Monkees – Saturday’s Child

This song is for Song Lyric Sunday for Jim Adams’s blog. This week’s prompt…Days of the Week…Everyone have a good Sunday!

When I was 7 in 1974 I borrowed the Monkees debut album from my cousin. I listened to the album over and over. This song has been described by some critics of having a “proto-heavy metal guitar riff.” It does have a heavy riff and it is different than the other Monkees songs.

The Monkees Album.jpg

Being seven years old and listening to pop bands from my sister’s collection I thought this song was “hard rock” because it had a guitar with some distortion. The Monkees influenced a generation of young musicians. They made being in a band look fun and in the sixties many kids watched them and wanted to play music because of the Monkees. They don’t get the credit they deserve and are snubbed by Jann Wenner and the Rock and Roll Hall of fame.

At first they didn’t play their instruments but by the third album they all played plus Michael Nesmith wrote songs for many of their albums. Peter Tork and Nesmith were musicians to begin with and good ones…Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones soon learned their parts and contributed. Dolenz and Tork also wrote.

What is not mentioned is a lot of bands didn’t play their instruments on their first albums like the Mama’s and Papas and the Byrds. Many bands had studio musicians to help them out.

Ok…I’ll get off of my soapbox now. This song was written by David Gates (who wrote and sang in Bread). Saturday’s Child was not released as a single but it was a good album track released in 1966. The Monkees debut album The Monkees peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, UK, and Canada.

Saturday’s Child

Monday had a sad child
Always feeling low down,
Tuesday had a dream child
She’s always on the go
So I’m in love with Saturday’s child

Every time you take her out at night
(She drives me wild)
You want to kiss and hold her way up tight
(Gonna spend my time)
You can tell the future’s looking bright
(Making sure that Saturday’s child is mine)

If you love a Wednesday
You live your life apart now
And if you love a Thursday
She’s gonna break your heart,
So I’m in love with Saturday’s Child

Every time you hold her close you’ll see
(She drives me wild)
You can feel the thrill that’s gonna be
(Gonna spend my time)
Now the future has a guarantee
(Making sure that Saturday’s child is mine)

Seven days of the week made to choose from
But only one is right for me
I know that Saturday’s got what it takes, babe.
I can tell by the way she looks at me.

Friday likes the good life
She’ll take you for a ride now
And Sunday makes a good wife
She wants to be your bride
So I’m in love with Saturday’s child

Author: badfinger20 (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball fan, old movie and tv show fan... and a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

22 thoughts on “Monkees – Saturday’s Child”

  2. I don’t recall this song at all. “The Monkees” TV show was really my only exposure to them (coming home to watch having just finished milking the cows in my teens!) The Monkees were never too much my favourites.

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    1. I saw them in reruns when I was a kid. I guess the biggest thing about them for me was seeing them as a band and they seemed like they were having so much fun. They made me want to play music.
      Of course they didn’t tell you of the politics and the fighting when you are actually in a band. Then I found the Beatles and I was lost forever.

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  4. The Monkees were and are brilliant. Totally agree about the snubbing of their legacy. The Beatles used other musicians, too, and both bands had 3 songwriters in the ranks and 4 singers. OK, two of them were actors as well but since when did that mean anything in rock/pop music, Bowie? Sting? Kylie? Madonna? Whitney? The Beatles?

    The musical snobbery was not shared by The Beatles and the rock fraternity of the time, who welcomed them, it was a media invention to knock them down. Didn’t write their early hits? Neither did Elvis, Motown acts, Spector acts, and so on and so on, yet they don’t get slagged off for that. Mike Nesmith wrote great songs, not least A Different Drum (see Linda Ronstadt who didn’t write her own hits), one of their great singles was a Micky song (Alternate Title) and Peter was a pretty handy songwriter too.

    Influential? Check out I’m Not Your Stepping Stone. Early spitting-venom garage/punk – see The Sex Pistols cover (not anywhere near as good, The Monkees version is the one with attitude, The Sex Pistols attitude left along with Johnny Rotten) 🙂

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    1. I agree totally with you….that is right about Micky’s song…it was the Randy Scouse Git over here… that title didn’t fly in the UK and I know why.

      The Monkees influenced me to play music and they did a whole generation.

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      1. Too right 🙂 Revered UK DJ John Peel said around 1980, following a Monkees UK singles chart revival, that at the time like many Rock Musos he looked down on The Monkees while puffing up obscure hippie prog rock that is now long-forgotten. And that he was wrong and the public were right about The Monkees records which still sounded good.

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    1. I think their talent gets looked over. Nesmith was a very good song writer…

      This one was in my drafts almost finished and it went well… I appreciate you letting me participate.

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  6. a quality song from, yes, an under-rated band. I mentioned them in one post of mine today in context of they had 3 #1 albums in one year (1967)…Elton John would be next to duplicate that. Many seem to forget how big the Monkees were for awhile.

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    1. Yep…I just finished that one…now I’m on REM… I really thought this was hard rock as a kid….they did combine the pop and rock with this one.

      Like

      Reply

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