For singer-songwriter Dean Friedman, humor and music go hand-in-hand. It’s a combination he’s displayed throughout his career and one he’ll be showing off when he swings plays Garden City’s Our Times Coffee House on April 4.
Best known for his 1977 hit song “Ariel,” about a free-spirited, pot-smoking, vegetarian Jewish girl in a peasant blouse who lived, “…way on the other side of the Hudson,” Friedman found most of his success across the Atlantic in the UK and Ireland. It’s a territory that’s rewarded him with numerous radio hits including the Denise Marsa duet “Lucky Stars” and the cult hit “McDonald’s Girl.”
While he said he he’s happy with his overseas success, the New Jersey native is turning his attention to U.S. fans in 2025.
“I sort of neglected my home country, which I regret,” he said. “This year, I’m trying to correct that and revisit touring here, which has gone really well. That’s something I’m really excited about and pleased about all the upcoming gigs that are coming up. I definitely want to devote a little more attention to my own country’s folk. I expect to be doing more stuff on this side of the pond.”
With nine studio albums under his belt, Friedman is revisiting his canon via More Words & Music, a 2024 double-CD sequel compilation to his 2012 double-CD anthology, Words & Music. While the sexagenarian singer-songwriter is still recording newer material at a good clip, he sees this recent release as a good chance to revisit overlooked gems.
“It’s a little bit of a surprise how much material I’ve recorded having done this for as long as I have” he explained. “This collection is a combination of fan favorites, radio hits and deep cuts that are personal favorites that don’t get a lot of attention. It’s really fulfilling and satisfying because I’m proud of this work. People always ask what your favorite songs are. My typical response is that they’re like kids—you love ‘em all and some are better behaved than others. Also, there are certain tracks that may not necessarily be fan favorites, but are personal favorites for this reason.”
Growing up in a house where his mom was constantly singing Broadway show tunes or opera, Friedman got bit by the music bug early.
Armed with a bag of quarters he saved from delivering the Bergen Record, the aspiring musician bought his first guitar at Manhattan’s Manny’s Music when he was only nine.
Within a few years, he was playing for $10 at local coffeehouses, where he quickly realized, “…this was neat because I was getting paid to do something I loved and maybe I’ll keep doing this. I’m still working on the getting-paid part, but it’s still something that I love.” By the time Friedman was 15, he was sending out demos. He hit pay-dirt a dozen years later when “Ariel” became an unexpected hit.
“It was the first single off my first album and went Top 20 right off the bat,” he recalled. “When WNEW, which at the time was the number one FM station in the nation, started playing it, they called my managers, the guys who ran The Bottom Line nightclub [Allan Pepper and Stanley Snadowsky], complaining that all my friends were overwhelming their request lines. I laughed and said that was impossible because I didn’t have any friends. It was only after a week of this, that they realized it was a natural hit. It wound up being the number one-requested song on WNEW FM for that whole summer in 1977.”
Influenced by the likes of Randy Newman and Tom Lehrer, Friedman’s cross-pollination of satirical insights and clever songcraft yielded “McDonald’s Girl,” a song from his third album, 1981’s Rumpled Romeo.
When the single was released, the BBC, which has a strict policy against songs that smack of veiled product placement (like Paul Simon’s “Kodachrome,” which didn’t make the BBC playlist cut), banned “McDonald’s Girl.”
Friedman was subsequently dropped by Epic and he wouldn’t release another solo studio album until 1998’s Songs for Grownups. In the meantime, “McDonald’s Girl” took on a life of its own when the then-known Barenaked Ladies scored their first Canadian radio hit with a live cover of the song. Not surprisingly, Friedman felt vindicated.
“It was the little song that could and I was proud of it,” Friedman said. “I always believed in the song because it did just what it was meant to do. It refused to quit. I wrote the song in 1980 and about 30 years later, McDonald’s corporate headquarters called “…asking to license the song for a national TV and radio campaign.” And I said, “That’s great. What took you so long?”
Dean Friedman will be performing on Friday, April 4, at the Our Times Coffee House at the Ethical Humanist Society of Long Island, 38 Old Country Road in Garden City. For more information, visit www.ourtimescoffeehouse.org or call 516-741-7304.
