Badge (song)
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| "Badge" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Cream | ||||
| from the album Goodbye | ||||
| B-side | "What a Bringdown" | |||
| Released | April 1969 | |||
| Recorded | October 1968 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 2:43 | |||
| Label | Polydor | |||
| Writer(s) | Eric Clapton George Harrison |
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| Producer | Felix Pappalardi / RSO | |||
| Cream singles chronology | ||||
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"Badge" is a rock song by Cream, penned by Eric Clapton and George Harrison during a collaborative effort between Clapton, Harrison and Ringo Starr. It was included as a track on the Cream album Goodbye. Peaking at number 60 on Billboard's Hot 100, "Badge" was a minor hit after its release as a single in April 1969.[1]
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[edit] Composition
"Badge" was originally an untitled track. During the production transfer for the album Goodbye, the original music sheet was used to produce the liner notes and track listing. The only discernible word on the page was "Bridge" — a notation intended to identify the transitional moment in the song. Harrison's handwriting, however, was so bad, that Ringo Starr looked at it and thought it said "Badge" — so the band named it Badge.
Harrison told the story differently, however: "I helped Eric write 'Badge' you know. Each of them had to come up with a song for that Goodbye Cream album and Eric didn't have his written. We were working across from each other and I was writing the lyrics down and we came to the middle part so I wrote 'Bridge.' Eric read it upside down and cracked up laughing-- 'What's BADGE?' he said. After that Ringo walked in drunk and gave us that line about the swans living in the park."
A common legend or misconception is that the name came about because its chord progression is B-A-D-G-E (it is not)[2], or simply because an anagram of a guitar's string tuning (E-A-D-G-B-E) can spell "Badge".
Clapton's live performance of the song from the album "24 Nights" features him singing the refrain "where is my badge", incorporating the unusual title into the song.
The arpeggiated guitar part in the song's bridge is similar to some of Harrison's contemporary efforts with the Beatles, including, "Here Comes the Sun", "You Never Give Me Your Money" and "Carry That Weight", as well as Ringo Starr's song "It Don't Come Easy".
[edit] Impact
"Badge" continues to be regarded as a classic of the Clapton and Cream catalogues. It inspired the name of the early-2000s Washington, D.C., band Badge.
[edit] Original Goodbye performers
- Eric Clapton - lead guitar & vocals
- Jack Bruce - bass guitar & backing vocals
- Ginger Baker - drums
- Felix Pappalardi - piano & mellotron
- George Harrison (credited as L'Angelo Misterioso for contractual reasons) - rhythm guitar
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ "The Billboard Hot 100 - Chart Listing For The Week Of May 03 1969". http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=379&cfgn=Singles&cfn=The+Billboard+Hot+100&ci=3070520&cdi=8833564&cid=05%2F03%2F1969. Retrieved 18 January 2009.
- ^ Cream: Selections From Cream - Those Were the Days. Hal Leonard. p. 2. ISBN 0793590841.
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