Stand there is one thing that music can do is give voice to many of the feelings we feel within ourselves and which, perhaps, we find it difficult to express at our best. As usual, songs come to our rescue, giving us the perfect words that we can dedicate to the people we love. Or, why not, even to ourselves. Of all the themes that the songs touch on, friendship often returns. Decades of music have given us real masterpieces to express all our gratitude to friends or girlfriends. We have decided to select a few, both Italian and international. But, of course, the list could be much much longer.
Songs about friendship: it starts with Queen and theirs Friends will be friends
One of the most famous songs in the world dedicated to the topic of friendship is Friends will be friends of Queen. Among the songs that talk about friendship, in fact, this is without a doubt among the most comprehensive and profound. In this track co-written by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon and released in June 1986, Queen speak of the figure of the friend as that of a savior.
Translated, the song reads. «Friends will always be friends / When you need love, they give you care and attention / Friends will always be friends / When you’re drowning and you’ve lost all hope open your hand / ’cause friends will always be friends / Until the end».
A real one love declaration which, thanks to the immense voice of Freddie Mercury has become a moving poster.
Among the inevitable there is also I’ll be there for you
Friendship can also be light and a source of light-heartedness. One way to remind ourselves is to listen the iconic I’ll be there for you by The Rembrandts. We all know it because it is the theme song of the TV series Friends which, in fact, has as its center the story of a close-knit but also decidedly ramshackle group of friends.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons for the success of the series: having represented friendship relationships not as something immediate or taken for granted. But have shown them as they are, often in need of mutual corrections, of clashes in order to then be able to find each other again. And the song by The Rembrandts (which, translated, means precisely I will be there for you) includes all of this. And it gives us a beautiful story of friendship that each of us can experience.
Friendship according to the 883
A different cut comes from the 883 which in 1997 they put on their record The harsh law of goal! a title track The rule of the friend. In this case we are not dealing with songs dedicated to decennial friendships. Rather, we are faced with a principle that Max Pezzali posits as absolute. In his own words, “The friend rule is never wrong / If you’re friends with a woman / You’ll never get anything done / You don’t want to ruin such a beautiful relationship».
Here, friendship is therefore defined, in a joking way, as a step not to be reached when something more is desired. But, as is known, 883 took the liberty of launching this single because they have told the beauty of friendship in many of their songsoften linking it to a simple provincial life, in which it is not necessary to have particular quality standards to be loved.
A friend is like that: word from Laura Pausini
Among the most beautiful Italian friendship songs there is A friend is like that by Laura Pausini. The song – contained in his second album, Laura, from 1994 – talks about how a true friendship can save us. In the song, the artist from Romagna defines friendship like this. «It’s like a great love, just disguised a little / But what do you feel that there is / Hidden in the folds of a heart that gives itself and doesn’t ask why».
Laura Pausini, live at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, on November 16, 2022, on the occasion of the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year, dedicated to Marco Antonio Solís. Credit: Rodrigo Varela/Getty Images for The Latin Recording Academy
In short, here we go one step further. Friendship is not something partial that stops a few steps before love (understood as a relationship). Friendship is itself love; friends are the protagonists of true love stories, made of fidelity, courage and companionship. Just decide to walk together. And say it without shame.
«Friendship never ends»
Celebrating a friendship can also be synonymous with female emancipation. Indeed, the super hit of the Spice Girls Wannabe is one of the most enthusiastic songs about modern friendship.
And it is precisely because Geri, Victoria, Emma, Melanie C and Melanie B are not ashamed to shout to the world how much a friendship can be all-encompassing. It is no coincidence that this was the song that actually took them to the top of the music world (it was the first single from their first album Spice).
The single has sold over 7 million copies and became the biggest-selling all-female band in history. One of the best telling English friendship songs a free generation without the need for definitive emotional ties to feel complete.
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