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Danger, Fake Friends Ahead: 10 Backstabber Anthems

They smile in your face. All the time they want to take your place.

Jeremy Helligar
4 min readOct 20, 2019
Thou shalt not covet Jessie’s girl, Rick Springfield (Photo: RCA Records)

You may not be able to choose your family, but thank God you can choose your friends. Right?

Well, that would depend on your knack for judging character. The option of picking one’s friends might be a comforting privilege for those bogged down by familial discord and dysfunction, but sadly, the right to choose doesn’t always yield a positive outcome, especially in country, pop, and rhythm and blues.

Knife, meet back. For such a harmonious art form, music is brimming with backstabbers. I’m not talking about the performers themselves (though there are plenty who would qualify) but rather, some of the characters they sing about.

We’ve all met them. They smile in your face while plotting to take your place — or take your man/woman. Who needs a lover like that? (Dear Jessie: Dodge that bullet!)

Fortunately for more loyal types, they’ve inspired some pretty remarkable songs. Press play, and pay attention to who’s sneaking up behind you.

“Back Stabbers” O’Jays

The sentiment of O’Jays’ 1972 hit has always struck me as bordering on paranoia, but you never know whom you’ll encounter on the…

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Jeremy Helligar
Jeremy Helligar

Written by Jeremy Helligar

Brother Son Husband Friend Loner Minimalist World Traveler. Author of “Is It True What They Say About Black Men?” and “Storms in Africa” https://rb.gy/3mthoj

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