⭐ Official Review [Single]: 6. "RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS"/"SATURDAY" (1260-S)

[adam]

Rainy Days and Mondays..Chart facts.

Australia.35
Canada.3
New zealand.19
Singapore.2
USA.2

 

[Another Son]

Rainy Days and Mondays - Brilliant performance, brilliant arrangement, brilliant production, brilliant matching of melody to lyrics... What else can you say? Well, Paul Gambaccini, of Rolling Stone magazine, steered clear of being as ecstatic, but at least he didn't bag the single outright in his 1971 mention, (Page 47, Rolling Stone, July 8th, 1971):- "The Carpenters are at, or near, the top of the chart of whatever Top 40 station is in your town. That sentence is appropriate every three months; the song that makes it ring true this June is "Rainy Days and Mondays", (A&M 1260). I refuse to knock the Carpenters. This is their fourth gold single, which is four more than I have. "Rainy Days and Mondays" is not the only duo-level easy-listening / teenybop 45 to assault our ears lately. Bobby Sherman sounds more nightclubby than ever on "The Drum", (Metromedia 217)"....(etc).

First time I've heard it implied that "Rainy Days and Mondays" is a teenybopper tune. Also, just thinking over his inference about the assault on the ears.....

 

[Proudofyou]

God bless Paul Williams.

 

[David A]

Rainy Days and Mondays - Brilliant performance, brilliant arrangement, brilliant production, brilliant matching of melody to lyrics... What else can you say? Well, Paul Gambaccini, of Rolling Stone magazine, steered clear of being as ecstatic, but at least he didn't bag the single outright in his 1971 mention, (Page 47, Rolling Stone, July 8th, 1971):- "The Carpenters are at, or near, the top of the chart of whatever Top 40 station is in your town. That sentence is appropriate every three months; the song that makes it ring true this June is "Rainy Days and Mondays", (A&M 1260). I refuse to knock the Carpenters. This is their fourth gold single, which is four more than I have. "Rainy Days and Mondays" is not the only duo-level easy-listening / teenybop 45 to assault our ears lately. Bobby Sherman sounds more nightclubby than ever on "The Drum", (Metromedia 217)"....(etc).

First time I've heard it implied that "Rainy Days and Mondays" is a teenybopper tune. Also, just thinking over his inference about the assault on the ears.....

Rainy Days and Mondays has always meant a lot to me, and is never off my top 3 most-listened to Carpenters songs. I know many of us have heard the hits so many times we get "sick" of them; I never seem to get sick of this one. One of their best.

 

[CraigGA]

I also like the one tied with Superstar in the Rainy Days medley from the First Television Special that is also on the list for As Time Goes By CD.

 

[NowhereMan]

That aside, the song is one of my favourites and I love the story Paul Williams told about his mother in Little Girl Blue. He'd coined the line "talkin' to myself and feeling old" from her and the day they first heard it on the radio in the car, she began to cry. When Paul said the lyric was inspired by her, she denied she ever talked to herself, exclaiming "you're crazy!". Very sweet story.

This reminded me of this clip of Paul Williams recounting much the same back story to "Rainy Days and Mondays." For me, it adds an even deeper dimension to a song that has always resounded with me.

 

[John Adam]

Talkin' to myself and feelin' old
Sometimes I'd like to quit
Nothin' ever seems to fit
Hangin' around
Nothin' to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down
What I've got they used to call the blues
Nothin' is really wrong
Feelin' like I don't belong
Walkin' around
Some kind of lonely clown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down
Funny, but it seems I always wind up here with you
Nice to know somebody loves me
Funny, but it seems that it's the only thing to do
Run and find the one who loves me (the one who loves me)
What I feel has come and gone before
No need to talk it out (talk it out)
We know what it's all about
Hangin' around (hangin' around)
Nothin' to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down
Funny, but it seems that it's the only thing to do (only thing to do)
Run and find the one who loves me
What I feel has come and gone before
No need to talk it out
We know what it's all about
Hangin' around (hangin' around)
Nothin' to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down
Hangin' around (hangin' around)
Nothin' to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get
Me down

Like a Monday here on the Carpenters Forum when not one person has posted! Rainy Days and Mondays always get........me downnnnnnn
Just saw "Rick AOF" posted something. I stand corrected.

 

[Shalom Bresticker]

One of my favorites.
Both vocals and arrangement.

 

[Harry]

There's something that always bugged me about the way Carpenters did this song on TV and videos. They of course, most of the time, performed it to the original studio recording, which is fine. The part that bugs me is that almost universally when Karen sings "Hangin' around... (hangin' around...)" the camera seems to cut to one of the members of the band, sometimes Richard, lip-synching the backing "(hangin' around...)", which is clearly Karen's voice on the track. It always looks silly to me that guys are lip-synching that part.

It was clearly designed that way since Karen is holding the note from the first "around" while the overdubbed words come in behind her.

 

[GDBY2LV]

I agree. In the live performances she sings Hangin’ Aroayound. It bugged me too. It’s one of their best songs. They didn’t do all the ahhhs at the end of GBY2LV either though. Maybe just tired of singing them over and over, concert after concert made for the changes, and doing short medleys instead of full length versions we all love.

 

[Simon KC1950]

There's something that always bugged me about the way Carpenters did this song on TV and videos. They of course, most of the time, performed it to the original studio recording, which is fine. The part that bugs me is that almost universally when Karen sings "Hangin' around... (hangin' around...)" the camera seems to cut to one of the members of the band, sometimes Richard, lip-synching the backing "(hangin' around...)", which is clearly Karen's voice on the track. It always looks silly to me that guys are lip-synching that part.

It was clearly designed that way since Karen is holding the note from the first "around" while the overdubbed words come in behind her.

It always bugs me when they "performed" to a studio recording... a studio recording which features only Karen and Richard on backing vocals/overdubbed harmonies... yet they have their backing band lip singing to these parts! That fantastic sound is coming from Karen and Richard alone and I feel this would have been misleading for an audience watching who didn't know it.

RDAM video is a good example.... as is the studio recording used for the Bacharach/David Medley on the Live At The BBC Special,.

 

[Bobberman]

I voted for Rainy Days and Mondays it was one of the earliest Carpenter songs I remember as a small kid hearing it continuously on the radio

 

[Carpe diem]

Close To You was the realization that Karen's voice was something special but RD&M connected with me on an emotional level. She was living the lyrics she sang and I could relate.