Can We Still Be Friends – Todd Rundgren

Guest post by Michael J Roberts,
Author of “33 Great Songs 33 Great Songwriters”

Can We Still Be Friends – Todd Rundgren

Self styled iconoclast Todd Rundgren spewed forth in the deluge of young boys who followed in the wake of the Beatles storming of the ramparts of American pop. Todd joined The Nazz in the late ‘60s and had some chart success before becoming disillusioned with their poor production values and left to pursue his own production techniques. Rundgren had immediate success as a producer with acts like The Band and Badfinger and ran his own solo artist career in tandem for many years. Todd had several power pop singles that charted respectably in America, including I Saw The Light (No 16) and Hello It’s Me (No 5) and even though Can We Still Be Friends was undeniably stronger it only made it to No 29.

….Todd Rundgren delivers his heartbreak in the key of Ab and shifts the underlying tones by substituting related chords over the root bass notes resulting in a sustained, suspended mood. Todd mixes it up by delivering a key change through the bridge instrumental, a part that is repeated in the outro. The verse plays counterpoint to a middle eight section that moves to the 4 chord (Db) minor 3 (Cm) minor 2 (Bbm) 5 (Eb) to 1 (Ab). minor 3 (GM) minor 6 (Cm) tonic (Eb)“It’s a strange, sad affair, sometimes, seems like we just don’t care. Don’t waste time feeling hurt, we’ve been through hell together”…..

This is an excerpt from my 33 Great Songs 33 Great Songwriters book available everywhere eBooks are sold.