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| "Birthday" | ||||
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| "Birthday" 45 | ||||
| Song by The Beatles
from the album The Beatles |
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| Released | 22 November 1968 | |||
| Recorded | 18 September 1968 | |||
| Genre | Hard rock, rock and roll | |||
| Length | 2:42 | |||
| Label | Apple Records | |||
| Writer | Lennon/McCartney | |||
| Producer | George Martin | |||
| The Beatles track listing | ||||
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| "Birthday" | ||||
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| Single by Paul McCartney | ||||
| B-side | "Good Day Sunshine" | |||
| Released | 1990 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Label | Capitol Records (US/Canada) Parlophone |
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| Writer(s) | Lennon/McCartney | |||
| Paul McCartney singles chronology | ||||
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"Birthday" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and performed by The Beatles on their double album The Beatles (commonly known as The White Album). It is the opening track on the third side of the LP (or the second disc in CD versions of the record). This song is a prime example of the Beatles' return to more traditional rock and roll form, although their music had increased in complexity and it had developed more of its own characteristic style by this point.
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Composition
In an interview in the October 2008 edition of Mojo, McCartney said of the song, "Birthday was 50-50 me and John." The song was largely written during a recording session at the EMI Abbey Road Studios on 18 September 1968 with McCartney coming up with the main riff. During the session, The Beatles and the recording crew made a short trip around the corner to McCartney's house to watch the 1956 rock & roll movie The Girl Can't Help It which was being shown for the first time on British television. After the movie they returned to record "Birthday".
George Martin was away so his assistant Chris Thomas produced the session. His memory is that the song was mostly Paul's: 'Paul was the first one in, and he was playing the birthday riff. Eventually the others arrived, by which time Paul had literally written the song, right there in the studio.' Everyone in the studio sang in the chorus and it was 5 a.m. by the time the final mono mix was completed.[1]
John Lennon said in his Playboy Interview in 1980:" Birthday' was written in the studio. Just made up on the spot. I think Paul wanted to write a song like 'Happy Birthday Baby,' the old fifties hit. But it was sort of made up in the studio. It was a piece of garbage."
"Birthday" begins with an intro drum fill, then moves directly into a blues progression in A (in the form of a guitar riff doubled by the bass) with McCartney singing at the top of his chest voice with Lennon on a lower harmony. After this section, a drum break lasting eight measures brings the song into the middle section, which rests entirely on the dominant. A repeat of the blues progression/guitar riff instrumental section, augmented by piano brings the song into a bridge before returning to a repeat of the first vocal section. The song is among McCartney's most intense vocal performances given the range in which he sings during the blues run. This song is the only track on The Beatles in which Lennon and McCartney share lead vocal duties.
Personnel
- Paul McCartney – vocal, piano, handclaps
- John Lennon – vocal, backing vocal, lead guitar, handclaps
- George Harrison – 6-string bass, handclaps
- Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine, handclaps
- Patti Harrison – backing vocal, handclaps
- Yoko Ono – backing vocal, handclaps
- Mal Evans – handclaps
- Personnel per Ian MacDonald[2]
McCartney's live version
McCartney released a live version in 1993. The single reached number 30 on the UK singles chart.[3] The B-side was a live version of "Good Day Sunshine". McCartney also released a 12" single and CD single with those songs and two more tracks, "P.S. Love Me Do" and "Let 'Em In". "P.S. Love Me Do" is a combination of "P.S. I Love You" and "Love Me Do".
Other uses
- The song is playable in the music video game The Beatles: Rock Band.
- Underground Sunshine scored a Top 40 hit with this song in the US in 1969.
- Many U.S. sports stadiums play this song while showing attendees at live games celebrating their birthdays on the scoreboard screen.
- Farmer Ted (Anthony Michael Hall) attempted to serenade Samantha Baker (Molly Ringwald) in the high school auto shop with the song when he learned it was her birthday in the movie Sixteen Candles.
- On an episode of Full House, the family goes into Jesse's (John Stamos) bedroom to wake him up for his birthday. The family sings Birthday, while Joey (Dave Coulier) imitates the guitar riff.
- There are multiple instances in the "Hypno-Birthday to You" episode of Jimmy Neutron where you can hear "Birthday" in the background.
- Used in Moonlighting (TV series), on the second season episode "In God We Strongly Suspect", Bruce Willis (David) sings with the whole office crew to Cybill Sheperd (Maddie) as a surprise on her birthday.
- In an episode of The Sopranos, Carmela mentions the song at the dinner table to try to make conversation with her son, but he is unimpressed, due to the fact that drum solo was too basic.
- The Pizzicato Five song Tout Va Bien, on their Sweet Pizzicato Five album, quotes the opening drum riff.
- Beatallica mixed this song with Metallica's (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth on their third album Sgt. Hetfield's Motorbreath Pub Band, although the title refers to I'm Only Sleeping.
See also
Notes
- ^ Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt & Company. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6.
- ^ MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (Second Revised ed.). London: Pimlico (Rand). p. 316. ISBN 1-844-13828-3.
- ^ "UK Singles - 1952-2009". http://www.polyhex.com/music/chartruns/chartruns.php. Retrieved 2009-10-12.
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