Anybody know if Queen’s classic song “You’re my best friend” was ever a TV theme song?? My wife swears it was, but all my internet searches (of “TV Show Theme Song” sites) have been fruitless.
Here are pieces of what my wife remembers:
It was either from the late seventies or early eighties;
Kids on bikes, possibly by water or near a NY City bridge;
Either David and/or Meredith Baxter Birney (one or both?) might have been in it;
If David Birney was in it, he might have been a cab driver.
And that’s it.
Now, I happen to have two theories:
1.) The theme song for “The Courtship Of Eddie’s Father” sounds sort of similar, and certainly has a similar catch phrase (“He’s my best friend”) - perhaps she confused the two in her memory (she insists that she remembers that as a completely separate song)
2.) There WAS a show I believe starring the Birneys (“Bernie Loves so-n-so”? I forgot her character’s name), and he may have been a cabdriver, but Queen’s song certainly WASN’T the theme song - again, maybe just confusion on my wife’s part…
She offers as “proof” that she recognized the song (and even some of the words) the first time I played it for her, but swears she never heard it on radio, record, tape etc - only on TV.
It’s not a major issue (hence not bothering Cecil with it) - but can anyone help???
Bridgit Loves Bernie did star both Meridith and David Birney and he did play a cab driver in the series. But, as BobT says, this was in 1972. The IMDB doesn’t list Queen as having anything to do with the soundtrack.
I did an IMDB search on Queen and came up empty. I tried Freddie Mercury and the only TV show listed for him is Highlander: The Series which a) is well after the time frame you gave and b) definately wasn’t My Best Friend.
Is it possible your wife is remembering the music video for My Best Friend?
“Kids on bikes, possibly by water or near a NY City bridge;”
You’re not thinking of Breaking Away here are you? About Shaun Cassidy as a racing cyclist wannabe, and his three Cutter friends who hang out at the waterhole. That was definitely about friendship, anyway.
I never saw an episode of “Breaking Away” (and not many people did), but wouldn’t it have used the same music from the film. That means there would have been classical music.
This is a reach, but could you be thinking of Welcome Back, Kotter? The theme song is, of course, different, but it shares the same tempo, key and rhythm, and a lot of the flourishes and harmonies and stuff like that are similar to the ones in Queen’s song.
I don’t think my wife was thinking of “Welcome Back Kotter” (anyone else like John Sebastian better when he was singing about “summer in the city” and “what a day for a daydream”?), although Cornflakes you’re right that there are similarities - but you were also right when you said it was a reach…
The Breaking Away theory is brand new to me, I’ll have to look into it - thanks for the lead! (and my wife LOVED Sean Cassidy, so she may have seen the show if even if few others did.)
As for Golden Girls - another show my wife liked, but sorry, totally different song (although the catchphrase is “Thank You For Being A Friend”, very similar.)
PBS in an interesting lead, certainly possible.
I still think she may have confused the theme song of “Courtship of eddie’s father” (yes, by Nilsson) with the cast of “Bridget Loves Bernie” - but I don’t think I’ll ever find an answer for sure. But of course, you can’t prove a negative…
Ten years later, I think your hunch with the Courtship of Eddies father as the strongest lead and likelihood of the song and show your wife is recalling…
While I reacall it and saw it a number of times, I liked the song better than the show…
The one that came to mind first to me, was the Queen song, ‘you’re my best friend’…I recall it most fondly when played over forescreen passage of Sigmond and the Seamonsters with one of the boys on the beach…I’ve heard it used in background on other shows through the years, usually as a comedic attempt at making fun of unnatural love between two males…
Hope you found your answer before now; just wanted to comment.
in the final scene of the finale of “Will and Grace”, the four principal characters are sitting at a bar with that song playing loudly as they drink. Fade to black.
So 17 years later, I have the same question. I’ve never seen any of the shows above; so none of the shows above can be the answer.
My memories are that it’s from a show in the late 70s or 80s (most likely the 80s).
I have a memories of either two guys or maybe a guy and a male child riding bikes, maybe visiting a carnival or a fair. A friend of mine had similar memories about the time and the bikes (we heard the song at a restaraunt). I hope nearly 20 years later an answer can be found.
I too can conjure up a hazy memory of this song playing in the background as a “friends” montage is shown. I’m picturing a boy riding a bike with his buddy on the handlebars.
Wiki lists these as containing the song:
Hot in Cleveland
Will & Grace
EastEnders,
My Name is Earl
The King of Queens
The Simpsons
Shaun of the Dead
The Secret Life of Pets
" . . . in addition to the promo for the American television adaption of Wilfred. It appears in a 2016 TV commercial for PetSmart."
The song is used a lot; kind of the go to song when they want to show us the depth (and the wacky side!) of characters’ relationships. Could it be that the OPs wife heard the song so often in conjunction with these kinds of scenes that she mistakenly associated it with a particular show?
None of those shows are from the 70’s or 80’s, so I think we can toss them. I think the most likely answer is that, insistence aside, what we have here is a mistaken/conflated memory.
The Wonder Years started in the late 80s, but was set in the 60s/70s.
The theme song was Joe Cocker’s rendition of “With a Little Help from My Friends” while showing home movie footage of 2 brothers, it may or may not have shown them riding bikes, I don’t recall.
No Birneys though.