Where are your friends tonight? (Rewritten

Throughout the history of mankind, friendship has always been there. Its one of the most basic yet complex behavior mankind inhibits and one of the most important things found throughout our everyday lives. We use it to socially interact and function with others, we use to not feel alone, we use it to connect with others, we use it to find people with similar interests and we can use it to justify our actions. Mainly we use it to find value in our own lives. But friendship is tricky, convulted subject, one that doesn’t pose a simple question or answer. Friendships can be as complex as the human beings that are brought closer through it. Friendship also happens to be the main theme found LCD Soundsystems “All My Friends”.

"And if it's crowded, all the better
Because we know we're gonna be up late
But if you're worried about the weather
Then you picked the wrong place to stay
That's how it starts

And so it starts
You switch the engine on
We set controls for the heart of the sun
one of the ways we show our age"

The first two stanzas from the song which begin on a positive look on friendship, A celebration of comrodery and unity. Lyrics like “If if its crowded all the better, because we know we are going to be up late” show the narrator enjoying the company of anyone just happy to be with his friends. Words like “We” are use to show the unity the narrator feels. But from there the lyrics show a more complex side of friendship and move away from the positive side of friendship.

"You spent the first five years trying to get with the plan
And the next five years trying to be with your friends again"

Now we have the narrator discussing how you may lose your friends, begin to grow a disconnect from them. You may have separated yourself from them but you still want to be with them.

"Though when we're running out of the drugs
And the conversation's winding away"

These lyrics describe the party scene earlier but become more condemning of the party. The narrator begins to think maybe those weren’t my true friends there. He begins to see maybe those relationships were based off the drugs and when there is none of those left, the conversation and connection is gone.

"You drop the first ten years just as fast as you can
And the next ten people who are trying to be polite"

In the above lyrics the narrator meets some people who appear to be polite, they would like to be friends with him. But he seems to ignore, is this due to the fact that he feels this people are shallow and just want to be by him because he is a famous musician or is it at this point the narrator wants to be left alone by these “fake friends” and be with his real friends.

The song ends with the repititious chant of "Where are my friends tonight?”. Here the narrator has lost it on the road and just wants to know what happened to all of his friends. He is on the road surrounded by people but still feels alone, none of those people are his real friends. He then responds "If I could see all my friends tonight" which brings the song full circle. Here is the narrator surrounded by people but considers none of them to be his friends and wants to know what it would be like if he could see his “real friends”. What they even want to see him, do they even still like him? That’s is the question the narrator ponders to himself as he. A man left alone feeling old just wanting to know what happened to all of his friends. Its very tragic.