Songs You May Not Know Were Covers, Round 7: Thats What Friends Are For (#3)

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Staying away from one another! That’s what friends are for!! I did take advantage of the “carry out” at Chuy’s yesterday, leaving a big-butt tip for the people who are suffering because it’s their livelihood, not just my routine, being affected. So, in that vein, here’s another big hit that was a cover. #3: That’s What Friends Are For The early 80s were the time of the “superstars getting together to record a pretty lame song that sells out the wazoo because it’s ‘for charity’” singles. To this day I’m incensed that the drivel known as “We Are The World,” most of which consisted of endless repetition of the chorus for better than half of its seven-minute length, won a Grammy for “best song” in a year that saw “Money for Nothing” and “The Boys of Summer” nominated but shunned. Oh, wait, this is about cover songs. Skip that. One of the “let’s do some good with our singing” songs from that era came courtesy of Dionne Warwick, who recruited three “friends” — Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John — to sing the song “That’s What Friends Are For,” with the proceeds going to the then-fledgling AIDS crisis. (Oh, and if you’re grumbling about being locked in your house with all the creature comforts, remember this is what some people proposed to doing to HIV-positive people in the early days of AIDS!) Well, that kinda sappy but dang isn’t it for a good cause megahit (#1 song of the year in 1986, Grammy winner, and it did raise $3 million for AIDS research) was a cover. I kinda hate to say this, but it is true: if you listen to the opening, you can almost tell this was originally an 80s movie soundtrack song. It has that “movie theme music” feel to it. And that’s where this song originated: in the film Night Shift. (Had to make sure I got the “F” in there. ) For that soundtrack, Rod Stewart (who was one of the famous cover artists for yesterday’s song) did the, ahem, “honors.” I’m not overly fond of this song, but I didn’t know for years that it was a cover song. Maybe you find that equally surprising. That’s What Friends Are For Written by Burt Bacharach and Carol Bayer Sager Originally recorded by Rod Stewart, 1982 Famously covered by Dionne And Friends, 1985 You can always count on me: