The Ten Best 'Friday' Songs EVER, Part TWO!

It's arguably the most crucial day of the week, the culmination of five grueling days of work or school.  Still, as tired as we may be, staying home is the last thing on our minds.  Let's face it, Friday nights set the whole tone for the rest of the weekend.  What better way to get your weekend started than with these great "Friday" tunes?

    

Click here to enjoy PART ONE of The Ten Best "FRIDAY" Songs EVER!

"Friday Night" by The Darkness

While most of your typical "Friday" favorites joyously celebrate the end of a grueling work or school week and look forward to a night of meeting up with friends or, better yet, that specal someone. In the hands of The Darkness, though, "Friday Night" is a wistful look in the rearview mirror as awkins finds himself still pining for the affections of another, who may or may not have known he existed at the time.

"See the lady I adore
Dancing on the dancing floor
Dancing on a Friday night
God, the way she moves me
To write bad poetry
Dancing on a Friday night
With you."

"Cool One" by Starz

"Friday night and my work's all done/I'll get my baby, go and have some fun" begins this Stonesy rocker from easily one of the most underrated bands of the last century. The tasty riffage from twin guitar gods Richie Ranno and Brendan Harkin lays the foundation over which singer Michael Lee Smith spins a playful yarn of picking up his favorite gal, laying rubber in front of her dad, and spending some quality time in a dark theatre where "She reached over and squeezed on my rocks/I lost it all in a popcorn box". For that line alone, this song deserves to be heard...and worshiped.

"Bad Girls" by Donna Summer

"Toot toot, hey, beep beep" begins the playful refrain to this odd ode to Friday nights from the viewpoint of a, ahem, street prostitute. "Friday night and the strip is hot/Sun goes down and about to trot/Spirits high and babes look hot/Do you wanna get down?"

Written by Summer, label head Neil Bogart originally suggested she give the track to Cher, whom he had signed to his label, but Summer held onto the song instead, saving it for what would be the biggest-selling album of her career. Following hot on the heels of "Hot Stuff", "Bad Girls" would also rocket to #1 in the U.S., but her dissatisfaction with being portrayed as a sexually-charged disco singer led her to leave Casablanca in favor of being the first artist signed to David Geffen's new imprint, Geffen Records.

"Just Got Paid" by Johnny Kemp

"Just got paid, it's Friday night" begins this "monster jam" from Bahamian singer Johnny Kemp As one of the pioneers of the New Jack Swing movement in the late '80s, Kemp wrote the lyrics to this tune for Keith Sweat, but Sweat would later pass on the track. Realizing the song's potential, Kemp's own demo of the track was later released as-is by Columbia, became a Top 10 pop hit, and scored a Grammy nomination in 1988. Kemp has yet to make another album, but, considering N'Sync covered the song on their No Strings Attached album (U.S. sales over 11 million), he probably doesn't need the money.

"Friday" by Goldspot

"Today is Friday, It is my day to disappear"... And so begins this alternately playful and plaintive pop rocker from New York's Goldspot, led by Indian-born Siddhartha Khosla. If you're anything like me, once you hear this tune, you'll wonder where you've been the past five years that this should-be classic somehow escaped your ears.

Do yourself and the band a huge favor and pick up a copy of the album Tally Of The Yes Men.  And don't forget to check out PART ONE of