How My Stepmom Came to Live with Us

 #21 Monday, Monday -- The Mamas and Papas 1966

The past several entries have been so emotional that I thought I’d pull back a bit and tell a
story about my dad and stepmom, Tudy, and why this song reminds me of them.

First, some background – My dad and mom were divorced when I was in grade seven, about 1963-1964. My dad had custody, which was unusual at that time. But that’s a story for another day. About that same time, he started his own business with three partners. He was on the road all the time and had little time for a social life. He made a few attempts. The first we knew about involved an “exotic dancer” from a club in Clear Lake. Maybe I shouldn’t bring it up because years later, he was embarrassed about it, and Tudy hated it when we brought it up. But the dancer --Lois, I think her name was -- was nice. Anyway, after a few years, he started dating Tudy. (Her real name is Edna, but she had a twin, Edward, and growing up, they were called Tudy and Buddy, and it stuck.) 

Now, my dad was a good Catholic and he knew that, being divorced, he could never remarry. But after a few years dating, Tudy began to question this. Every so often, he’d see her on a Friday or Saturday, and she’d bring up the marriage issue. They would argue and he (or she) would call it off. The next morning, he’d tell us that he wasn’t going to see Tudy anymore, or that they weren’t speaking. Often, he would tell us this on a Monday.

Monday, Monday, so good to me

Monday mornin', it was all I hoped it would be

Oh Monday mornin', Monday mornin' couldn't guarantee

That Monday evenin' you would still be here with me

This would go on for a couple of days, one of them would relent, and they’d be back together again. Of course, heretic that I was, I couldn’t understand the problem. My sister, Betty, was just a romantic, and she wanted them to have a happy ending. We liked Tudy – she was funny, didn’t take any crap off my dad, and she had a color television. Hey, we were teenagers!

Monday, Monday, can't trust that day

Monday, Monday, sometimes it just turns out that way

Oh Monday mornin' you gave me no warnin' of what was to be

Oh Monday, Monday, how could you leave and not take me

John Phillips wrote the song in about 20 minutes, he says. It was included on the If You Can

Believe Your Eyes and Ears album and released as a single in March 1966. It was the Mamas and Papas’ only #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, a first for a mixed gender group.

So on Mondays, when my dad had announced yet another end to his relationship with Tudy, “Monday, Monday” would come on the ever-present radio at breakfast time, and Betty and I would sarcastically sing along, “Monday, Monday…Can’t trust that day!”

Every other day, every other day

Every other day of the week is fine, yeah

But whenever Monday comes, but whenever Monday comes

A-you can find me cryin' all of the time

In 1968, Tudy came to the house while my dad was still at work and asked us if it would be okay if they were married. I think I may have brought all my pragmatism to bear and said, “Why wouldn’t you?” Betty cried she was so happy. On August 18, 1968, we all drove up to Rochester, MN and watched them get married, supported by Tudy’s good friends from Clear Lake. Tudy was a good stepmom, and she put up with a lot of teenage crap from me and my sister. I wish I could have asked her for advice when I found myself in a somewhat comparable situation about 40 years later.

Mondays were no longer a problem. They were married, until she died, for more than 31 years. My dad was lost without her.

Spotify: "Monday Monday" - The Mamas and Papas