In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning – 70 Years Of a Masterpiece. Chapter 8 – Repertoire: Can’t We Be Friends?”
“Can’t We Be Friends?”
(Kay Swift, James Paul Warburg, 1929)
This song is the most significant piece from the musical “The Little Show”, which ran from April 1929 to February 1930. Among the other notable melodies from the production are “I Guess I’ll Have To Change My Plan”—which became a standard recorded by numerous artists across all styles, including our Frankie—and a song titled “A Little Hut In Hoboken,” which mentions the hometown of The Voice.
“Can’t We Be Friends” was quite popular in its release year and was even covered by the great singer of the time, Bing Crosby. Later, it faded into obscurity, with only a few revivals in the 1940s. Once again, Sinatra came to the rescue of a song that might otherwise have been lost in the vast ocean of pre-rock and roll music—but he did much more than that. If in its early days it had been a melodramatic lament of broken female hearts or a peppy foxtrot for weekend dances, after passing through the filter of his voice and being adorned with Nelson Riddle‘s arrangements, the song was reborn as the bitter and desperate confession of a man crushed by disillusionment, sharing his misery with an empathetic listener in the thick shadows of a nightclub. The way Sinatra’s voice cracks with emotion in certain phrases is simply chilling.
“I took each word she said as gospel truth the way a silly little child would.
I can’t excuse it on the grounds of youth,
I was no babe in the wild, wild wood.
She didn’t mean it,
I should have seen it,
But now it’s too late.
I thought I’d found the girl of my dreams,
Now it seems,
This is how the story ends:
She’s gonna turn me down and say,
“Can’t we be friends?”
I thought for once it couldn’t go wrong,
Not for long,
I can see the way this ends:
She’s gonna turn me down and say,
“Can’t we be friends?”
Why should I care though she gave me the air,
Why should I cry,
Heave a sigh,
And wonder why,
And wonder why?
I thought I found the gal I could trust,
Watta bust, this is how the story ends:
She’s gonna turn me down and say,
“Can’t we be just friends?”
Article written by Mahnuel Muñoz (Al Mal Tiempo, Frank Sinatra) https://www.facebook.com/groups/120950148274703/
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