The Lingering Ache: When Love’s Intensity Precludes Friendship
Oh, to be transported back to a time when a single voice could cause a global tidal wave of adolescent emotion! David Cassidy was the golden-haired heartthrob of the early 1970s, the face on every teenage girl’s bedroom wall, and the undeniable star of The Partridge Family. Yet, beneath the wholesome television veneer, Cassidy was desperately trying to forge a legitimate, lasting career as a solo artist, battling the very teen-idol image that made him a phenomenon.
The song “We Could Never Be Friends (‘Cause We’ve Been Lovers Too Long)” is a poignant jewel from that formative era of his solo career. It was featured on his critically important debut solo album, Cherish, which was released in early 1972 (after the title track single came out in late 1971). While the song itself was never released as a primary A-side single, its chart success is tied to the massive wave of popularity that followed its album-mates. The album Cherish was a colossal hit, climbing to No. 15 on the US Billboard 200 and reaching an astonishing No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart. The accompanying singles—particularly “Cherish” and “Could It Be Forever”—were multi-million sellers, with the latter hitting No. 2 in the UK, often released as a double A-side with the album’s title track, demonstrating the immense commercial power of the David Cassidy brand at the time. “We Could Never Be Friends” rode the wake of this success, becoming an instant, beloved album cut and a staple for fans, appearing on countless compilations.
Written by the prolific pop-smith Tony Romeo (who also penned “I Am a Clown”), the song is a mature, surprisingly complex meditation on the unbearable reality of a love affair ending. It captures the agonizing truth that some connections are simply too intense, too profound, to be downgraded into a casual acquaintance. The meaning is right in the title: the emotional history is so rich and deep that attempting to transition to ‘just friends’ would be a betrayal of the past passion, a daily, impossible torment. The lyric “Love, you and me, we can never be friends… We’ve been lovers so long” resonates with anyone who has tried to rationalize an intense romantic fallout. It’s an admission of weakness, a necessary severing for self-preservation.
For those of us who remember those days, this track offers a different shade of David Cassidy than the bright, bubblegum pop of The Partridge Family. It reveals the vulnerable, slightly melancholy artist beneath the superstar machine. It wasn’t always Keith Partridge singing a cheerful tune; sometimes it was a young man wrestling with real heartbreak, a sensitivity that spoke directly to his enormous, adoring fan base. The gentle melancholy of the arrangement, the slight country-rock inflection, and Cassidy’s earnest, heartfelt delivery make it a perfect piece of early ’70s soft-rock. It’s a bittersweet echo from a more innocent, yet still emotionally complicated, time—a song that reminds us that even teen idols felt the sting of a love that was too much to let go, yet too broken to hold onto.