Like everyone else who grew up during the heyday of the show and has since had to deal with countless reruns over the last 25 years, I have heard the Friends theme song roughly a billion times. I’m sure if I live to be 4,000 years old I still won’t forget that annoyingly upbeat track. Life is always gonna be this way, whether my job’s a joke, I’m broke, or my love life’s DOA. The Rembrandt’s “I’ll be There For You” will always be with me, whether I like it or not—and at this point, it’s definitely more of a “not.” Fortunately, I have now found an all new way to enjoy it and all it took was a minor change. Or rather, a minor key change, which turns this tune from a happy ditty about friendship into a somber reminder about the difficulty of finding success.
With Friends set to leave Netflix soon, Chase Holfelder decided to mourn the show’s impending departure from the streaming site with this minor key rendition of the iconic theme (which we first heard at Laughing Squid). By making the change from the track’s major key—which as a person who clearly knows a lot about music, I refer to as the “happy one”—the lively, upbeat track turns into a far sadder number that feels like it belongs at the end of a Friends‘ episode where Ross and Rachel break up. So, you know, like half of the episodes.
The minor key doesn’t mean the theme sounds bad though. In fact this is a really compelling rendition. The harmonies actually work far better here than in the theme we all know by heart. Whether I live 40 more years or 4,000, I wouldn’t mind hearing this version every once in a while. “I’ll be There For You” doesn’t always have to be stuck in second gear or a major key.
Featured Image: NBC
