Just Singin' Along

My friends Dale and Ellen Jane got me thinking about all of my many groups of friends.  A lot of my friends don't know each other because they know me from different eras in my life, or they know me from one setting or area that may not cross over to other areas.  For example, my childhood friends don't know the people that I serve with as fellow H.O.'s (no, that's not ho's as in some usage in vogue today) and mediators.  While I was musing on this topic of all of my many amazing friends and how very fortunate I am to have them in my life, my mind wandered off to thoughts of music -- and songs about friends.

Sure, there are loads of songs about love.  But what about songs in praise of friends?  I started making a list of some of my favorite songs about friends and even looked up the lyrics to some.  Some are deeply personal, some are lighthearted, and some are downright silly, but they all celebrate the "F" word -- Friendship.

Here are a baker's dozen of my favorites.  Feel free to trip over to YouTube and watch a video of someone singing a song that you might not recognize. 

1.  We're Going To Be Friends - The White Stripes  (a little ditty about childhood friends)
2.  You've Got a Friend - James Taylor
3.  Thank You for Being a Friend - Andrew Gold
4.  Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel
5.  With a Little Help from My Friends - The Beatles
6.  In My Life - The Beatles
7.  He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother - The Hollies
8.  You've Got a Friend in Me - Randy Newman
9.  I'll Be There for You - Rembrandts
10. That's What Friends Are For - Dionne Warwick (actually by Burt Bacharach & Carole Bayer Sager)
11. (Ya Gotta Have) Friends - Bette Midler
12. I'll Stand by You - The Pretenders
13. Lean on Me - Bill Withers

What's on your list?

And to all my beautiful and wonderful friends out there, I just want to say -- Thank you for being my friend.