Watch Stanford Fleet Street Singers - The Friendship Song official music video, about a best friendship gone wrong.

"The Friendship Song" is an original song for Fleet Street. It was written by Jesse (FS 06, 09, and Director 09) and Eric (FS 09, 10) in 2009.

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DIRECTOR’S NOTE

The Friendship Song is a fun study in the unreliable narrator. And because the medium is film, we get to watch it all play out with the characters involved.

When Friend #1 tells his picnic story, we see #2 completely over the moon about #1's “heroism”—because that's what the storyteller (#1 in this case) truly believes. When Friend #2 imagines his own version of the story, we get a peak inside his head, too (and, spoiler alert: it's meaner).

In taking the pretend picnic way too far, Friend #2 reveals himself as the villain of the "friendship" song. We are the stories we tell—and right there in the library, he betrays his scheming character and he opens the door for us to peer into his delusional world.

One especially problematic part of the story that Friend #2 tells is his depiction of Friend #1's girlfriend. In his version of the imaginary picnic, she lacks any feelings for Friend #1, she lacks a moral compass... and she essentially lacks agency entirely, as she goes along with his version of the events. This is all terribly unrealistic, and we certainly don't condone this depiction; instead, it's just one of the many things Friend #2 does (like sacrificing his friend to the bear, and other bad things) that make clear he's the villain. It's meant only to reinforce the comedic balance between pure evil in Friend #2 and pure kindness in Friend #1—and 100% delusion in both.

Of course, what good is a hero if they can't be corrupted? My favorite part of the song is when Friend #1 levels with #2 and reclaims control of their shared story.

The "Friendship" Song is an adventure through the minds of two fun characters. They take us on that adventure in the context of a story built by playing pretend. For me, it's a delightful combination of innocent context and reprobate details. And hey—sometimes that's exactly what you need from your friends.

- Liam, Director 2018-2019

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Directed by Liam McGregor

CAST
Friend #1: Connor
Friend #2: Trip
Girlfriend: Katie
Trio: Nick, Arjun, Eric, and Aman

VIDEO
Camera, A Unit: Liam and Eric
Camera, B Unit: Carter Burr-Kirven
Editor: Liam, with Andy and Eric
Color: Liam

AUDIO
Recording Engineer: Elena Georgieva
Editing Engineer: Ted Tremblinski
Mixing/Mastering: Bill Hare Productions

SPECIAL THANKS
Stanford Libraries and Michael A. Keller, University Librarian. Jeremy Raven, and to everyone who came to Connor's funeral.

STANFORD FLEET STREET SINGERS 2018-2019:
Arjun, Liam, Nick, Connor, Trip, Tristan, Aman, Jay, Eric, Andy, JJ, and Chris.