"Heroes and Friends" is a song co-written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist

Randy Travis Randy Bruce Traywick (born May 4, 1959), known professionally as Randy Travis, is an American country and gospel music singer and songwriter, as well as a film and television actor. Active since 1979, he has recorded over 20 studio albums and ...

. It was written with

Don Schlitz Donald Allen Schlitz Jr. (born August 29, 1952) is an American songwriter who has written more than twenty number one hits on the country music charts. He is best known for his song " The Gambler" (Kenny Rogers), and as the co-writer of " For ...

. It was released in January 1991 as the second and final single from his album of duets, '' Heroes & Friends'' and his only song on the album that was not a duet. The song opens and closes the album. "Heroes and Friends" peaked at number 3 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart and reached number 1 (his fourteenth number 1) on the Canadian ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' Country Tracks chart.

Background and writing

Travis recalled the beginnings of the song on his website: "Lib (Travis' Wife and manager Elizabeth "Lib" Hatcher) came up with that title for the duets album, and I thought it would make a wonderful song title. I was sitting backstage in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

one night and for some reason or other I thought of a way to write the song. I started the first verse and wrote a few lines before I had to quit to do the show. I stuck it in my pocket and actually forgot about it until I got back to Nashville and Don Schlitz and I sat down and finished it.Archived page of Randy-Travis.com
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Content

This song sets the theme for the rest of the album. The narrator says that the two things that one can depend on forever are heroes and friends. A reprise of the song closes the album with the chorus being sung by everyone who sang on the album with Travis. Two different versions were released for radio airplay. One version has just one refrain (after the second verse), with the background vocalists -- some of the legends that joined him throughout the album -- subdued in the background. The longer radio edit repeats the refrain twice following the second voice, with the legends chorus more prominent; a longer fiddle coda is played as well, whereas on the shorter radio edit the song fades almost immediately after the final refrain ends.

Music video

The music video was directed by Mark Coppos and premiered in late 1990. The music video features Travis singing the song in a recording studio, as well as old footage of

Roy Rogers Roy Rogers (born Leonard Franklin Slye; November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998), nicknamed the King of the Cowboys, was an American singer, actor, television host, and Rodeo, rodeo performer. Following early work under his given name, first as a c ...

and

Dale Evans Dale Evans Rogers (born Frances Octavia Smith; October 31, 1912 – February 7, 2001) was an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She was the second wife of singing cowboy film star Roy Rogers. Early life and career Dale Evans was born ...

from their television series and movies.

himself makes an appearance near the end of the video.

Chart performance

This song spent two consecutive weeks at number 1 on the ''RPM'' country Tracks chart beginning April 20, 1991.

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heroes And Friends 1991 singles Randy Travis songs Songs written by Don Schlitz Songs written by Randy Travis Song recordings produced by Kyle Lehning Warner Records singles 1990 songs