Rainy Days and Mondays

1971 single by Carpenters

"Rainy Days and Mondays"

Single by Carpenters

from the album Carpenters

B-side

"Saturday"

Released

April 23, 1971 (1971-04-23)

Recorded

1971

Genre

Soft rock^[1]

Length

3:36

Label

A&M

Songwriter(s)

Paul Williams
Roger Nichols

Producer(s)

Jack Daugherty

Carpenters singles chronology

"For All We Know"
(1971)

"Rainy Days and Mondays"
(1971)

"Superstar"
(1971)

"Rainy Days and Mondays" is a song by the Carpenters from their self-titled third album, with instrumental backing by the Wrecking Crew.^[2] It was written by Paul Williams (lyrics) and Roger Nichols (music), who had previously written "We've Only Just Begun," another hit for the duo. The B-side on the single is "Saturday," a song written and sung by Richard Carpenter.

A demo for the song was initially sent to Richard Carpenter by Williams and Nichols. Upon hearing it, Richard felt that the song was perfect for him and Karen Carpenter to record. The song was recorded a few weeks before Karen’s 21st birthday. Richard wanted to keep the song’s arrangement sparse in order to showcase her vocal talent.^[3]

“Rainy Days and Mondays” peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, spending seven weeks in the Top 10, and was kept from number 1 by "It's Too Late"/"I Feel the Earth Move" by Carole King.^[3] The song was also the duo's fourth number 1 single on the Adult Contemporary singles chart.^[4] However, the song failed to chart in the United Kingdom until it went to number 63 in a reissue there in 1993. "Rainy Days and Mondays" was certified Gold by the RIAA for 500,000 copies sold in the United States.

Personnel

Karen Carpenter - lead and backing vocals
Richard Carpenter - backing vocals, piano, Wurlitzer electric piano, orchestration
Joe Osborn - bass guitar
Hal Blaine - drums
Tommy Morgan - harmonica
Bob Messenger - tenor saxophone

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Chart (1971)	Peak position
US Billboard Hot 100	2
US Billboard Easy Listening	1
US Cash Box Top 100	2
Canada RPM Top Singles^[5]	3
Canada RPM Adult Contemporary^[6]	1
New Zealand^[7]	19
Australia	35
Japan (Oricon)	71

Chart (1993)	Peak position
United Kingdom	63

Year-end charts

Chart (1971)	Rank
Australia	122
Canada^[8]	42
US Billboard Hot 100^[9]	37
US Easy Listening (Billboard)^[10]	4
US Cash Box Top 100^[11]	33

Compilations

Yesterday Once More
From the Top
Interpretations
Love Songs
The Essential Collection
Carpenters: Gold 35th Anniversary Edition

References

^ "Soft Rock Music Songs". AllMusic.
^ Hartman, Kent (2012). The Wrecking Crew. St. Martin’s Griffin. pp. 261–263. ISBN 978-1-250-03046-7.
^ ^a ^b "richardandkarencarpenter.com".
^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 47.
^ "RPM Top 100 Singles - June 26, 1971" (PDF).
^ "RPM Top AC Singles - June 26, 1971".
^ "flavour of new zealand - search listener". Flavourofnz.co.nz. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
^ "RPM Top 100 Singles of '71 - January 8, 1972" (PDF).
^ "Top 100 Hits of 1971/Top 100 Songs of 1971". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
^ Billboard. 1971-12-25. p. 15. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
^ "Top 100 Year End Charts: 1971". Cashbox Magazine. Retrieved 2016-05-30.