Mony Mony (2:51)

“Mony Mony” is a 1968 single by Tommy James & the Shondells, that reached #1 in the UK charts. It was famously covered by Billy Idol in 1981.

“Mony Mony” was credited to Tommy James, Bo Gentry, Ritchie Cordell, and Bobby Bloom. The hook in the song is said to have been inspired by James’ view of a MONY sign atop the Mutual of New York Building in the New York City skyline from his Manhattan apartment. As Tommy James says in a 1995 interview in Hitch magazine:

True story: I had the track done before I had a title. I wanted something catchy like “Sloopy” or “Bony Maroney,” but everything sounded so stupid. So Ritchie Cordell and I were writing it in New York City, and we were about to throw in the towel when I went out onto the terrace, looked up and saw the Mutual of New York building (which has its initials illuminated in red at its top). I said, “That’s gotta be it! Ritchie, come here, you’ve gotta see this!” It’s almost as if God Himself had said, “Here’s the title.” I’ve always thought that if I had looked the other way, it might have been called “Hotel Taft.”

“Mony Mony” was the only song by the group to reach the top 20 in the United Kingdom; it reached #1 in the UK, and #3 in the USA. A music video of it was made at the time, dated in showing love beads, but a decade and half later would receive some play on MTV.