Johnny Farnham - Friday Kind Of Monday (1968)

(Jeff Barry - Ellie Greenwich)
Australia
#10 Sydney #9 Melbourne #3 Brisbane #2 Adelaide #15 Perth #11 NZ

B-side on Columbia, February 1968.

Double-sided hit in most cities with the A-side Underneath the Arches.

Johnny Farnham: enduring Melbourne pop star whose career took off after his first single, the neo-vaudeville novelty Sadie The Cleaning Lady, was skilfully publicised and became the best-selling Australian single of the 60s. He had a run of hits into the first half of the 70s, and branched out into TV and stage drama.

In the early 80s, by then known as John Farnham, he had a further hit with a powered-up version of the Beatles’ Help, and he fronted the Little River Band for a time. His real career revival came in 1986 with the hugely popular contemporary album Whispering Jack and its three hit singles including the #1 You’re The Voice.

Further reading: Milesago’s John Farnham page. The official site is at JohnFarnham.com.au.

Finders Keepers - Friday Kind Of Monday (1967)

(Jeff Barry - Ellie Greenwich)
UK

Single on Fontana September 1966, also released in USA.

Finders Keepers were from Wolverhampton. Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple fame was a member but see the post by Lennart Hedenstrom from the Glenn Hughes Electronic Fanzine (archived) where it is noted that his involvement with the recording of the band’s singles was minimal.

There seems to be a Finders Keepers–Johnny Farnham thing going on here: see Sadie The Cleaning Lady.

Essential reading: Finders Keepers page at Brum Beat.

Thanks to Phil Chapman.

The Meantime - Friday Kind Of Monday (1967)

(Jeff Barry - Ellie Greenwich)
USA
Original version

Single on Atco September 1967 (work copyrighted 11 Sept 67).

This was a studio project by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, major 60s songwriting partners and a married couple 1962-65. Lead vocals are by Greenwich.

Barry and Greenwich had previously written and recorded seven singles as The Raindrops, including the Top 20 hit He’s The Kind Of Boy You Can’t Forget (1963). Those recordings used Greenwich’s double-tracked vocals, with Barry’s bass vocals and prominent drumming. For photos depicting a trio and for live appearances other personnel were recruited.

The Meantime featuring Ellie Greenwich was a 1967 attempt to resurrect and update The Raindrops, the 1963-65 studio group comprised of Jeff and Ellie’s multitracked voices.
Don Charles, Shout My Name: The Jeff Barry Story at Spectropop

The group’s name? Think Ellie Greenwich → Greenwich Mean Time → The Meantime.

Shanes - Friday Kind Of Monday (1968)

(Jeff Barry - Ellie Greenwich)
Sweden
Later version

Single on Columbia (Sweden), August 1968, by popular 60s Swedish band also known as The Shanes.

♫ Listen at YouTube

References: Band bios at Discogs.com and AllMusic.

Dawn’s Early Light - Monday Kind Of Friday (1967)

(Danny Jordan)
USA
Red herring

Similar title but not the same song as ‘Friday Kind Of Monday’ by Johnny Farnham.

It has been suggested that Monday Kind Of Friday (June 1967 release) is a parody or an answer song to Friday Kind Of Monday (September 1967 copyright and release) which is obviously unlikely because of the dates. The reverse case also seems implausible since it is hard to see why Barry & Greenwich would parody or answer a song by an unknown group that wasn’t exactly roaring up the charts.

Are the dates wrong? Was —-day kind of —day a familiar phrase in some circles? Did something happen behind the scenes? Neither record made a big impact, so there is not much commentary to be found about either song. To me it is an unsolved mystery.

Single on Diamond June 1967. ♫ Listen at YouTube

Dawn’s Early Light were members of Bronx doowop group The Five Sharks, produced by Shelby Singleton , Johnny Cymbal and Michael Verrona .

Monday Kind Of Friday was written by Danny Jordan, producer-singer-songwriter heard on The Detergents’ Leader Of The Laundromat (1964, #19 USA), interestingly a parody of the Barry-Greenwich-Morton composition The Leader Of The Pack.

Further reading: See comments by Five Sharks–Dawn’s Early Light member Eddie Black (aka Schwartz) at YouTube, linked above.

The Hello People - It’s A Monday Kind Of Tuesday (1968)

(Nancy Reiner)
USA
Red herring

Similar title but not the same song as ‘Friday Kind Of Monday’ by Johnny Farnham.

B-side on Philips April 1968 by New York rock band, a project of producer Lew Futterman.

Composer Nancy Reiner was a visual artist known for her work on album sleeves including Eric Burdon’s Eric is Here and Jimi Hendrix’s The Cry Of Love.