Where are your friends tonight?

What may be the most prominent theme to be found in "All My friends" is the concept of friendship. The word friend is even found in the title. The title though implies an almost sort of positive look at friends. It seems very simple and flat. But the lyrics on there own show a complex, dimensional look at friendship including the shallowness and disconnect we feel.

"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"

As stated in an earlier post the first few stanzas of the song detail a party in an optimistic light. With lyrics like "If its crowded, all the better" and "We set controls for the heart of the sun" show a joy in unity and positive bond between humans. The "We" found in the "Heart of the Sun" is very important seeing as how in the original Pink floyd song the "we" is not found, so the author purposely put the "we" in to show unity. But after that the lyrics become more condemning 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"

These lyrics are important because they show a longing to be with your friends which comes up at other times in the song. An earlier post discusses the above lyrics in more detail.

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

Certain relationships we have in life can be considered shallow and can be based not off of friendship but other outside factors. These lyrics tell of relationship that are based off drugs and as soon they run the conversion and interaction ends. These lyrics seem to be condemning these relationships.

"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 meeting people who seem to be "polite" who could just be acting this way to due to him being a rockstar. He "drops" them because he either finds them unfulfilling or that there is no real social connect.

The song ends with the repititious chant of "Where are my friends tonight?" that seem to represent the narrator asking what happened to all of his "real" friends while he is on tour surronded by "fake" friends. He then responds "If I could see all my friends tonight" which brings the song full circle. In the beginning the narrator was surronded by his friends but now he is surronded by people but still feels alone. He just wants to be with his friends one more time and almost acts as a metaphor for how in the end we all die alone.