THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

939-Easybeats-Friday on My Mind.

1966-Number 6 single.

Best Bit-At 0.33. The ‘Aussie’ ‘Sultans of Swing.’

All five original founding members of the ‘Easybeats’ were from families that had migrated to Australia from Europe, and first met at the ‘Villawood Migrant Hostel,’ in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, in 1964.The families of the band members spent their first years in Australia housed at the ‘Villawood Migrant Hostel,’ in the early and mid 1960’s. Lead singer Stevie Wright, (1947-2015) was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, and is probably the most successful musician to have been born in that city. Harry Vanda, (guitar) was born in the Netherlands, George Young, (1946-2017) (guitar) was from Glasgow, Scotland, Dick Diamonde, (bass) was from the Netherlands, and Gordon ‘Snowy’ Fleet, (drums) was born in Liverpool, England. Fleet left the Easybeats in 1967, and was replaced by Tony Cahill, (1941-2014) (drums) who had been born in Melbourne, Australia. The Easybeats remained active until 1969, but there was a reunion tour of Australia in 1986, undertaken by all five original members.

The Easybeats who were heavily influenced by the Beatles, achieved a similar level of popularity in Australia between 1964-1966. They then relocated to London in 1966 in an attempt to further their international career. With the success of ‘Friday on My Mind,’ the Easybeats became the first Australian ‘Rock’ act to score an international hit. The Easybeats discography includes six studio Albums released between 1965-1970, and 24 singles that were issued between 1965-1980. In Australia 15 of those singles made the top 40 chart, with two of those songs, ‘Sorry,’ (1966) and ‘Friday on My Mind,’ (1966) both reaching Number 1. In the UK the Easybeats have charted twice, with their other hit being ‘Hello, How Are You,’ making Number 20 in 1968, while in America on Billboard ‘Friday on My Mind,’ was their only top 40 entry, when reaching Number 6 in 1966.

After the split of the Easybeats in 1969, Harry Vanda, who was born Johannes Hendrikus Jacob van den Berg, on March 22nd, 1946, teamed up with his fellow band mate George Young, who was born George Redburn Young, on November 6th, 1946, to continue their songwriting and production work, which had began towards the second half of their time with the Easybeats. Young, whose cause of death was not reported, died on October 22nd, 2017, at the age of 70. George Young was the older brother of Malcolm Young, (1953-2017) and Angus Young, of the Australian Rock band ‘AC/DC,’ (see also best songs 797-245 and 170) and together with Harry Vanda he produced six of that bands studio Albums. Other high profile work includes ‘Love Is in the Air’ (UK Number 5 & US Number 7 in 1978) for John Paul Young (no relation) (see also best songs 447.) The duo also wrote and produced ‘Evie,’ for ex band mate Stevie Wright, which topped the Australian singles chart in 1974. They also worked together as the studio group ‘Flash and the Pan,’ releasing six Albums between 1978-1992, and 24 singles between 1976-1996. In the UK ‘Flash and the Pan’ are best remembered for the 1982 Number 7 hit ‘Waiting for a Train,’ which had vocals provided by Stevie Wright. Mark Knopfler (see also best songs 829 and 298) paid tribute to the duo on his 1978 song ‘Sultans of Swing,’ with the lines,’You check out guitar George,’ and ‘And Harry doesn’t mind if he doesn’t make the scene.’

‘Friday on My Mind’ was written and produced by Harry Vanda, and George Young, with the production being by Shel Talmy, (see also best songs 1014-926-770 and 592) and is track 6 on side 1 of the Easybeats fourth studio Album ‘Good Friday’ from May 1967. In 2001 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the ‘ Australasian Performing Right Association’ (APRA) a panel of 100 music industry personalities chose the ‘Best Australian Songs,’ of all time, and ‘Friday on My Mind’ came out as the Number 1. ‘Friday on My Mind’ tells the tale of someone who is stuck in a boring job from Monday to Friday, but come the weekend he is free to enjoy himself. In 1973 David Bowie covered the song for his Album ‘Pin-Ups,’ and in 1987 the song became a hit again in the UK, when Gary Moore took his version to Number 26.

‘Monday mornin’ feels so bad, ev’rybody seems to nag me. Comin’ Tuesday I feel better, even my old man looks good. Wed’sday just don’t go, Thursday goes too slow, I’ve got Friday on my mind.’