Mony Mony

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Singles

Mony Mony ( Tommy James & the Shondells )   DE 3 07/15/1968 (9 weeks)   AT 4th 10/15/1968 (4 weeks)   CH 2 08/27/1968 (10 weeks)   UK 1 06/08/1968 (18 weeks)   US 3 04/06/1968 (17 weeks) Mony Mony (Live) ( Billy Idol )   DE 38 11/02/1987 (9 weeks)   CH 13 11/22/1987 (9 weeks)   UK 7th 10/03/1987 (11 weeks)   US 1 09/05/1987 (22 weeks) Mony Mony ( Amazulu )   UK 38 10/10/1987 (5 weeks) Mony Mony ( Status Quo )   UK 50 05/13/2000 (3 weeks)

Mony Mony is a 1968 Tommy James & the Shondells song written by Tommy James, Bo Gentry, Ritchie Cordell and Bobby Bloom. It was released as a single and on the album of the same name.

history

When writing, the songwriters were inspired by the MONY writing on the 1740 Broadway building in New York .

Singer Tommy James said of Mony Mony :

“A true story: I finished the rough draft before I could find a title. I wanted to use something catchy like “Sloopy” or “Bony Maroney”, but it sounded simple. So Ritchie Cordell and I wrote another part of the song in New York and were about to give up. As I stepped onto my terrace, I saw the "Mutual of New York" building and its glowing initials. I shouted “That's it! Ritchie, come here, you have to see this! It's almost as if God is telling us: "Here's your title!" I always thought that if I had looked the other way, the song might have been called Hotel Taft . "

- Tommy James on Angelfire.com. (Online music magazine, 1995)

The release of the single took place on February 2, 1968; the rock song became a number one hit in the UK and was the band's only top ten hit there.

Cover version of Billy Idol

In 1981 Billy Idol re-recorded the classic. It was not until a live version, published in August 1987, that this cover version became successful and replaced Tiffany's version of I Think We're Alone Now , which was also originally by Tommy James & the Shondells, from number 1 in the United States. Idol's version also reached number 1 on the charts in Canada.

Other covers

• 1970: The Archies
• 1980: Dizzy Man's Band
• 1987: Amazulu
• 1987: Weird Al Yankovic
• 1990: Jive Bunny & the Mastermixers (Here We Go Again)
• 2000: Status Quo
• 2002: The Stranglers
• 2003: Ron Dante (Old time Rock & Roll / Mony Mony)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sources chart positions: DE AT CH UK US
2. ↑ References in Angelfire.com
3. ↑ release date