"Birthday" is a song written and recorded by

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic band

the Sugarcubes The Sugarcubes ( Icelandic: Sykurmolarnir) were an Icelandic alternative rock band from Reykjavík formed in 1986 and disbanded in 1992. For most of their career, the band consisted of Björk Guðmundsdóttir (vocals, keyboards), Einar Örn Bened ...

. It was released as a single in 1987, and included in their 1988 debut album ''

Life's Too Good ''Life's Too Good'' is the debut studio album by Icelandic alternative rock group the Sugarcubes. It was released in April 1988 by One Little Indian in the UK and Europe and in May 1988 by Elektra Records in the US. The album was an unexpected suc ...

''. It was their first international single and the first single released from the album. The Icelandic version, ''"Ammæli"'', was released on the Iceland-only single "''Einn Mol'á Mann'' (''One Cube Per Head'')" the previous year and was included as the B-side on the international single. After "Birthday" became the single of the week in ''Melody Maker'' magazine and ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' in August 1987, and was selected as number one in

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

Festive Fifty The Festive Fifty was originally an annual list of the year's 50 (though the exact figure varied above and below this number) best songs compiled at the end of the year and voted for by listeners to John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show. It was usually do ...

list, the band attained worldwide recognition and success. In the United Kingdom, the song was the group's first chart entry at number 65 and also reached number two on the country's indie charts. In the US it was ranked at number 15 on ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

''s "

Pazz & Jop Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...

" critics' annual year-end poll to find the best music of 1988. The Sugarcubes performed the song, along with "Motorcrash" on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'' during the 15 October 1988 episode, which was hosted by

Matthew Broderick Matthew Broderick (born March 21, 1962) is an American actor. His roles include the Golden Globe-nominated portrayal of the title character in ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' (1986), the voice of adult Simba in Disney's ''The Lion King'' (1994), ...

Accolades

The information regarding accolades attributed to ''Birthday'' is adapted from

Acclaimed Music Acclaimed Music is a website created by Henrik Franzon, a statistician from Stockholm, Sweden in September 2001. Franzon has statistically aggregated hundreds of published lists that rank songs and albums into aggregated rankings by year, deca ...

.
acclaimedmusic.net

Track listing

UK 7" vinyl ''Side A'' # "Birthday" – 03:58 ''Side B'' # "Birthday" (Icelandic) – 03:57 UK 12" vinyl ''Side A'' # "Birthday" – 03:58 # "Birthday" (Icelandic) – 03:57 ''Side B'' # "Cat" (Icelandic) – 02:56 UK CD # "Birthday" – 3:58 # "Motorcrash" – 02:23 # "Cat" (Icelandic) – 02:56 # "Birthday" (Icelandic) – 03:57

Remixes

The song was remixed in 1988 by Jim and William Reid of

The Jesus and Mary Chain The Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid. After signing to independent label Creation Records, they rele ...

and reissued as "Birthday (The Christmas Mixes)". Remixes by

Justin Robertson Justin Robertson is an English electronic musician, DJ, author, artist and record producer. Discography DJ Mix albums *Journeys by DJs *Journeys by DJs Select Tape *Cream Live *Bugged Out *Imprint *Art of Acid Lionrock Albums *An Instinc ...

and Tommy D were produced in 1992 for the compilation '' It's-It'', and were also released as a single.

Covers

A cover of this song has been recorded by

Chitose Hajime is a Japanese singer from Amami Ōshima. She sings in the shima-uta style particular to that region, with distinctive falsetto effects. History Early life Chitose Hajime began learning shamisen under her mother's encouragement from a young ag ...

in 2001. It has also been covered by

The Mars Volta The Mars Volta is an American progressive rock band from El Paso, Texas, formed in 2001. The band's only constant members are Omar Rodríguez-López (guitar, producer, direction) and Cedric Bixler-Zavala (vocals, lyrics), whose partnership forms ...

in 2008.

Jackie Oates Jackie Oates is an English folk singer and fiddle player. Life Oates was born in Congleton in Cheshire in 1983 but grew up in Staffordshire. At the age of 18, she moved to Devon to study English literature at Exeter University and was based in ...

also recorded this song on her 2009 album Hyperboreans (

One Little Indian One Little Independent Records (formerly One Little Indian Records) is an English independent record label. It was set up in 1985 by members of various anarcho-punk bands, and managed by former Flux of Pink Indians bassist Derek Birkett. In th ...

M. Ward Matthew Stephen Ward (born October 4, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist from Portland, Oregon. Ward's solo work is a mixture of folk and blues-inspired Americana analog recordings; he has released ten studio albums since 19 ...

released a cover of this song in 2021.

Legacy

In the

Xiu Xiu Xiu Xiu ( ) is an American experimental band, formed in 2002 by singer-songwriter Jamie Stewart in San Jose, California. Currently, the line-up consists of Stewart (the only constant member since formation) and Angela Seo. The band's name co ...

song "Dr. Troll" (from ''

Knife Play ''Knife Play'' is the debut studio album by Xiu Xiu, released on February 19, 2002. Content A sticker on the cover of the album reads "When my mom died I listened to Henry Cowell, Joy Division, Detroit techno, the Smiths, Takemitsu, Sabbath, Ga ...

''), Jamie Stewart sings "listen to Birthday and pretend someone could love you".

Charts

References

External links

1987 singles Songs about birthday parties Songs about birthdays UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles {{1980s-single-stub