Can't We Be Friends? is a 1929 jazz standard and Broadway show tune with lyrics by Paul James and music by Kay Swift. It was introduced on Broadway in The Little Show by Libby Holman, and the first recording was Red Nichols and His Five Pennies on September 6, 1929. Since then it has been recorded by many artists, including Bing Crosby, Benny Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald with Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, and Linda Ronstadt. Notable album appearances include Sinatra's In the Wee Small Hours (1955) and Ronstadt's Lush Life (1984). The song sits in the swing and jazz standard tradition and has endured in film and stage productions as a popular and enduring choice.
