Andrew gold thank you for being a friend

Songfacts®:

• This breezy song embodied the Southern California sound of the late '70s - Gold said he was in his "Brian Wilson phase" when he wrote it. The song finds Gold showing gratitude to a true friend, assuring this person that he will be there until the end.

• Seven years after this song was a hit for singer/songwriter Andrew Gold, it became the theme from the NBC sitcom The Golden Girls, which ran from 1985-1992. A jingle singer named Cynthia Fee sang the TV version.

  With lyrics about a friendship that endures into old age, the song is remarkably appropriate for the show:

  And when we both get older
  With walking canes and hair of gray
  Have no fear, even though it's hard to hear
  I will stand real close and say,
  "Thank you for being a friend" >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Jerro - New Alexandria, PA

• Gold wrote that this song was "sort of dedicated" to his musical partner Brock Walsh and his manager Norman Epstein.

• According to Gold, it took him just an hour to write this song. Recording it was more onerous: they did 40 takes, and went with #40.

• Andrew Gold was a singer-songwriter-producer who was the son of the composer Ernest Gold and his first wife, singer Marni Nixon. He was a popular studio musician in the early '70s, when he played guitar and sang on many Linda Ronstadt recordings. After a spell in a folk-rock band called Bryndle, he released his first solo album in 1975. His breakout hit came in 1977 with "Lonely Boy," which went to #7 in the US. "Thank You for Being a Friend" appeared on his third album.

  Gold charted with another song from that album, "Never Let Her Slip Away," which went to #67, but that was his last entry as a solo artist. For much of the '80s, he was in the band Wax with Graham Gouldman; they reached #43 US in 1986 with "Right Between The Eyes" and #12 UK in 1987 with "Bridge to Your Heart." He also co-wrote the Wynonna Judd song "I Saw the Light," which was a #1 Country hit in 1992. Gold died in 2011 at age 59.

• An unusual instrument in the mix of this track: sleigh bells.

• Andrew Gold worked on another popular sitcom theme song, "Final Frontier," which opened the Paul Reiser/Helen Hunt TV series Mad About You during its run from 1992-1999. Gold didn't write that one though - Reiser and Don Was did. Gold sang the version that was used on the show for the first five seasons.

• Jeff Porcaro from the band Toto played drums on this track; renown session guitarist Waddy Wachtel played guitar.

Who did Andrew Gold write Thank You for Being a Friend for?

Who sings the original Thank You for Being a Friend?

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