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Released in 1980

Secret Friend

Written by Paul McCartney

Last updated on April 29, 2023

Album This song officially appears on the Temporary Secretary / Secret Friend 12" Single.

Timeline This song was officially released in 1980

Related sessions

This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:

Related interviews

[…] This was the album where I felt like the nutty professor in his laboratory. Some of the tracks, there’s one in particular, ‘Secret Friend’, and another one, ‘ Blue Sway’, that go on for like 10 minutes. I just got into it. Now, that’s all very well when you’re doing your first take. But then you’ve got to put a cow-bell on it and I would sit there in real time and put a cow-bell on for 10 minutes, occasionally glancing at my watch, and I’ve got five more to go: dink-dink, dinka dink-dink… Your thoughts come swimming in: “Are you kidding me? You’re really gonna stand here and do this? Why don’t you just do the cow-bell on that bit? No, I’ll mix it out later,” which of course you never do. “Right! Now we’ll do maracas!” Ch-ch-ch-ch, looking at the watch again.

Paul McCartney, from McCartney II Archive Collection, 2011

It’s very dismissable: ‘A ten-minute track, called “Secret Friend”? Leave it out! It’s not “Hey Jude”. So shut up.’ Well, it isn’t ‘Hey Jude’ but I knew what I was doing. I wasn’t trying to write ‘Hey Jude’. It’s like Picasso – dare I compare myself? Ha! No, you daren’t! But whenever he got a groove going, his Blue Period or his Cubist Period, he kicked it over. He never did any more, and the people would go, ‘I loved your Blue Period.’ ‘Yeah, well, I’m fed up with that, I’m doing cubist now.’

That’s a bit how I feel. It’s difficult to admit, but some of those songs, I’ve written them purposefully avoiding writing hits. Which is very strange. People hear that and go, ‘Why did you do that?’ It’s because I think of myself a bit more as an artist. It’s a strange period I went through. I wanted to spew this idea on a tape.

Paul McCartney – From “Conversations with McCartney” by Paul du Noyer, 2016

Lyrics

Feel like you've never fit before

Here we are

Where are we

Cast adrift on some uncharted sea

I know we'll find our way

I know we'll reach the end

If you will say you'll be my secret friend

Night draws in, once again

As she turns her velvet collar up

A perfect day will end

If you will say you'll be my secret friend

Feel like you've never fell before, once more

Night draws in, once again

As she turns her velvet collar up

A perfect day will end

If you will say you'll be my secret friend

Feel like you've never felt before. once more

Here we are

Where are we

Cast adrift on some uncharted sea

I know we'll find our way

If you will say you'll be my secret friend

Feel like you've never felt before, once more

I need ya

I need ya

I need ya

I need ya

Night draws in, once again

As she turns her velvet collar up

A perfect day will end

If you will say you'll be my secret friend

Feel like you've never felt before, once more

Here we are

Where are we

Cast adrift on some uncharted sea

I know we'll find our way

I know we'll reach the end

If you will say you'll be my secret friend

I need ya

I need ya

Officially appears on

Bootlegs

Live performances

Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.

Going further

Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989

With 25 albums of pop music, 5 of classical – a total of around 500 songs – released over the course of more than half a century, Paul McCartney's career, on his own and with Wings, boasts an incredible catalogue that's always striving to free itself from the shadow of The Beatles. The stories behind the songs, demos and studio recordings, unreleased tracks, recording dates, musicians, live performances and tours, covers, events: Music Is Ideas Volume 1 traces McCartney's post-Beatles output from 1970 to 1989 in the form of 346 song sheets, filled with details of the recordings and stories behind the sessions. Accompanied by photos, and drawing on interviews and contemporary reviews, this reference book draws the portrait of a musical craftsman who has elevated popular song to an art-form.

Buy on Amazon

Paul McCartney writing

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GARY L Murphree • 5 years ago

Please help. A friend and I here in America both have a memory of seeing a Columbia 45 of Temporary Secretary in a record store (record theatre, actually) with a 5 min. Edit of secret friend on the flip. I actually held it in my hands. We both recall this. But today i can find no evidence of this 45 existing. We were not stoned, thanks. Was it maybe issued then quickly withdrawn, like other 45s I've heard of? Someone please solve this mystery. You can even write me at gmsomethingforeverybody@gmail.com

The PaulMcCartney Project • 5 years ago

Hi Gary, I unfortunately don't have any clue. I had a look at Discogs.com (but saw your comment there :) ) and at 45cat.com, with no success !!

GARY L Murphree • 5 years ago

Thanks. The internet seems useless...only Columbia Records could really answer this, and there's no way to actually get through to them.

Peter Chalmers • 2 years ago

I was listening to Temporary Secretary /Secret Friend this morning and reading the entries for both on your website. In the entry for Temporary Secretary you mention that « A 7″ single exists only as a demo for radio stations. » . Is this not what is being described above

Faith • 2 years ago

I know it's probably too late to answer the original question, but the Steve Hoffman forum would 100% know the answer to this. They know all of that stuff...

Alex • 2 years ago

The 7" edit of Secret Friend is set to release for the first time in the new singles box set. Looks like the mystery is finally solved, although 3 years late :)

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