Listen to Anika Pyle’s cover of the theme to The Golden Girls

Philly-based singer-songwriter Anika Pyle has had a productive year during the Coronavirus pandemic, despite being isolated from her bandmates in Katie Ellen. She’s made zines, published poetry books, recorded a terrific album called Wild River, and performed numerous livestreams, many of which feature her covering Andrew Gold’s “Thank You For Being A Friend,” aka the theme song (sung by Cynthia Fee) to the 80s network television classic The Golden Girls.

This month, Pyle released her own studio version of the cover, lesser-heard verses and all, and keeping true to the song’s lyrical themes, it features collaborations with her closest Philly friends.

Pyle’s partner Roger Harvey contributes backing vocals, while Kayleigh Goldsworthy plays the uplifting piano lead, Amanda Bartley plays bass, and Matt Schimelfenig of Gladie handles mixing and mastering duties.

Take a listen to the cover below, and watch the opening credits to The Golden Girls while you’re at it — it’s good for the soul — and grab a download at Bandcamp. Pyle was a guest on an episode of XPN Local this February, reading poetry and playing Philadelphia music and talking about Wild River too; listen to that interview here.