Music Blog

August Was A Heavy Month

This week at Glyn Wilton’s Mixed Music Bag,
he’s asking us to write about a song in which
the title or a line mentions the current month. 
Here’s my featured August artist and his song.

© Amazon.com

Bob Geldof is an Irish rock musician and philanthropic activist born in 1951 in Ireland. He formed the Boomtown Rats in the 1970s and founded the charitable supergroup Band Aid in 1984. He is best known for organizing the Live Aid concert in 1985 for the relief of famine in Ethiopia. Geldof launched a solo career following the dissolution of the Boomtown Rats in 1986 and released his first solo studio album, Deep In the Heart Of Nowhere, the same year. The album reached #79 for one week in the UK Albums Chart in December 1986.

My featured song today is “August Was A Heavy Month”, a track from Deep In the Heart Of Nowhere.

The phrase “August was a heavy month” is heard in the song “I Don’t Like Mondays” by the Boomtown Rats, written by Geldof. The song was inspired by the 1979 Brenda Ann Spencer shooting incident in San Diego. Spencer, a 16-year-old girl, opened fire on a school playground, killing two adults and injuring nine others, including a policeman and eight children. Spencer’s chillingly casual statement, “I don’t like Mondays. This livens up the day.” fueled Geldof’s songwriting. The phrase “August was a heavy month” encapsulates the weight and impact of that tragic event. Brenda Ann Spencer was sentenced to two concurrent terms of 25 years to life in prison; she is currently up for parole.

This is “August Was A Heavy Month” by Bob Geldof


LYRICS

I’ll take another photograph
Before the old one fades
It reminds me of those things that past
And quickly passed away
But it comes on in the early night
Creeping up on you
Those scenes of devastation
Crushing down on cue
These days are growing colder now
The light is growing dim
August was a heavy month
And now the nights are drawing in
Poor Baby Blue’s wrapped up again
Inside her final pain
I’d help her if I could I say
She puts us all to shame
Alright, alright I know I’ve got a lot
Left to answer for
But am I the only one to blame
And anyway who’s keeping score
But the grass seems so much brighter now
She’s spilled her blood again
August was a heavy month
Wash it down September rain

Baby Blue picks up her life tonight
And rushes for the Chelsea train
All the stars shine down on her tonight
And August was a heavy month

The photograph is cracked and torn
From being picked up, put down
Like some holy relic
Whose worshippers are found
Searching through their sacred books
For the holy grail of “why”
But the total sum of knowledge
Knows no more than you or I
Alright, alright says Baby Blue
Who doesn’t really understand
August was a heavy month
But winter came at last.

Written by Bob Geldof
Taken from the album “Deep In the Heart of Knowhere”
Source: LyricFind
August Was a Heavy Month lyrics © BMG Rights Management

Big thanks to Glyn Wilton for hosting Mixed Music Bag each week.

Thanks for joining me today and spinning some tunes.

See you on the flip side. 😎

NAR©2025

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for Nancy Richy and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.

26 thoughts on “August Was A Heavy Month”

  1. Wow, August, was definitely a heavy, and following the lyrics these lines grabbed my attention, Nancy

    “Whose worshippers are found
    Searching through their sacred books
    For the holy grail of “why”
    But the total sum of knowledge”

    I’m not good at these ‘month’ song searches, so I’ll send you another “Augie March” … and this one is really “heavy and fishy”

    Liked by 1 person

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