Friday on My Mind

"Friday on My Mind" is a 1966 song by Australian rock group the Easybeats. Written by band members George Young and Harry Vanda,[4] the track became a worldwide hit, reaching no. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in May 1967 in the US,[5] no. 1 on the Dutch Top 40 chart,[6] no. 1 in Australia and no. 6 in the UK, as well as charting in several other countries. In 2001, it was voted "Best Australian Song" of all time by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) as determined by a panel of 100 music industry personalities.[7][8] In 2007, "Friday on My Mind" was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia registry.

"Friday on My Mind"
Cover of the 1966 Australian single
Single by The Easybeats
from the album Good Friday
B-side"Made My Bed, Gonna Lie in It"
Released17 November 1966 (Australia) 14 October 1966 (UK)[1]
Recorded8 September 1966
StudioIBC Studios, London
Genre
Length2:47
LabelUnited Artists
Songwriter(s)Harry Vanda, George Young
Producer(s)Shel Talmy
Australian singles chronology
"Sorry"
(1966)		 "Friday on My Mind"
(1966)		 "Who'll Be the One"
(1967)
U.K. singles chronology
"Come and See Her"
(1966)		 "Friday on My Mind"
(1966)		 "Who’ll Be the One"
(1967)
U.S. singles chronology
"Make You Feel Alright (Women)"
(1966)		 "Friday on My Mind"
(1966)		 "Heaven and Hell"
(1967)
Music video
"Friday on My Mind" on YouTube
Audio sample
"Friday on My Mind"
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In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "Friday on My Mind" was ranked number 25.[9]

Composition

The minor-key verses of "Friday on My Mind" depict the tedium and drudgery of the work week, taking each day at a time ("Monday morning feels so bad/Coming Tuesday I feel better"). These verses are adorned with a distinctive guitar figure. The build-up to the chorus features a slowly rising vocal, culminating with a shout of "Cos I'll have Friday on my mind!", and launching into a major-key refrain celebrating the pleasures of the weekend in the city.

Though the song has long been termed a "working class anthem",[10] George Young maintained it had "more to do with their outlook on the world than any class statement".[11] According to Harry Vanda, the track's distinctive guitar opening was inspired by a film performance featuring the Swingle Singers: "It went tudutudutudu, which made us all laugh. In the train back from the gig, we were imitating them and suddenly it sounded good. They became the first notes of 'Friday on My Mind'."[12]

Release and aftermath

In addition to its 7" single release in October 1966, the song was issued in the United Kingdom on the band's first album for United Artists titled Good Friday which was also released in North America under the song's title. In Australia the song was released instead with its B-side, "Made My Bed (Gonna Lie in It)", on the greatest hits package The Best of The Easybeats + Pretty Girl in 1967 and an EP named after the track in September 1967, with the tracks "Sorry", "Who'll Be the One" and "Made My Bed, Gonna Lie in It". A 2005 rerelease on CD single, along with "Remember Sam", "Pretty Girl" and "Made My Bed, Gonna Lie in It", featured a cover (pictured right) based on an earlier French sleeve.

On 28 May 2001, the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) celebrated its 75th anniversary by naming the Best Australian Songs of all time, as decided by a 100 strong industry panel, with "Friday on My Mind" being selected as the number one song on the list.[7] At the APRA Awards ceremony You Am I performed "Friday on My Mind" with Harry Vanda of The Easybeats guesting on guitar, Ross Wilson of Daddy Cool performed the No. 2 listed song "Eagle Rock", Midnight Oil's "Beds are Burning" at No. 3 was shown on video.[7]

"Friday on My Mind" was ranked No. 10 out of 2006 songs featured in the Triple M Essential 2006 Countdown. In the series 20 to 01, it was No. 1 on the "Greatest Aussie Songs" show. The song is heard in the Australian films One Night Stand (1984), and December Boys (2007).

Cover versions

The song has been covered many times, initially by Tages, who released the song for their November 1966 album Extra Extra. The Shadows did an instrumental version of the song on their 1967 album Jigsaw. Les Hou-Lops made a French cover "Vendredi m'obsède" in 1967, also recorded in the same year by Erick Saint Laurent. The song was also performed by Romanian band Phoenix on their first EP, Vremuri ("Old times") in 1968. David Bowie recorded a version on his 1973 RCA covers album Pin Ups; for Harry Vanda, it was "the only cover I ever liked".[13] The same year, San Francisco-based Earth Quake covered the song, which was released as the first-ever single on the Beserkley Records label. The live recording by Earth Quake was well known in Cleveland in the late 1970s, as one of three songs played each Friday at 6.00pm by leading rock radio station WMMS to mark the start of the weekend.

Other acts who have covered the song include Chilly, the Dukes (Dutch band), Gary Moore, Peter Frampton, Peter Doyle, Richard Thompson (1000 Years of Popular Music), Ben Lee, Blue Öyster Cult, the Busters, the Kursaal Flyers, Tages, New Orleans band The Cold[14] and the punk band London, whose version was recorded by producer Simon Napier-Bell in the same recording studios (IBC Studios in London) where the Easybeats had cut the original. In 1979, the "house band" of Sawmills Studio, the Golant Pistons (who later became Al Hodge and the Mechanics), covered the song, which was released on a 1980 punk rock compilation album of cover songs, entitled We Do 'em Our Way, on the MFP Ltd. label.[15] South Yorkshire mod revival band the Gents released Friday on My Mind as a single in 1986 and reached No.95 in the UK national chart with the release.

In 1987 Dino Music released a cover version of Friday on my Mind by German Pop Group Musicbox. Musicbox was successful in the German, Austrian, and Suisse market with cover versions of so-called "One Hit Wonders". Musicbox - The First Project - A Tribute To The 60th (1987, Vinyl LP & CD) [16]

In 2000 Vanessa Amorosi and Lee Kernaghan recorded a version of the song that was used as the official NRL Friday Night Football theme, featuring on Channel Nine's weekly primetime broadcast of the Rugby league every Friday night at 8:30pm. The band Noogie covered the tune for the soundtrack of the film A Walk to Remember (2002). Moneen sampled the guitar in their song "The Passing of America" in 2006.

In 2011, punk rock supergroup Me First and the Gimme Gimmes recorded a version of the song on their all Australian covers EP, Go Down Under.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed the song during their High Hopes Tour as their show opener on 19 February 2014 in Sydney, Australia.

In July 2014, alternative rock band Residual Kid released a cover of the song as a charity single.[17]

Masketta Fall Re-arranged and re-mixed and recorded it for Fox Sports as an intro/promo for their NRL Friday Night Football show in March 2016 Sydney, Australia.

On 11 September 2016, English rock band Squeeze played the song during their performance at the OnBlackheath festival in Blackheath, London.

In 2016, actor Hank Azaria performed several verses of the song in the opening scene of Ray Donovan Season 4, Episode 7. The episode is entitled Norman Saves the World, and its closing titles are accompanied by the original Easybeats version.[18]

Charts
Charts (1966–67) Peak
position
Austria [19] 16
Australia (Go-Set) 1
Canada (RPM) 19
Germany [19] 10
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) 1
New Zealand (Listener) 2
Ireland (IRMA)[20] 13
UK Charts 6
U.S. Billboard Top 100 16

Track listing
  1. "Friday on My Mind" (Harry Vanda, George Young)[4] – 2:47
  2. "Made My Bed (Gonna Lie in It)" (Young)[21] – 2:20

Personnel

Musicians

Technical

References
  1. http://www.45cat.com/record/up1157
  2. Bill Dahl (28 February 2011). Motown: The Golden Years: More than 100 rare photographs. Krause Publications. p. 235. ISBN 978-1-4402-2783-7.
  3. Mike McPadden (1 May 2012). If You Like Metallica...: Here Are Over 200 Bands, CDs, Movies, and Other Oddities That You Will Love. Backbeat Books. p. 31. ISBN 978-1-4768-1357-8.
  4. ""Friday on My Mind" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 26 October 2008.
  5. Nielsen Business Media, Inc (20 May 1967). Billboard — Internet Archive. p. 65. Retrieved 28 June 2011. billboard 1967 may 20.
  6. 40, Stichting Nederlandse Top. "Top 40 week 52 van 1966". Top40.nl. Retrieved 23 October 2017.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. Culnane, Paul (28 May 2001). "The final list: APRA'S Ten best Australian Songs". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Archived from the original on 3 August 2008. Retrieved 26 October 2008.
  8. "Easybeats song voted Australia's best". ABC Radio (29 May 2000). Retrieved 4 November 2006
  9. "Here Are The Songs That Made Triple M's 'Ozzest 100'". Musicfeeds. 27 January 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  10. "BMG: The New Music Company". Albertmusic.com. 1 October 2015. Archived from the original on 30 December 2007. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
  11. Debbie Kruger (2005). Songwriters Speak: Conversations About Creating Music: p.71
  12. "Anonymous émigré became pop star" Archived 26 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine. Radio Netherlands (13 June 2006). Retrieved 4 November 2006
  13. Debbie Kruger (2005). Op Cit: p.62
  14. "For The Cold, A Very Good Year". Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  15. "Album Cover Art - Various Artists - We Do 'em Our Way". Tralfaz-archives.com. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
  16. https://otto10.fr/Musicbox/First-Project-Tribute/90979
  17. "Residual Kid Releases Charity Single: Friday on My Mind". Livestrong Foundation. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  18. "The Easybeats". IMDb.com. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
  19. https://charts.nz/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Easybeats&titel=Friday+On+My+Mind&cat=s
  20. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Friday on My Mind". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  21. ""Friday on My Mind" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 10 December 2008.
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