Album This song officially appears on the The Beatles (Mono) LP.
Timeline This song was officially released in 1968
Timeline This song was written, or began to be written, in 1968, when Paul McCartney was 26 years old)
This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:
Recording and mixing "Birthday"
Sep 18, 1968
Rehearsals for "On The Run" tour
Early July 2011 ?
First half of 2018 ?
Interview with Radio Luxembourg
Nov 21, 1968 • From Radio Luxembourg
Paul recalls inspirations of LP
Nov 30, 1968 • From New Musical Express (NME)
December 1990 • From Club Sandwich
Winter 1994 • From Club Sandwich
November 2001 • From paulmccartney.com
From Wikipedia:
“Birthday” is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album The Beatles (also known as “the White Album”). Written by John Lennon and Paul 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 and Ringo Starr performed it for Starr’s 70th birthday at Radio City Music Hall on 7 July 2010.
Writing
The song was largely written during a recording session at EMI Studios on 18 September 1968 by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. 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 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 mix was completed.
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, this time with the piano accompaniment. […]
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 and number 3 in Italy. 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 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“. […]
We thought, ‘Why not make something up?’ So we got a riff going and arranged it around this riff. We said, ‘We’ll go to there for a few bars, then we’ll do this for a few bars.’ We added some lyrics, then we got the friends who were there to join in on the chorus. So that is 50-50 John and me, made up on the spot and recorded all on the same evening. I don’t recall it being anybody’s birthday in particular but it might have been, but the other reason for doing it is that, if you have a song that refers to Christmas or a birthday, it adds to the life of the song, if it’s a good song, because people will pull it out on birthday shows, so I think there was a little bit of that at the back of our minds.
Paul McCartney – From “Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now” by Barry Miles, 1997
‘Birthday’ is one of those songs that was written to be played in a live show – with a view to being performed. There are songs like ‘Sgt. Pepper’, with its ‘We’d like to take you home with us’, which work really well at the end of a concert. ‘Birthday’ still works well for an audience because there’s always someone who’s got a birthday. Some of my songs have functions above and beyond merely getting themselves into the world.
This one came into the world one night in Abbey Road. We more or less lived in Studio Two, and a few of our friends were around. I remember Pattie Boyd, George Harrison’s wife, was there. I’m pretty sure Eric Clapton was around. Normally, there weren’t visitors in the studio, but this was some sort of occasion. It might even have been someone’s birthday.
Paul McCartney – From “The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present“, 2021
There’s a story about that. What happened was ‘The Girl Can’t Help It’ was on television. That’s an old rock film with Little Richard and Fats Domino and Eddie Cochran and a few others… Gene Vincent. And we wanted to see it, so we started recording at five o’clock. And we said, ‘We’ll do something, just do a backing track. We’ll make up a backing track.’ So we kept it very simple– twelve-bar blues kind of thing. And we stuck in a few bits here and there in it, with no idea what the song was or what was gonna go on top of it. We just said, ‘Okay. Twelve bars in A, and we’ll change to D, and I’m gonna do a few beats in C.’ And we really just did it like that… random thing. We didn’t have time for anything else, and so we just recorded this backing. And we came back here to my house and watched ‘The Girl Can’t Help It.’ Then we went back to the studio again and made up some words to go with it all. So this song was just made up in an evening. Umm, you know. We hadn’t ever thought of it before then. And it’s one of my favorites because of that. I think it works, you know, ‘cuz it’s just… It’s a good one to dance to. Like the big long drum break, just ‘cuz, instead of… well, normally we might have four bars of drums, but with this we just keep it going, you know. We all like to hear drums plodding on.
Paul McCartney – From interview with Radio Luxembourg, 1968
“The Girl Can’t Help It” is a 1956 American musical comedy film. The production was originally intended as a vehicle for the American sex symbol Jayne Mansfield, with a satirical subplot involving teenagers and rock ‘n’ roll music. The unintended result has been called the “most potent” celebration of rock music ever captured on film.
The film’s influence on rock music is significant. The film reached Liverpool, England, in the early summer of 1957. The cameo performances of early rock ‘n’ roll stars such as Little Richard, Eddie Cochran, and Gene Vincent and His Bluecaps fascinated a 16-year-old John Lennon by showing him, for the first time, his “worshipped” American rock ‘n’ roll stars as living humans and thus further inspiring him to pursue his own rock ‘n’ roll dream. On July 6, 1957, 15-year-old Paul McCartney was introduced to Lennon after the latter had performed at a village church garden party with his skiffle group The Quarrymen. McCartney demonstrated his musical prowess to Lennon by performing “Twenty Flight Rock” in a manner similar to how he had seen it played by Eddie Cochran in The Girl Can’t Help It. This led to Lennon inviting McCartney to join the group.
From Wikipedia
We’d loved “The Girl Can’t Help It” and we knew that you could make a rock’n’roll film. We’d seen those little American productions and, although they were low budget and not very good, they did have music and we always went to see them.
Paul McCartney, mentioning the film “The Girl Can’t Help It” – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000
From The Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations:
[a] mono 18 Sep 1968.
UK: Apple PMC 7068 white album 1968.[b] stereo 14 Oct 1968.
UK: Apple PCS 7068 white album 1968.
US: Apple SWBO 101 white album 1968.
CD: EMI CDP 7 46443 2 white album 1987.The last “daaaance” starts twice, maybe a double-track error or a leak from a guide vocal, as heard on stereo [b], but covered up by other sound in [a].
They say it's your birthday
Well, it's my birthday too yeah
They say it's your birthday
We're gonna have a good time
I'm glad it's your birthday
Happy birthday to you
Yes, we're going to a party party
Yes, we're going to a party party
Yes, we're going to a party party
I would like you to dance
(Birthday)
Take a cha-cha-cha-chance
(Birthday)
I would like you to dance
(Birthday)
Dance!
I would like you to dance
(Birthday)
Take a cha-cha-cha-chance
(Birthday)
I would like you to dance
(Birthday)
Dance!
LP • Released in 1968
2:43 • Studio version • A • Mono
Paul McCartney : Bass guitar, Piano, Vocals Ringo Starr : Drums, Handclaps John Lennon : Lead guitar, Vocals George Harrison : Lead guitar, Tambourine Mal Evans : Handclaps Yoko Ono : Backing vocals Chris Thomas : Producer Ken Scott : Recording engineer Pattie Boyd / Harrison : Backing vocals
Session Recording: Sep 18, 1968 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Session Overdubs: Sep 18, 1968 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Session Mixing: Sep 18, 1968 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
LP • Released in 1968
2:43 • Studio version • B • Stereo
Paul McCartney : Bass guitar, Piano, Vocals Ringo Starr : Drums, Handclaps John Lennon : Lead guitar, Vocals George Harrison : Lead guitar, Tambourine Mal Evans : Handclaps Yoko Ono : Backing vocals Chris Thomas : Producer Ken Scott : Recording engineer Pattie Boyd / Harrison : Backing vocals
Session Recording: Sep 18, 1968 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Session Overdubs: Sep 18, 1968 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Session Mixing: Sep 18, 1968 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Tripping the Live Fantastic: Highlights!
Official live • Released in 1990
2:43 • Live • L1
Performed by : Paul McCartney • Linda Eastman / McCartney • Robbie McIntosh • Hamish Stuart • Paul Wickens • Chris Whitten Paul McCartney : Producer Eddie Klein : Assistant engineer Matt Butler : Assistant engineer Peter Henderson : Producer Bob Clearmountain : Mixing engineer, Producer Jeff Cohen : Recording engineer Geoff Foster : Assistant engineer Scott Hull : Assistant engineer George Cowan : Assistant engineer Paul Rushbrook : Assistant engineer
Concert From "The Knebworth Festival - Silver Clef Award Winners Charity Concert" in Stevenage, United Kingdom on Jun 30, 1990
CD Single • Released in 1990
2:52 • Live • L1
Performed by : Paul McCartney • Linda Eastman / McCartney • Robbie McIntosh • Hamish Stuart • Paul Wickens • Chris Whitten Paul McCartney : Producer Eddie Klein : Assistant engineer Matt Butler : Assistant engineer Peter Henderson : Producer Bob Clearmountain : Mixing engineer, Producer Jeff Cohen : Recording engineer Geoff Foster : Assistant engineer Scott Hull : Assistant engineer George Cowan : Assistant engineer Paul Rushbrook : Assistant engineer
Concert From "The Knebworth Festival - Silver Clef Award Winners Charity Concert" in Stevenage, United Kingdom on Jun 30, 1990
Official live • Released in 1990
2:43 • Live • L1
Performed by : Paul McCartney • Linda Eastman / McCartney • Robbie McIntosh • Hamish Stuart • Paul Wickens • Chris Whitten Paul McCartney : Producer Eddie Klein : Assistant engineer Matt Butler : Assistant engineer Peter Henderson : Producer Bob Clearmountain : Mixing engineer, Producer Jeff Cohen : Recording engineer Geoff Foster : Assistant engineer Scott Hull : Assistant engineer George Cowan : Assistant engineer Paul Rushbrook : Assistant engineer
Concert From "The Knebworth Festival - Silver Clef Award Winners Charity Concert" in Stevenage, United Kingdom on Jun 30, 1990
The Beatles (Mono - 2009 remaster)
Official album • Released in 2009
2:43 • Studio version • A2009 • Mono • 2009 mono remaster
Paul McCartney : Bass guitar, Piano, Vocals Ringo Starr : Drums, Handclaps John Lennon : Lead guitar, Vocals George Harrison : Lead guitar, Tambourine Mal Evans : Handclaps Yoko Ono : Backing vocals Chris Thomas : Producer Ken Scott : Recording engineer Pattie Boyd / Harrison : Backing vocals Paul Hicks : Remastering Guy Massey : Remastering Sean Magee : Remastering Allan Rouse : Project co-ordinator
Session Recording: Sep 18, 1968 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Session Overdubs: Sep 18, 1968 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Session Mixing: Sep 18, 1968 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
The Beatles (Stereo - 2009 remaster)
Official album • Released in 2009
2:43 • Studio version • B2009 • Stereo • 2009 stereo remaster
Paul McCartney : Bass guitar, Piano, Vocals Ringo Starr : Drums, Handclaps John Lennon : Lead guitar, Vocals George Harrison : Lead guitar, Tambourine Mal Evans : Handclaps Yoko Ono : Backing vocals Chris Thomas : Producer Ken Scott : Recording engineer Pattie Boyd / Harrison : Backing vocals Guy Massey : Remastering Steve Rooke : Remastering Allan Rouse : Project co-ordinator
Session Recording: Sep 18, 1968 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Session Overdubs: Sep 18, 1968 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Session Mixing: Sep 18, 1968 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
The Beatles (Mono - 2014 vinyl)
LP • Released in 2014
2:43 • Studio version • A2014 • Mono • 2014 remaster
Paul McCartney : Bass guitar, Piano, Vocals Ringo Starr : Drums, Handclaps John Lennon : Lead guitar, Vocals George Harrison : Lead guitar, Tambourine Mal Evans : Handclaps Yoko Ono : Backing vocals Chris Thomas : Producer Ken Scott : Recording engineer Pattie Boyd / Harrison : Backing vocals Sean Magee : Remastering Steve Berkowitz : Remastering
Session Recording: Sep 18, 1968 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Session Overdubs: Sep 18, 1968 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Session Mixing: Sep 18, 1968 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Paul McCartney & Spotify Singles: Under The Staircase
Streaming • Released in 2018
2:43 • Live • L2
Concert From ""Under The Staircase" Spotify show" in London, United Kingdom on Jul 23, 2018
Stockholm Globe Arena, May 4, 2003
Unofficial live
3:53 • Live
Concert From the concert in Stockholm, Sweden on May 04, 2003
Oh Sao Paulo! The Complete Soundcheck
Unofficial live
2:48 • Soundcheck
Concert From the concert in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Nov 21, 2010
Unofficial live
3:37 • Live
Concert From the concert in Montreal, Canada on Jul 26, 2011
Unofficial live
Unofficial live
2:48 • Live
Concert From "Coachella Festival" in Indio, USA on Apr 17, 2009
1990 • For Paul McCartney
1990 • For Paul McCartney • Directed by Neil Mackenzie Matthews
Concert May 12, 2015 in New York City
Concert Sep 30, 2015 in Hollywood
Concert Sep 07, 2018 in New York
“Birthday” has been played in 176 concerts and 28 soundchecks.
Monterrey • Estadio BBVA • Mexico
Nov 08, 2024 • Part of Got Back Tour
Bogota • Estadio El Campin • Colombia
Nov 01, 2024 • Part of Got Back Tour
Lima • Estadio Nacional • Peru
Oct 27, 2024 • Part of Got Back Tour
Córdoba • Alberto Kempes Stadium • Argentina
Oct 23, 2024 • Part of Got Back Tour
Florianópolis • Estádio da Ressacada • Brazil
Oct 19, 2024 • Part of Got Back Tour
The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present
"Birthday" is one of the songs featured in the book "The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present," published in 2021. The book explores Paul McCartney's early Liverpool days, his time with the Beatles, Wings, and his solo career. It pairs the lyrics of 154 of his songs with his first-person commentary on the circumstances of their creation, the inspirations behind them, and his current thoughts on them.
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