Week by the days

The days of the week, in sequence, are among the standard first lessons for children at the very basic level of the education system. However, in the minds of the makers of music, they can be so much more than a listing of the 24-hour cycles that make up one of the tiers of time, which are the measure of human activity.

So Culture, with the late Joseph Hill at the helm, used a musical listing of the days of the week as a countdown to a woman making a move on a man’s pocket at the end of the week. In She Want Money, Hill laments neglect from Monday to Thursday:

“Everywhere she see Iyah she want money...

Monday morning come she absent

Tuesday morning come she don’t turn up at all

Wednesday morning come I woulda eat a likkle fresh rice

Cause I’m a italist

Thursday morning come a Ben Johnson Day”

It all changes on Friday when the pay cheque comes in:

“Friday evening come when me about to get me pay

When me look har foot stretch out in de way

Everywhe she see Iyah she want money”

Ska man Eric ‘Monty’ Morris takes a children’s rhyme and puts it to music to make Solomon A Gundy a danceable naming of the days of the week. Morris does not make much adjustment as he sings:

“Solomon a Gundy

Was born on a Monday

Christen on a Tuesday

Marry on a Wednesday”

After breaking the days to sing a series of “Woah!”, Morris is soon back to the tale of the very short life of Solomon A Gundy:

“He was sick on a Thursday

He was worse on a Friday

Died on a Saturday

Buried on a Sunday”

In Sun is Shining, Bob Marley is at his inscrutable but very enjoyable best. Throughout its various iterations, including the infectious dubstep remix, the Tuff Gong’s meaning in listing the days of the week is whatever you make it (including skipping Tuesday). He does, however, easily accomplish his mission:

“Sun is shining the weather is sweet

Makes you want to move

Your dancing feet

To the rescue here I am”

The dancing week starts on Monday:

“Monday morning here I am

Want you to know just if you can

Where I stand

Wednesday morning

Tell myself a new day is rising

Thursday evening

Get on the rise a new day is dawning

Friday morning

Here I am

Saturday evening

Want you to know just where I stand”

And Black Uhuru singles out a particular day of the week for attention in Mondays. There are many working stiffs who would agree with them that:

“One day I don’t like is a Monday

That is the day slavery begins.”