Your classic song with the day of the week in the title of the day is “Friday I’m In Love” by the Cure. This track was released in May of 1992 and hit #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Alternative Airplay chart. It also hit #6 on the UK Singles chart, #4 in Ireland, and #3 on the Canada Top Singles chart. It was the second single from the band’s ninth album, Wish, which itself hit #2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, #1 on the Cash Box Top 200 Pop Albums chart, and #1 on the UK Albums chart.
I probably could have fit this song into any day of my day-of-the-week-in-the-lyrics list, because it lists every day of the week, for none of which is the singer actually in love. As the lyrics note:
I don’t care if Monday’s blue
Tuesday’s grey and Wednesday too
Thursday I don’t care about you
It’s Friday, I’m in love
Okay, apparently the weekend doesn’t matter—at least until the chorus, where we learn that “Saturday, wait/Sunday always comes too late.” But it’s obvious that Friday is the main day for this fella.
Musically, “Friday I’m in Love” is all jangly I, IV, V, and vi chords, but they flow fast which helps propel a rapidly moving melody. That hooky melody is fairly step-wise and follows the main notes in each triad. Since the chords move so quickly, so does the melody. It’s a reliable formula.
I find it interesting that the Cure has a rep for being all dark and tormented goth and emo, while this song is anything but. It’s a cheery piece of pop perfection, hopeful and all puppy lovish. Singer/songwriter Robert Smith commented on that, saying:
“It’s always been paradoxical that it’s pushed down people’s throats that we’re a goth band. Because, to the general public, we’re not. To taxi drivers, I’m the bloke that sings ‘Friday I’m in Love’. I’m not the bloke who sings ‘Shake Dog Shake’ or ‘One Hundred Years.'”
All I have to say is nobody could be that tormented and write such an uplifting “I’m in love” song. He’s got to have a little glimmer of happiness underneath all that goth makeup.
The Cure come from West Sussex, England, part of the generation of disaffected British youth that defined the early MTV era. They got together in 1978 and have had a revolving door of bandmembers over the years, all revolving around vocalist/guitarist/writer Robert Smith. Their style has alternately been described as post-punk, new wave, and goth rock, the latter style they more or less defined. The band’s most ardent followers tend to emulate Smith’s crazy-black-hair-and-dark-mascara look, which is fairly goth, you have to admit.
All that said, the Cure (meaning Smith, mainly) created a lot of great music over the years, of which “Friday I’m In Love” is my favorite. But then I’ve always been more of a pop melody guy than a goth; I don’t look good in mascara.
The Cure, still led by Smith, continue to this day, having celebrated their 40th anniversary in 2019. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that same year.
