Advertisement

See Ed Sheeran Confound Courteney Cox by Serenading Her With ‘Friends’-Inspired Song

Kory Grow
·2 min read
Celebrity Sightings In New York City - June 6, 2023 - Credit: NDZ/Star Max/GC Images
Celebrity Sightings In New York City - June 6, 2023 - Credit: NDZ/Star Max/GC Images

Nearly 40 years since Courteney Cox made her music video debut with Bruce Springsteen serenading her and dancing with her in “Dancing in the Dark,” she’s back at it. This time, she’s the object of Ed Sheeran’s affection in a homemade Twitter video in which he sings “American Town,” a track off his upcoming Autumn Variations record, to her in a kitchen.

“Courteney … I wrote a song inspired by Friends,” he says, adding, in case she’s completely forgotten, “the show that you were on.” She rolls with it and looks into the camera as he produces an acoustic guitar in front of a green pepper. “We’re a long way from home/Haven’t seen you in so long,” she says, “But it all came back in one moment/And the year started cold/But I didn’t notice at all, when we found there’s a room we’re both in.” She gazes at him affectionately, likely wondering when he’ll mention Joey or Chandler or Phoebe or, sheesh, even Ross.

More from Rolling Stone

Then, the penny drops. “We ate Chinese food in small white boxes/Live the life we saw in Friends,” he sings. She almost rolls her eyes at the show’s name and then seems to get off course again. “Your room, it barely fits the mattress,” he sings. “Wake up, leave for work again/The wind it seems to blow right through us/Down jackets are the trend.” The chorus then is about an “English girl in an American town,” which clearly is not even remotely about Friends. Then he says something about “dungarees” and she just looks at him patiently.

“Wait, that was really about the show Friends?” she asks.

“Well, inspired by it, yeah, yeah, yeah,” he says.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, well, because you eat Chinese food in small white boxes,” he rejoins. “We live the life that we saw in Friends.”

As the video ends, she has just one question (one she likely didn’t have to ask “Dancing in the Dark” director Brian De Palma): “Do I get paid?”

Any payday likely is predicated on how well Autumn Variations — and the “living room” version of the album —does when it comes out on Sept. 29. But considering Sheeran has spent most of the year performing in stadiums, even Monica Geller wouldn’t worry about that. Sheeran will play the record in full in London this fall.

Best of Rolling Stone

Click here to read the full article.