"From a Lover to a Friend" is a song by

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

, featured on his 2001 album ''

Driving Rain ''Driving Rain'' is the twelfth studio album by English musician Paul McCartney, released on 12 November 2001 as a double LP, a single cassette, and single CD. Background Following the example of ''Run Devil Run (album), Run Devil Run'' brisk pr ...

''. It was released as a single and spent two weeks on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, peaking at #45. It also reached #6 on the Canadian Singles Chart. In the U.S. it became the b-side to his single " Freedom" and peaked at #24 on the ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary chart. Critics saw the song as a ballad in which McCartney tries to come to terms with the death of his wife

Linda Linda may refer to: As a name * Linda (given name), a female given name (including a list of people and fictional characters so named) * Linda (singer) (born 1977), stage name of Svetlana Geiman, a Russian singer * Anita Linda (born Alice Lake i ...

, singing "let me love again"; McCartney, however, was less certain whom the song was about in an interview on

Howard Stern Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio and television personality, comedian, and author. He is best known for his radio show, '' The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terr ...

's radio show. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' called it a "masterpiece... so delicate and honest that it sounds pretty much perfect." "From a Lover to a Friend" was recorded on 27 February 2001 with Paul playing bass and piano,

Abe Laboriel, Jr. Abraham Laboriel Jr. (born March 23, 1971) is an American session drummer. He is the son of Mexican bass guitarist Abraham Laboriel, nephew of Mexican rocker Johnny Laboriel, and brother of record producer, songwriter, and film composer Mateo L ...

playing drums,

Rusty Anderson Rusty Anderson is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter who is best known for his work as the lead guitarist for Paul McCartney's touring band though he has worked with an extensive list of artists in addition to his own solo career. Ca ...

on 12-string electric guitar, and

Gabe Dixon Gabe Dixon (born December 7, 1977) is an American musician. Dixon began his career in the Nashville-based country band, Six Shooter. Between 1998 and 2010, he was the lead singer of The Gabe Dixon Band. Since the band's break-up, Dixon has worke ...

on piano.

Track listings

7" single #"From a Lover to a Friend" – 3:48 #"Riding Into Jaipur" – 4:08 CD single #"From a Lover to a Friend"– 3:49 #"From a Lover to a Friend" (David Kahne Remix 1) – 3:44 #"From a Lover to a Friend" (David Kahne Remix 2) – 5:27 Cassette single #"From a Lover to a Friend" – 3:48 #"Riding Into Jaipur" – 4:08 #"From a Lover to a Friend" (David Kahne Remix 2) – 5:27

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Notes

External links

From a Lover to a Friend
on

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Release information
Paul McCartney songs 2001 singles Songs written by Paul McCartney Song recordings produced by David Kahne 2001 songs Parlophone singles {{beatles-song-stub