Roger Nichols (born Roger Stewart Nichols, in Missoula, Montana, USA, Septe… Read Full Bio ↴Roger Nichols (born Roger Stewart Nichols, in Missoula, Montana, USA, September 17, 1940) is an American composer and songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who plays violin, guitar, bass, and piano.

Nichols co-wrote many songs with lyricists Paul Williams, Tony Asher and Bill Lane.
Asher and Nichols co-wrote several songs on Nichols' debut album Roger Nichols & The Small Circle Of Friends (A&M Records, 1968) which was produced by Tommy LiPuma, engineered by Bruce Botnick and featured session contributions from Van Dyke Parks, Randy Newman and Lenny Waronker. Although the album was not a big seller, A&M co-owner Herb Alpert recommended that Nichols be hired by A&M publishing as a staff songwriter, and it was during this period that he was introduced to Paul Williams.

Nichols' collaborations with Paul Williams include "We've Only Just Begun"(performed by The Carpenters), which was originally written for a Crocker Bank commercial. They were commissioned to write a jingle after a bank executive heard Nichols' album, and it was composed in a matter of hours on the last day before the deadline.

The commercial (sung by Williams) was heard on TV by Richard Carpenter, who believed it had hit potential and his group The Carpenters subsequently recorded a version, which became a major hit for them in late 1970. It was nominated for a Grammy for Song of the Year, was included on BMI's million performances list and received an award for selling a million copies of sheet music. The song was also covered by Curtis Mayfield among many others.

"Times of Your Life", written with Lane and performed by Paul Anka, had reached number one on the Adult Contemporary chart (3–10 January 1976).

Another Nichols-Williams song, "Out in the Country" by Three Dog Night and later by R.E.M., landed in the Top Ten. Six months later, "Rainy Days and Mondays" was another gold record by The Carpenters and Nichols' third gold record in a single year.

Other hits were The Carpenters' "I Won't Last a Day Without You", Art Garfunkel'"Travelin' Boy" (covered by Rumer) and "I Never Had It So Good" (covered by Barbra Streisand). He also scored the theme song from Hart to Hart with a lyric by Lane.

Nichols released a Japan-only CD in 1995 called "Roger Nichols and a Circle of Friends -- Be Gentle With My Heart", featuring vocalist Sheila O'Connell-Roussell, on which he recorded some of his best-known tunes, including "We've Only Just Begun", "I Won't Last a Day Without You", and "Rainy Days and Mondays" (which features Paul Williams on guest vocal).

He also released a CD in 2007 with the original Small Circle of Friends called "Full Circle" which brought together the group to cover many of Nichols hits for other bands, including "Out in the Country" and "Let Me Be the One" as well as other tunes penned during Roger's late-1960s heyday. 2008 saw an upgraded release of "Full Circle" issued by Steve Stanley's Now Sounds label. This version also contains 5 previously-unreleased, 1960s-era demo recordings.

In addition to his extensive musical career, Nichols also is a successful jeweler.

Roger's brother, Ted Nichols, was also a noted composer who briefly served as musical director for the Hanna-Barbera cartoon studio.

Discography

Roger Nichols and the Small Circle of Friends (1968)
Roger Nichols and a Circle of Friends—Be Gentle With My Heart (1995)
Roger Nichols and the Small Circle of Friends—Full Circle (2007)
Roger Nichols and the Small Circle of Friends—Full Circle (2008; Now Sounds edition with 5 extra tracks)
Roger Nichols and the Small Circle of Friends - My Heart is Home (2012)

Rainy Days and Mondays
Roger Nichols Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Talkin' to myself and feelin' old
Sometimes I'd like to quit
Nothin' ever seems to fit
Hangin' around
Nothin' to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

What I've got they used to call the blues

Nothin' is really wrong
Feelin' like I don't belong
Walkin' around
Some kind of lonely clown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

Funny, but it seems I always wind up here with you
Nice to know somebody loves me
Funny, but it seems that it's the only thing to do
Run and find the one who loves me (the one who loves me)

What I feel has come and gone before
No need to talk it out
We know what it's all about
Hangin' around
Nothin' to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

Funny, but it seems that it's the only thing to do (only thing to do)
Run and find the one who loves me

What I feel has come and gone before
No need to talk it out
We know what it's all about
Hangin' around

Nothin' to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down
Hangin' around (hangin' around)
Nothin' to do but frown

Rainy days and Mondays always get
Me down

Overall Meaning

The song Rainy Days and Mondays by Roger Nichols is a melancholic reflection on feeling lonely and lost. The singer talks to themselves and feels old, sometimes wanting to quit. They are experiencing the blues, despite there being nothing really "wrong" with their life, they just have a sense of not belonging. Rainy days and Mondays seem to be triggers, causing them to feel down and frustrated with life. They hang around, frowning at the world and feeling like a lonely clown.

Line by Line Meaning

Talkin' to myself and feelin' old
Feeling lonely and depressed so much so that you talk to yourself as if you're the only one around

Sometimes I'd like to quit
At times wishing for an escape from this endless cycle of sadness

Nothin' ever seems to fit
Feeling that there's no place in the world for oneself

Hangin' around
Not going anywhere, being stuck in one place

Nothin' to do but frown
With nothing positive happening in life, one can only wear a sad expression

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down
Feeling especially gloomy on rainy days and weekdays, probably because it's the opposite of how we imagine happy times to be

What I've got they used to call the blues
Referring to a sense of sadness or depression, which in the old days was called the ‘blues'

Nothin' is really wrong
Logically, there seems to be no reason to feel so blue

Feelin' like I don't belong
Feeling that you're an outsider or don't fit in

Walkin' around
Going through the motions of life, not really living

Some kind of lonely clown
Feeling like a performer for an unseen audience, even though the performance is tragic

Funny, but it seems I always wind up here with you
Despite the feeling that nothing is right or worth doing, the only constants in life are oneself and likely the person listening to this song

Nice to know somebody loves me
Feeling grateful to have someone who cares about you even if you're not capable of feeling anything positive

Funny, but it seems that it's the only thing to do
Despite attempting everything else, only the presence or thought of someone who loves you seems to lessen the weight of one's sadness

Run and find the one who loves me (the one who loves me)
Desperately trying to cling to the one thing that brings joy or lessens the miserable feeling

What I feel has come and gone before
Feeling that the wounds of sadness have been opened and healed many times before

No need to talk it out
There's no point discussing such old pain anymore

We know what it's all about
Both the listener and the singer know all too well about the sorrow in question

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down
Summing up the song with the chorus and emphasizing how profoundly the miserable feelings dominate life on rainy days and every Monday

Nothin' to do but frown
Echoing the earlier line and reinforcing that there's seemingly no escape or distraction from the sadness

Hangin' around (hangin' around)
Repeating the line for final emphasis and to signify the looping cycle of the sad feelings

Rainy days and Mondays always get
Carrying over from the previous line, continuing to emphasize the melancholy mood on these days

Me down
The final line of the song and summing up the overall sentiment of the song, emphasizing the weight of the emotions

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: PAUL H. WILLIAMS, ROGER S. NICHOLS

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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