2001]

“[I Don’t Like Mondays] was sung from the point of view of the cop who went to the school that day, because I couldn’t hold the essence of the person who went and killed everybody. I had to be able to hold something in a structure of women, or I couldn’t be in the chair for them... I didn’t believe that this was a bad seed.” [Ice - September 2001]

“The song was written after the highschool murder in '79 in California where a young girl opened fire on her classmates. In my version of I Don’t Like Mondays I crawl under the skin of the (female) police officer who had to shoot the girl, that had opened fire. Out of self defense. She had a lot of difficulties with that, also because she, on that bloody Monday, was able to kill. At the time of the murder there was a lot of discussion about trading weapons in the USA. If kids can get a weapon so easily, who is responsible? It’s easier to get a weapon than to get your driving license.” [Oor - September 8, 2001]

Jerry Osborne: “I Don’t Like Mondays” is the title of the 1980 release, by the Boomtown Rats, that is indeed based on real events.  In a San Carlos, California schoolyard, on Monday January 29, 1979, 16-year-old Brenda Spencer appeared with a rifle she just received for Christmas, and began shooting.  By the time the unprovoked shooting rampage ended, the school’s principal and janitor were dead.  During the melee, Spencer also shot a police officer through the neck and wounded eight elementary school children.  When later asked why she did such this ghastly deed, Spencer is quoted as saying: “I don’t like Mondays.  This livens up the day.”  Boomtown Rats lead vocalist, Bob Geldof, eternalized her strange explanation in music with “I Don’t Like Mondays” (Columbia 11117).  Brenda Spencer’s days are not so lively now.  She is at the California Institute for Women in Frontera, serving the 20^th year of a 25-years-to-life sentence. [“Mr. Music” website - May 24, 1999]