(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Kitchen Table Kibitzing 5/26/2026: Friends [1] ['Belinda Ridgewood', 'News Corpse', 'Chitown Kev', 'Nanny Ogg'] Date: 2026-05-26 Good evening, Kibitzers! Later this week, I am heading to my fiftieth college reunion. You may recall that, surely just five minutes ago, I was headed to my fortieth reunion, which I wrote about in a KTK I have no clue how to find now. No one headed to my 45th because it was during Covid. But the 25th and 50th are generally the best-attended ones — the 25th is by far the biggest, but the college also goes to some trouble for the 50th because they know we’re all going to die soon (some already have a head start, sadly) and they are eager for us to look kindly upon them, especially during will-writing. I expect the food and drinks to be top-notch, as they have always been. So I am looking forward to seeing old friends, some that I’ve kept in touch with on my own and some that I am glad to see every five years but somehow never make the quantum leap into their orbits. I should! It’s just, I am an introvert and I only have so much energy for that kind of thing. Accordingly, I’ve lined up a bunch of songs about friends. I’m sure you’ll think of more, and linking is better than nothing, although it will be a happy day when they deliver YouTube embedding for comments. Old Friends: Simon and Garfunkel (TV special The Paul Simon Special, a Lorne Michaels production with heavy SNL presence, December 1977) ❧ [2:48] Friends: Bette Midler (TV special An Evening with Friends of the Environment, Greek Theater, Los Angeles, 1990) ❧ [2:45] Two of Us: The Beatles (film Let It Be, 1970) ❧ [3:31] You’re My Best Friend: Queen (Hammersmith Odeon, London: December 1979) ❧ [2:31] I saw some interview footage (which I can’t find again) while I was looking for a performance to put here. James Taylor was describing how they were both working on albums and he heard Carole King sing this song, and at the end of one of his recording days, he played the song just noodling around, but it was so good that he had to come to her and say he wanted to put her as-yet-unreleased song on his album. He was worried about her reaction, but she had been a professional songwriter a lot longer than she’d thought of herself as a singer, and she was delighted he wanted her song. And then (this is the part that’s making me write this), she said that she’d been inspired to write the song in the first place by the line in Fire and Rain, “I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend”. She told the interviewer, “I wanted to tell him that he DID have a friend.” You’ve Got a Friend: James Taylor and Carole King (The Troubadour, West Hollywood, 2007) ❧ [5:22] Waiting on a Friend: The Rolling Stones (Hampton Coliseum, Hampton VA, December 1981) ❧ [5:44] You’ve Got a Friend in Me: Randy Newman and Chris Thile (A Prairie Home Companion with Chris Thile (later renamed Live from Here), Fitzgerald Theater, Saint Paul MN, October 2017) ❧ [2:08] I’ll Stand By You: The Pretenders (The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, 1994) ❧ [3:59] Those Were the Days: Mary Hopkin (The Ed Sullivan Show, Ed Sullivan Theater, October 1968) ❧ [3:57] Lean On Me: Bill Withers (BBC show In Concert, May 1974) ❧ [4:17] That’s What Friends Are For: Dionne Warwick with Stevie Wonder, Elton John, and Gladys Knight (That’s What Friends Are For: AIDS Concert ’88, Kennedy Center, June 1988) ❧ [8:18] This wasn’t the performance of this song I expected to pick — I didn’t even know it existed until I went looking. But it’s awfully good. It’s the Joe Cocker interpretation, but I personally like it a lot better than Joe Cocker. That show wasn’t just a comedy show or just a talk show, and the music will be missed. (The show’s band, now renamed Louis Cato and the Great Big Joy Machine, is quite a good jazz band — kudos to them for the I Dig a Pony musical reference at the end.) [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/5/26/800045104/community/kitchen-table-kibitzing-5-26-2026/ Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/