Written by Narada Michael Walden (who also produced the track) and Jeffrey Cohen, this ebullient duet between Clarence Clemons and Jackson Browne is a testament to long-lasting friendship. Clemons was already well known as the saxophonist in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band – with wailing solos on "Born To Run" and "Jungleland," among others – but decided to try a solo effort while The Boss was still riding high from the massive success of Born in the U.S.A. The move paid off with two hit singles: "You're A Friend Of Mine" and "I Wanna Be Your Hero."
Clemons played sax on another Walden and Cohen collaboration: Aretha Franklin's "Freeway of Love," a #3 hit earlier in the year.
Clemons and Browne really were friends – they met years earlier when Browne did a show with Springsteen. "Doing 'You're a Friend of Mine' was such a thrill for me to be asked," Browne told Rolling Stone in 2011, shortly after Clemons' death from stroke-related complications. "It probably wasn't a song that was appropriate to have Bruce on. Maybe that would've been too obvious. But I was happy to be on that record."
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