‘It’s Nice to Have a F.R.I.E.N.D’ – Taylor Swift’s Connection to the 90s Sitcom

‘Friends’ is arguably the best American TV sitcom in history. Well, it is one of Taylor Swift’s favourite shows so that makes it already the best right? And, I bet you didn’t know some of Taylor’s lyrics actually crossover with some of the lines in Friends?

Here are some of the lyrics and lines that I found that might of inspired Taylor Swift to write her songs.

1) “If I’m Dead to You Why Are You at The Wake?”

From Taylor’s 8th studio album ‘folklore’, this lyric comes from the 5th track “my tears ricochet.” Track fives for Taylor Swift albums are infamously known as her “saddest songs”, proven much so with these lyrics.

So where do they tie into ‘Friends’ you may ask? Well, in season 3, episode 16 ‘The One with The Morning After’ Ross (played by David Schwimmer) confesses to Rachel (played by Jennifer Anniston) that he cheated on her. Halfway through the episode we hear Ross’ line, “I thought our relationship was dead.” Where to Rachel responds with:

Do you see where I’m going with this?

2) “Still Got Scars on my Back From Your Knife”

This one comes from the album ‘1989’ from track 8 ‘Bad Blood.’ The song is rumoured to be about the feud Taylor had with fellow pop star Katy Perry, and more recently her ex-manager Scooter Braun who sold all of her masters.

“Did you think we’d be fine, still got scars on my back from your knife,” sounds similar to another Rachel Green line from season 2, episode 2 ‘The One With The Breast Milk.’ This scene is where Monica (played by Courtney Cox) confesses she went out with a woman who stole the guy Rachel was seeing.

Monica starts the scene by saying “I feel terrible! I really do!” To which Rachel replies with:

3) “Then Someone Screams Out She’s Laughing up at us From Hell”

It’s me, Hi! Im the problem it’s me. You probably recognise that lyric and if you do, it’s from Taylor’s hit single ‘Anti-Hero’ from her tenth studio album ‘Midnights.’ Throughout this song, Taylor expresses the insecurities she battles throughout her mind. The song also shows a darker self-perception from Taylor than usual and goes into detail about what she feels are her personal failures.

Relating to Friends, season 7, episode 3 ‘The One With Phoebe’s Cookies’ we see Phoebe (Played by Lisa Kudrow) have a conversation with Ross about her grandma’s cookie recipe, in which where the cookies she baked came from.

Phoebe : Y’know, I bet it would actually make my grandmother very happy to know that we’re trying to figure out her recipe. I bet she’s lookin’ up at us and smiling right now.

Ross : Looking *up*?

Phoebe : Oh, yeah. No, she was really nice to me – but she’s in hell for sure.

Does anyone else really want to try the cookies?

4) “Mr Always at The Right Place at The Right Time”

This lyric comes from one of Taylor’s vault tracks off the album ‘Fearless Taylor’s Version.’ This was Taylor’s first re-record of her 6 albums that were ‘stolen’ by her ex-manager Scooter Braun who brought the rights to her albums in 2019, which he later sold to Shamrock Holdings in 2020.

‘Mr Perfectly Fine’ is the second vault track from Fearless Taylor’s Version, these are tracks Taylor originally wrote when she released the original version of Fearless in 2008.

Season 5, Episode 12 ‘The One With Chandler’s Work Laugh’ is where we can find the very much inspired line by the character Janice (played by Maggie Wheeler). If you’re unsure about the character Janice, I’ll just leave this one here. “OH…. MY…. GAWD!” Know her now?

In this episode, we see Ross’ new girlfriend and yep, you guessed it, it’s Janice, Chandler’s ex-girlfriend. Janice’s short appearance in this episode gives us the iconic line which might have inspired Taylor for ‘Mr Perfectly Fine.’

5) “Good Thing My Daddy Made Me Get A Boating License When I Was Fifteen”

Folklore’s sister album takes the spot for this Friends reference, from the song “No body, no crime (feat. HAIM)” of Taylor’s ninth studio album ‘evermore.’

This song is a murder ballad in which Taylor sings about the murder of a woman named Este. This track features HAIM, the sister girl group including Alana, Danielle and Este Haim, Taylor’s great friends.

How ironic that Rachel Green also has a boating license that her daddy made her get when she was fifteen too! Again from series 7, episode 3 “The One With Pheobe’s Cookies’, Rachel speaks with Joey about teaching him how to sail as she has been sailing her whole life.

6) “Betty”

Another reference from Folklore here, not necessarily song lyrics, but the title of the 14th track ‘Betty.’ This song as Taylor says in the intro to her performance live at The Eras Tour, is “written in the perspective of a teenage boy named James, who screws it up with the love of his life and her name is Betty.”

There was a love triangle on the Folklore album with Betty (her song is Cardigan, Augustine (her song is August) and James (whose song is Betty.)

Well, a very similar reference happened with Ross in Friends. In season 2, episode 8 “The One With The List”, remember Ross returned home from China with a new girlfriend, Julie (played by Lauren Tom). It was right when Rachel was ready to admit she had feelings for him. They kiss eventually, and then Phoebe outed the whole situation to Julie while playing a set at Central Perk in her song “Two of Them Kissed Last Night.”

I really hope Taylor’s inspiration for her songs did come from these Friends episodes. After all, who doesn’t love Friends and Taylor Swift?