"Birthday" is a song by the English rock band

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

from their 1968

double album A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

'' (also known as "the White Album"). Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, mainly by McCartney, it is the opening track on the third side of the LP (or the second disc in CD versions of the record). Surviving Beatles

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

and

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

performed it for Starr's 70th birthday at

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and theater at 1260 Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplace of the Nation", it is the headquarters for ...

on 7 July 2010.

Writing

The song was largely written during a recording session at

EMI Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music ...

on 18 September 1968 by

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

and

. McCartney: "We thought, 'Why not make something up?' So we got a riff going and arranged it around this riff. So that is 50–50 John and me, made up on the spot and recorded all in the same evening." 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 Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the " Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the ...

was away so his assistant Chris Thomas produced the session. His memory is that the song was mostly McCartney'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 am by the time the final

mono Mono may refer to: Common meanings * Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease" * Monaural, monophonic sound reproduction, often shortened to mono * Mono-, a numerical prefix representing anything single Music Performers * Mono (Japanes ...

mix was completed. Lennon said in his ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...

'' 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 Happy Birthday Baby was a hit for Tony Christie in 1974. It was also a hit for Lee Towers in 1980. Tony Christie version The song was written by Barry Mason and Roger Greenaway. It was released in the UK on MCA MCA 157 in September 1974. The B ...

', 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 Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...

progression in A (in the form of a guitar riff doubled by the bass) with McCartney singing at the top of his

chest voice Chest voice is a term used within vocal music. The use of this term varies widely within vocal pedagogical circles and there is currently no one consistent opinion among vocal music professionals in regard to this term. Chest voice can be used in ...

with Lennon on a lower

harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. Howeve ...

. 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 A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...

before returning to a repeat of the first vocal section, this time with the piano accompaniment.

Legacy

Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of its release, Jacob Stolworthy of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' listed "Birthday" at number 17 in his ranking of the White Album's 30 tracks. He wrote of the song: "The opening to the second-half f the albumtreads familiar Beatles ground with an improvised riff that could be the record's biggest earworm. Hilariously, Lennon would go on to call he song'garbage'."

Personnel

According to the book accompanying the 2018 box set ''The Beatles: Super Deluxe Version'', the annotation on the tape box from the session offers an alternative line-up that "explodes some myths of who played what": *Paul McCartney – lead vocal, bass, piano *John Lennon – vocals, guitar *

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

– guitar, tambourine *

– drums, handclaps * Pattie Harrison – backing vocal *

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...

– backing vocal * Mal Evans – handclaps

Paul McCartney version

Paul McCartney released a live version on 8 October 1990 in the UK, with a US release albeit only as a cassette on 16 October. Originally appearing on '' Tripping the Live Fantastic'', the single reached number 29 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and number 3 in Italy. The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

was a live version of "

Good Day Sunshine "Good Day Sunshine" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 album ''Revolver''. It was written mainly by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. McCartney intended it as a song in the style of th ...

". McCartney also released a

12" single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...

and

CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any s ...

with those songs and two more live 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".

Charts

Other versions

Underground Sunshine recorded the song as a single in 1969. Their version was a minor hit in the US, reaching number 19 on the ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an onli ...

'' chart, number 26 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and number 35 in Canada.

Paul Weller Paul John Weller (born John William Weller; 25 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame with the punk rock/ new wave/mod revival band the Jam (1972–1982). He had further success with the blue-eyed soul mu ...

covered the song for McCartney's 70th birthday. This version was available for download on 18 June 2012 for one day only. Even with this limited mode of distribution, the track reached number 64 on the

References

External links

* {{authority control Songs about birthdays The Beatles songs Song recordings produced by Chris Thomas (record producer) Song recordings produced by George Martin 1968 songs 2012 singles Songs written by Lennon–McCartney Songs published by Northern Songs British hard rock songs British rock-and-roll songs Paul McCartney songs 1990 singles Live singles Parlophone singles Capitol Records singles