Thank You For Being A Friend – Andrew Gold | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#25); 1978
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
The musician credits for Andrew Gold’s third album read like a who’s who of 1970’s California rock: drummer Russ Kunkel, guitarist Waddy Wachtel, and bassist Leland Sklar among them.
The backing vocalists were equally impressive: J.D. Souther and Jennifer Warnes. The lead-off single from All This And Heaven Too – Thank You For Being A Friend – landed in the Top 30 while the second – Never Let Her Slip Away – stopped at #67.
As Thank You worked its way up the U.S. pop chart, Never Let Her Slip Away was making noise in the British Top 5. How Can This Be Love succeeded Slip Away in the UK; peaking at #19.
After all that action, Andrew’s hot streak ran cold Stateside until 1986 when Right Between The Eyes (recorded with 10cc’s Graham Gouldman as Wax) reached #43. The next year their Straight To Your Heart became a Brit hit.
Gold’s Thanks You For Being A Friend was also heard weekly between 1985 and 1992 as the theme song for the NBC-TV series The Golden Girls.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Andrew Gold
- Brock Walsh
Lyrics Written by:
- Andrew Gold
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).