"Friends" is a song written by Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson

Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...

, Carl Wilson

Carl Wilson

Carl Dean Wilson was an American rock and roll singer and guitarist, best known as a founding member, lead guitarist and sometime lead vocalist of The Beach Boys...

, Dennis Wilson

Dennis Wilson

Dennis Carl Wilson was an American rock and roll musician best known as a founding member and the drummer of The Beach Boys. He was a member of the group from its formation until his death in 1983...

 and Al Jardine

Al Jardine

Alan Charles "Al" Jardine is a founding member of top-selling American music group The Beach Boys, a guitarist and occasional lead vocalist. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.-Early life:...

 for the American rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band

Band (music)

In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...

 The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...

. It was released on their 1968 album Friends

Friends (The Beach Boys album)

Friends is the fourteenth studio album by The Beach Boys, released in 1968.As work on the album began in February 1968, Mike Love, a recent convert to transcendental meditation , departed on a two week trip to India to study TM further with his new master, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi...

. It was also released as a single, with the B-side of the single being "Little Bird". The single peaked at #47 in the U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and #25 in the U.K.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 The song was recorded in March 1968.

Brian once stated, "The cut 'Friends' was, in my opinion, a good way to keep waltzes alive. Carl had sung...before and now he spearheaded this cut with a heavy vocal performance."

As Peter Reum, a Beach Boys historian, stated "'Friends' is a waltz, and it's been used at the Berklee College of Music

Berklee College of Music

Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...

 to teach students how to write in 3/4 time."

Someone can be heard sneezing in the track at 2:01.

Its a cappella mix is sold temporarily as analog single with Al Jardine's Beach Boys reunion song "Don't Fight The Sea" for the charity of 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami

The 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, also known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, or the Great East Japan Earthquake, was a magnitude 9.0 undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST on Friday, 11 March 2011, with the epicenter approximately east...

in April 2011.