
I thought I’d found the man of my dreams,
Now it seems, this is how the story ends:
He’s going to turn me down and say:
‘Can’t we be friends?’
I thought for once it couldn’t go wrong,
Not for long, I can see the way this ends:
He’s going to turn me down and say:
‘Can’t we be friends?’
Never again, through with love, through with men,
They play their game, without shame,
And who’s to blame?
I thought I’d found a man I could trust,
What a bust, this is how the story ends:
He’s going to turn me down and say:
‘Can’t we be friends?’
This song was originally introduced on Broadway by Libby Holman, but from a man's perspective sounds like a melancholy gay tale of romantic rejection.
Many versions (like Smith Ballew's) change 'man' to 'girl' and 'he' to 'she' to straighten the narrative for a male vocalist, though at least one other queer-sounding version exists.
Brunswick
English
The Little Show [revue]
"Brunswick matrix E30533-E30534. Can’t we be friends? / Five Pennies ; Red Nichols." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000230042/E30533-E30534-Cant_we_be_friends