"Thank you for being a friend!" It's the opening line in the Golden Girls television series. By the way, Golden Girls is and forever will be a trailblazer as far as I am concerned. In a world where women disappear from their own careers at 30, this show not only made mature women the central characters but it had the writing to back it up and make it interesting. Still, some wonder about the opening of the show, the theme song that is catchy enough to make me hum to it while I brush my teeth at night. Who is the friend that is both a pal and a confidant that the lyrics refer to? Who is the friend that is so lovingly referred too? I'm here to throw out some ideas on the matter.
There are only four central characters on the show, Rose, Dorothy, Blanche, and Sophia. So it's plausible to assume that the song is about one of the leads and sung in reference to another lead character. With that in mind and ignoring that the original writer of the song, the talented Andrew Gold, a legend, has at one point commented that the song was a "throwaway thing" according to Wikipedia, something that I do not accept because it's too awesome. I wish, oh my God do I wish that it could be made into a rap by Post Malone or Tyga or both (please). I instead have one of two theories about the meaning behind the words.
The first is that the song is sung by Rose for Sophia at Sophia's funeral. There is an episode in which Rose has to overcome her fear of public speaking in order to give a eulogy for a member of her community. As dark of a theory as it is, Sophia was as brash as she was according to the first episode in the series because she had had a stroke that caused her to have a diminished ability to filter her thoughts from her words. Rose being a close friend and a person who has already given a eulogy before (sort of, she did it on a plane because her flight had issues) would be the most likely to at least have a few words to say during the sad day that Sophia has passed. Though, Dorthory, Sophia's daughter would likely do the bulk of the eulogy for her mother, unless she was too overcome with emotion.
My second theory on the matter of who and why the theme song is being sung is that maybe the song is from Dorthy in some way, like a thank you letter or call to Blanche after her divorce from Stan. This could be the whole set up of the show. Dorthy and Stan are in the initial phases of their divorce and she calls Blanche asking for help to move out and on from her now finished marriage. Blanche being in a pickle herself gives Dorthory the okay to move in as not only roommates but as buddies. Dorthy in her relief sings to herself quietly as she arrives on the plane from her home town to sunny Flordia. This seems the most plausible, but there are some things that make it less believable like that Sophia was already in Florida and that Blanche may not have known them all that well. Still, for the most part, this theory holds up.
So what do you think? Is the show's theme song really about the tie between the characters or is it as vague as it is because of something else? You decide in the in Conspiracy Meow! comment forums and add your own theories too and as always, Let Your Inner Shut In Totally Wig Out!