Thank you for the days IV: Sunday

And so, the fourth iteration of this blog series comes to an end. Congratulations if you made it to the end. Just remember, however trying you found it, I had to write this stuff.

Sonic Youth have not featured on these pages often enough. Let's start remedying that now, with their Sunday from 1998, which is laden with all the motorik rhythms and scuzzy guitar you might expect. The slightly odd video features a late-teen Macaulay Culkin.

Next up, The Doors, with Blue Sunday from 1970's Morrison Hotel. This is alright, though Jim's lyrics are far from his best. It's a simpler, bluesier affair than most of the previous album though, and no worse for that. Of its time, maybe, but then aren't most things?

Let's end with some Cranberries. Sunday was the third track on their debut album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? and was also released as a promo single in the US. It's archetypal Cranberries: Marr-inspired guitars, Dolores's distinctive vocals, syncopated drums and singalong lyrics... what's not to like?

Well, at least this all ended on something good. Hard to imagine there will ever be another round of Thank you for the days ... but then last time I confidently wrote, "There will be no part IV. Part IVs are for Star Wars episodes and Rocky. Don't even try to persuade me."

But really, that's it: the end. I mean it this time. Honest.

Thank you for the days IV: Saturday

Saturday. Just get this out of the way, then we can all look forward to the end.

Let's start with something bright and breezy: this is Saturday by Saint Etienne. If you are generally well-disposed to the band, everything you already like is present and correct here. As an aside, Sarah and the other two (sorry) have announced their final tour, with dates across the UK in September. Miss it and miss out, as they say.

Surprise time - I bet you didn't have Sam Fender on your New Amusements bingo card, did you? No, me neither. But whisper it quietly, this is alright, for modern chart fare. God, I hate how old I sound. Anyway, adjust your expectations and see if you can stick with this... Bonus Super Hans content in the video too.

One more Saturday, this time by Starbenders. I know nothing about them other than that they have a terrible name (admittedly that's opinion, not fact). This has a nice jangly intro that caught my ear, but sadly after that this descends into disposable MOR territory. For all this sounds like it came from somewhere in the 1987-1992 soft rock wasteland, it was actually recorded and released this year. Amazing.

Only Sunday left - please join me in a collective sigh of relief.

Thank you for the days IV: Friday

Friday. We can soon put this series out of its misery. If it were a horse, etc...

Lily Allen is a funny one, in my book. She managed to dodge the nepo baby tag by actually being objectively quite good at her thing, early doors. Now, apparently, she's made a whole album slating her ex hubby. But this, Friday Night is from her first flush, and is a great short story song.

Here's a very different Friday Night, from The Darkness. I don't mind Justin Hawkins - he doesn't take himself too seriously, at least he doesn't seem to, but on the quiet he is a proper aficionado, with strong, informed opinions about music in general and the music business in particular. Either way, Justin and his mates seem like they had fun making this. Good on them.

And now something for all those coming to this blog series for a dose of crap '70s prog ballsackery. This is Friday the 13th by Atomic Rooster. Behold the ridiculous album sleeve art and adjust your expectations accordingly.

Saturday next... rounding the corner into the home straight...

Thank you for the days IV: Thursday

More twaddle from me featuring songs with the day of the week in the title. What a time to be alive.

Must be a little bittersweet to be a Futurehead. Yes, they've achieved a degree of fame and even longevity, but they're still best known for covering other people. Still, this is one of their own, so that's a relief. Their Thursday was on 2006 album News And Tributes, and has a great first line.

By contrast, The Icicle Works' Sweet Thursday doesn't have a great first line, but is an inoffensive slice of 80s pop that I'd completely forgotten about until researching this post. That maybe tells its own story, maybe not. See what you think. Fun fact: in the US, the band were just Icicle Works - no definite article. I don't know why.

And if the 80s weren't far enough back for you, To Claudia On Thursday by The Millennium dates from 1968. And it's very much of that time - all flowers in the hair, sunshine harmonies and mind-expanding substances. This is alright though, even if it didn't lead to bigger things for the band: one album, one standalone single, and they were done.

Friday tomorrow, and it's all downhill from there...

Thank you for the days IV: Wednesday

What now? I hear you say. Three songs with the day of the week in the title, that's what! I spoil you, I know.

Tori Amos is quietly pretty amazing sometimes. Her Wednesday is nearly a quarter of a century old, but still sounds fresh and innovative. So literate too. This is from the Scarlet's Walk concept album, and describes the eponymous heroine getting into a new relationship with a partner whose secrets make her suspicious. We've all been there though, right?

A change of pace now with some electronica from New York's Fischerspooner. Their Wednesday comes from the 2009 album Odyssey. Fun fact: Fischerspooner's name comes from concatenating the duo's surnames (Warren Fischer and Casey Spooner). Your definition of "fun" may vary.

How to follow that? How about with some pre-Purple Rain Prince? This is Wednesday from Piano And A Microphone 1983, the album of demos his estate issued posthumously in 2018. For the casual fan there possibly isn't too much here to get excited about, certainly little indication of what was to come post-Purple Rain. But this is Prince, so we can view it from a different perspective.

Thursday tomorrow, and past the halfway mark. What do you mean, phew?!

Thank you for the days IV: Tuesday

You know the drill by now: three songs that have the day of the week in the title. I wish I could make it sound fancier than that, but I can't. And they say blogging has run its course!

This is On A Tuesday by 80s indie nearlymen The Loft. They reformed recently after 40 years off, did you know? I saw them support The Wedding Present last year, and very good they sounded too.

Primal Scream are a funny lot, aren't they? I'm not sure they've ever really been sure what sort of band they want to be. At various times they've been rave-lite, The Rolling Stones and here, with Gentle Tuesday, they make a decent fist of being The Byrds. I don't mind this at all.

I don't know but I imagine Everything's Tuesday by The Chairmen of the Board would go down well at a Northern Soul night. This is from 1970 (a fine year) and features the original Johnson/Custis/Woods/Kennedy line-up of a band that would change much over the years. That "HDH" on the sleeve, bottom right, is the clue that The Chairmen were signed to Holland-Dozier-Holland's Invictus/Hot Wax group of record labels.

Wednesday tomorrow! Whatever next? (Thursday, obviously...)

Thank you for the days IV: Monday

It seems like only yesterday, in blog terms, but it's actually three years since I ran the Thank you for the days series. You'll recall the gist: each day I'd post three songs that had that day of the week in the title. And since I ran the series three times, I've already featured nine songs for each day, and that's why I stopped running it - the law of diminishing returns kicked in, and it got too hard to find more songs that were either good or interesting or preferably both.

Well, in three years since, I've been making notes and squirrelling songs away in my YouTube Watch Later list, and now I think I have enough candidates for one final run. See what you think.

First up we head back to 1996, where we find Wilco at their most bar-band. Having said that, the brass that kicks in around the 1:40 mark elevates things for Monday by Jeff et al.

Next up is Quadeca, about whom I know very little (though Wikipedia tells me his real name is Benjamin Fernando Barajas Lasky). His take on Monday was the second single from the 2025 album Vanisher, Horizon Scraper. I don't know if I like this or not but it certainly falls into the "interesting" category. Chamber pop, apparently.

Let's close this for today with a song for my old man, who has always loved Karen's voice. This might be twee, MOR, easy-listening ... but 72 million views can't all be wrong. Besides, that voice... Dad's right about that.

Guess what? Tuesday tomorrow! Control your excitement...

Thank you for the days III: Sunday

Let's flog this blog series dead horse, with a third and final batch of posts featuring songs that have a day of the week in the title. Finally, Sunday - it ends here.

What better way to wake up on a Sunday morning than with late-70s Debbie Harry? So of course this is Sunday Girl by Blondie. I've gone for a live video, even though the sound quality is poor, simply because DH is mesmerising in it.

Not much is going to measure up to that, is it. Certainly not Joe Jackson. But here he is anyway, with a jerky guitar line that is vaguely reminiscent of XTC, and some questionable of-their-time lyrics, with Sunday Papers. Redeemed by the harmonica middle eight. Maybe.

To finish, not just this third batch of songs but also the series, one of the greatest pop songs ever written. Take a bow Gerry Goffin and Carole King, for the genius of Pleasant Valley Sunday. But I had The Monkees yesterday, so their original, brilliant though it is, is out. Instead then, here's The Wedding Present's cover, from 1992 when it was the b-side of the fifth single in their Hit Parade series.

There will be no part IV. Part IVs are for Star Wars episodes and Rocky. Don't even try to persuade me.

Thank you for the days III: Saturday

Let's flog this blog series dead horse, with a third and final batch of posts featuring songs that have a day of the week in the title. Relax, it's Saturday, this nonsense is nearly over.

I do love a bit of Monkees, so here's Saturday's Child. It was written by David Gates, before he found his own fame in Bread (the band, not the sitcom), and it sounds like Micky is on lead vocals. There's probably a website somewhere that tells you which Wrecking Crew members were playing which instruments on this, but I don't care about that frankly, because, middle-eight aside, this is terrific.

Remember when The Enemy were the next big thing? They had those clever "Sleeping with The Enemy" t-shirts on their merch stall, as I recall. Anyway, this is Saturday which, sadly, is not very good. Maybe even their nadir. But relax, it won't take much effort to forget it completely by the end of this post.

Given his grunge roots and time with Queens of the Stone Age, the late Mark Lanegan's collaboration with former Belle & Sebastian vocalist Isobel Campbell probably surprised a fair few people. However, their 2006 collaboration album Ballad of the Broken Seas garnered a Mercury Music Prize nomination and included, amongst other things, the beauty that is Saturday's Gone.

Tomorrow, Sunday. And rest...

Thank you for the days III: Friday

Let's flog this blog series dead horse, with a third and final batch of posts featuring songs that have a day of the week in the title. It's Friday, let's end the working week!

To begin, a song from a few years before I was born. And for Van Morrison, before Moondance and Astral Weeks made him a global star. Friday's Child is not the typical proto-R&B that made Belfast five-piece Them's name, but has an altogether gentler, more soulful sound.

Let's get a bit more contemporary, shall we. This is Friday Love, by The Fur, and is completely new to me. It was released last year, I think, but sounds a bit like it was airlifted in from 1996. Maybe that's why I like it; my youth is now a retro trend.

Speaking of retro trends, let's finish with Paul Weller (ba-doom-tish, thank you very much, here all week, etc). This is Friday Street from 1997's (slightly disappointing, for me) Heavy Soul. The only surprise here is that it took me until part III of this series to feature this. Still, here's a nice fan-made video for it.

Saturday tomorrow. Contain your excxitement.

Thank you for the days III: Thursday

Let's flog this blog series dead horse, with a third and final batch of posts featuring songs that have a day of the week in the title. It's Thursday's turn today...

This post is brought to you by the letter 'R'. Specifically, 'R' for Rol, as he made a slew of Thursday song suggestions last time around, and these all come from his list. First up, to wake you up, Sheffield's Little Man Tate with Pay Day's Thursday, their 2008 celebration of getting paid. Or of Jennifer who had, it seems, so much more to offer.

Next up, a song called simply Thursday, by a band called Morphine about whom I know very little. Still, the blurb for this on YouTube is helpful: "Hailing from Cambridge MA, the self proclaimed 'low rock' group Morphine were a dynamic part of the 90's alt-rock movement. The trio's distinctive combination of saxophone, double bass and drums merged with the vocal stylings of lead singer Mark Sandman to create a truly original sound." Doesn't sound 30 years old, does it?

And if 30 years isn't old enough for you, the next track is 40. This is Thursday's Child by The Chameleons. I've listened to it a few times in preparation for this post, and can't decide whether I like it or not. I think maybe I only like parts of it, like the dudda-dudda-dudda guitar motif underlying the verses. But then maybe I'm a heathen and you'll all tell me what I'm overlooking. Whatever, I prefer Swamp Thing.

Tomorrow, Friday. There's the home stretch, hoving into view.

Thank you for the days III: Wednesday

Let's flog this blog series dead horse, with a third and final batch of posts featuring songs that have a day of the week in the title. No prizes for noticing today is Wednesday.

Turns out that after Tuesdays and Thursdays, Wednesday is the next hardest day to find songs for, so here are some barrel scrapings deep cuts. Let's start with Highasakite, a sort of Norwegian First Aid Kit, and their song Since Last Wednesday, from the 2013 album Silent Treatment.

Next up, a song called simply Wednesday, by a band called Concorde. I know nothing about them, they don't even have a Wikipedia page, but I did find this on Bandcamp which suggests Concorde were Javier Garavito and Shane Small from Seattle. Their sole album Mess I'm Made Of included this track, and was released in 2006. To me it starts off sounding like it's going to be an all-out assault on mainstream FM, but takes a slightly darker, downbeat turn. Ish.

To end today let's have a slab of Wannadies, all the way back from 1994. Dreamy Wednesdays came from their third album, Be A Girl, and has a lovely mid-90s scuzziness to the guitars, plus some swooping strings ... because they're dreamy, right? Oh, and it possibly goes on 45 seconds or so too long, I reckon. What do you think?

Tomorrow, Thursday. Be there or be ... elsewhere.

Thank you for the days III: Tuesday

Let's flog this blog series dead horse, with a third and final batch of posts featuring songs that have a day of the week in the title. Part II of part III must mean it's Tuesday.

Let's start with a suggestion from last time out (thanks JM) and bit of Nick Heyward, with Another Stupid Tuesday. I've gone with a demo version here, as the rough guitar sound puts me vaguely in mind of early REM. See what I mean?

Next up, here's Men Without Hats, proving (or disproving, some might say) that there was more to them than just The Safety Dance. This is On Tuesday, notable for its Anchorman-style jazz flute. What can I say, it was 1987...

I'll close with someone that both Rol and I have been championing for a while. Last time out Rol suggested Pretty Sure It's Tuesday by Gavin Osborn and why not, because it's dystopian brilliance.

Wednesday tomorrow. Who'd've thought?

Thank you for the days III: Monday

Let's flog this blog series dead horse, with a third and final batch of posts featuring songs that have a day of the week in the title. Best start with Monday.

First off, a track that is an unbelievable 39 years old, from everyone's favourite Brummie New Romantic pioneers; specifically, New Moon On Monday by Duran Duran. There was a lot of money spare for videos back then, eh?

For the second track, let's stay in the mid-80s (some would say I never left). Here's a live performance of Maybe Monday by 'Til Tuesday, famous of course for being Aimee Mann's first successful band.

Let's finish today with a bit of a cheat. I say that because I featured half of this mash-up first time around. But who needs an excuse for showing this video, I say, so here's the future wife with Can't Get Blue Monday Out Of My Head.

More nonsense tomorrow.

Thank you for the days II: Sunday

This was popular last time out, so let's go round again with another seven posts featuring three songs that have a day of the week in the title. Inevitably, we end with Sunday...

I need to start with an apology to Rol because I can't avoid it again, sorry. This is Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2, but it's the version I know and (whisper it quietly) love. I had live album Under a Blood Red Sky on cassette long before I owned War, and this is how I always hear this song in my head. Skip ahead, Rol.

Okay, let's press on and get this load of old tut over and done with. This is Sunday Morning by Madness from The Rise And Fall, arguably the last album before things started a slow unravelling for them. Who'd have thought back then that they'd be natural treasures forty years later?

And so to the end. This is in response to a request from The Man Of Cheese, and I'm very happy to oblige because (a) it's superb and (b) it's a standout track on what is probably Bloc Party's best album, A Weekend in the City. Feels like a good track to close the series with too, doesn't it? Here's Sunday by Kele and co.

Never doing this again. Don't even ask.

 

Or maybe I will, some time...

 

Thank you for the days II: Saturday

This was popular last time out, so let's go round again with another seven posts featuring three songs that have a day of the week in the title. On the home stretch now, not long left...

Turns out Saturday is the easiest day to find good songs for (closely followed by its partner in weekendery, Sunday). I guess I should start with the obvious song that I controversially overlooked last time. This is John with his belt on (Belt-on John, geddit?) with Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting).

There, that's got that out of the way. Time to revert to type, then, with the brilliantly observational, slice-of-life lyrics of Saturday's Kids. And my god, those lyrics are ingrained in me. "These are the real creatures that time has forgot..."

Talking of reverting to type, here's some early Billy Bragg (I told you he'd pop up again this week). From second album Brewing Up with Billy Bragg, this is one of my brother's favourites, The Saturday Boy. Note the lovely trumpet cameo from Dave Woodhead, and the best use of "unrequited" in any song, ever.

It'll all be over after tomorrow, promise.

Thank you for the days II: Friday

This was popular last time out, so let's go round again with another seven posts featuring three songs that have a day of the week in the title. Obviously, it's Friday, so...

Going to start today with a slice of Nancy Sinatra because, well why ever not? The sound quality on this clip isn't the greatest but I chose it for the video, Nancy miming at the pit-head, or so it seems. Brilliant stuff from 1967, this is Friday's Child.

Continuing the theme of YouTube videos with poor sound quality, and starting a theme of songs that reference both Friday and Saturday, here's the oldest recording I've ever featured on the blog: from 1916, here's Al Jolson singing that old music-hall favourite Where Did Robinson Crusoe Go with Friday on Saturday Night? And actually, given it's 107 years old the sound quality is actually pretty good.

And so to another song that has both Friday and Saturday in its title. Thanks to Khayem for this suggestion: it's Friday Night, Saturday Morning by The Specials. I've gone for a live recording, just so we can see the late Terry Hall in action.

The weekend is nearly upon us ...

Thank you for the days II: Thursday

This was popular last time out, so let's go round again with another seven posts featuring three songs that have a day of the week in the title. Inevitably, it's Thursday.

In case you were wondering, there won't be a part III of this series, simply because certain days just don't have enough good songs about them. I would have been snookered for today if not for the suggestions The Swede made last time around. So let's kick off with one of those: Donovan from 1965 (unmistakably), with Jersey Thursday.

Let's bring things a little more up-to-date (though still seventeen years old) with another suggestion, this time from Khayem. This is Thursday by Asobi Seksu, an American shoegaze outfit that I know nothing about. I love this though. It's quite hard to make out singer Yuki Chikudate's vocals, and maybe that's part of the attraction. See what you think.

And here's one I found myself: Jim Croce was a folkie singer-songwriter most famous for Bad, Bad Leroy Brown. He had lots of US chart success, very little over here. This track, entitled simply Thursday, is from his last album I Got A Name, which was released three months after Jim had died in a plane crash.

Isn't it Friday yet?

Thank you for the days II: Wednesday

This was popular last time out, so let's go round again with another seven posts featuring three songs that have a day of the week in the title. Part III of part II can only be Wednesday.

The only place to start today is with another song that I can't believe I overlooked first time around. This is early Simon and Garfunkel, i.e. before the electrified remix of The Sound of Silence catapulted them up the charts. Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. is near perfect, I think: Paul's guitar finger-picking, two voices made to fit together, and a delicate, gentle lyric of love.

Where next? Remember Lisa Loeb? She had a hit with Stay (I Missed You) in the great record company scramble to unearth more Alanis Morrissettes. Anyway, she recorded Waiting For Wednesday for her third album, Tails, in 1995. That had the full band treatment, but I prefer this acoustic version recorded live for Canadian television.

So that just leaves us to address the issue of Wednesday's child being full of woe. This song has music by John Barry and is sung by the inimitable Matt Munro (Terry Parsons to his mum) and was used in a film called The Quiller Memorandum, that I can't say I've ever seen. Anyway, here's Matt sounding suitably woeful with Wednesday's Child.

That's hump-day done then ...

Thank you for the days II: Tuesday

This was popular last time out, so let's go round again with another seven posts featuring three songs that have a day of the week in the title. Day two, of course, is Tuesday.

I ummed and aahed about running this series again because some days, most notably today, proved quite hard to find another three decent songs for. Anyway, let's see what you make of today's barrel-scrapings ... although that's a bit harsh on this slice of MacGowan-less Pogues from 1993. Spider Stacy handles vocal duties on Tuesday Morning.

Well, that's alright but it's not going to win any prizes. Neither's this, from Cat Stevens' 1971 album Teaser and the Firecat, an LP famous for Moonshadow and Morning Has Broken. This track, Tuesday's Dead, is less well known, of course, and that's a shame; it doesn't feel 52 years old, does it? Wish I could say the same, frankly.

So how do you follow the folky noodlings of the artist now known as Yusuf Islam? Why, with a recommendation and some mid-80s indie jangle, of course. Khayem suggested this in the comments, and who I am to argue? This is Meet Me On Tuesday, by The Brilliant Corners. It's a bounce-around-the-room corker.

No prizes for guessing what happens tomorrow ...