Thank You for Being a Friend

"Thank You for Being a Friend"

Side label of U.S. 7-inch vinyl single
Single by Andrew Gold
from the album All This and Heaven Too
B-side "Still You Linger On"
Released February 1978
Format 7" (45 rpm)
Genre Pop rock, soft rock[1]
Length 4:41
Label Asylum Records
Producer(s) Andrew Gold
Brock Walsh
Andrew Gold singles chronology
"I'm On My Way"
(1978)		 "Thank You for Being a Friend"
(1978)		 "Never Let Her Slip Away"
(1978)

"Thank You for Being a Friend" is a song written by Andrew Gold, who recorded it for his third album, All This and Heaven Too. The song reached number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1978.[2] It also spent two weeks at number 11 on the U.S. Cash Box Top 100,[3] ranking it as the 98th biggest hit of 1978.[4] In Canada, the song peaked at number seven.

The song was famously later re-recorded by Cynthia Fee (also known for her work with Kenny Rogers) to serve as the theme song for the NBC sitcom The Golden Girls, and recorded again for the series' CBS spin-off The Golden Palace.

The song was also featured as a dedication to the host on Casey Kasem's final American Top 40, broadcast on Fourth of July weekend in 2009;[5] the end of two World Series games (Game 5 in 1988 and Game 4 in 1990); the "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" episode "Mac's Mom Burns Her House Down"; the end of Super Bowl XL,; the episode of The Simpsons titled "Double, Double, Boy in Trouble"; and on a May 2010 episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Betty White, in which past and present cast members sang the song followed by a death metal version of the song performed by White while wearing a ski mask. Elaine Paige and Dionne Warwick released a recording of the song on Paige's duet album Elaine Paige and Friends in 2010. The song was also included in the Wearside Jack tape by someone purporting to be the Yorkshire Ripper. The song was covered by ska-pop group Suburban Legends on their 2015 album, Forever in the FriendZone. The song was covered by Virginia punk band The Blanche Devereauxs on their 2009 LP "Midnight Cheesecake Banter".

According to Gold the song was “just this little throwaway thing,” and said it took him “about an hour to write.”[6]

Chart performance

Weekly singles charts

Chart (1978) Peak
position
Canada RPM Top Singles[7] 7
Canada RPM Adult Contemporary [8] 5
UK 42
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 25
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks[9] 15
U.S. Cashbox Top 100 [10] 11

Year-end charts

Chart (1978) Rank
U.S. Cash Box [11] 98
Canada [12] 57

References

  1. ↑ "Explore: Soft Rock | Top Songs | AllMusic". Web.archive.org. 2011-12-14. Archived from the original on December 14, 2011. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  2. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 8th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 258.
  3. ↑ http://50.6.195.142/archives/70s_files/19780429.html
  4. ↑ http://50.6.195.142/archives/70s_files/1978YESP.html
  5. ↑ Durkee, Rob. Salute to Andrew Gold, American Top 40 Fun & Games, June 5, 2011.
  6. ↑ Garber, Megan A Brief History of ‘Thank You for Being a Friend’ The Atlantic.September 16, 2015
  7. ↑ http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.4588a&type=1&interval=50&PHPSESSID=i3nv5cvspmsr8gv3ftmc106820
  8. ↑ https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.4586&type=1&interval=50&PHPSESSID=9bu4dggadph60vkgak34v792v1
  9. ↑ http://www.billboard.com/charts/adult-contemporary/1978-04-15
  10. ↑ http://cashboxmagazine.com/archives/70s_files/19771029.html
  11. ↑ http://50.6.195.142/archives/70s_files/1978YESP.html
  12. ↑ http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?file_num=nlc008388.5502b&brws_s=&type=1&interval=50&PHPSESSID=q083u85gbve5mca7rst0usl5u4

External links

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