"
Badge" is a rock song by
CreamCream were a 1960s British blues-rock band and supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker. Their sound was characterised by a hybrid of blues, hard rock and psychedelic rock...
, penned by
Eric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE is an English blues-rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, and composer. Clapton has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Yardbirds, of Cream, and as a solo performer, being the only person ever to be inducted three times...
and
George HarrisonGeorge Harrison MBE was an English rock guitarist, singer-songwriter and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist in The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian mysticism, and helped broaden the horizons of the other Beatles, as well as...
during a collaborative effort between Clapton, Harrison and
Ringo StarrRichard Starkey, MBE , better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for the rock group The Beatles. When The Beatles formed in 1960, Starr belonged to another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes....
. 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.
"Badge" was originally an untitled track. During the production transfer for the album
Goodbye, the original music sheet was used to produce the
liner notesLiner notes are the writings found in booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for vinyl records and cassettes....
and track listing.
"
Badge" is a rock song by
CreamCream were a 1960s British blues-rock band and supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker. Their sound was characterised by a hybrid of blues, hard rock and psychedelic rock...
, penned by
Eric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE is an English blues-rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, and composer. Clapton has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Yardbirds, of Cream, and as a solo performer, being the only person ever to be inducted three times...
and
George HarrisonGeorge Harrison MBE was an English rock guitarist, singer-songwriter and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist in The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian mysticism, and helped broaden the horizons of the other Beatles, as well as...
during a collaborative effort between Clapton, Harrison and
Ringo StarrRichard Starkey, MBE , better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for the rock group The Beatles. When The Beatles formed in 1960, Starr belonged to another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes....
. 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.
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 notesLiner notes are the writings found in booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for vinyl records and cassettes....
and track listing. The only discernible word on the page was "
BridgeIn music, especially occidental popular music, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section. The bridge may be the third eight-bar phrase in a thirty-two-bar form , or it may be used more loosely in verse-chorus form, or, in a compound AABA...
" — 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 progressionA chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord...
is B-A-D-G-E (it is not), 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 Nights24 Nights is a live album by Eric Clapton, recorded at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England in 1990 and 1991. It was released on October 8, 1991. The album is a "best of" from the 32 concerts Eric Clapton did at the Royal Albert Hall in those two years...
" 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"Here Comes the Sun" is a song by George Harrison from The Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road.-Origin:The song, one of Harrison's best-known Beatles contributions alongside "Something", originated from a song-writing collaboration between Harrison and close friend Eric Clapton called "Badge" , which...
", "
You Never Give Me Your Money"You Never Give Me Your Money" is a song by The Beatles that opens the climactic medley on side two of the album Abbey Road. It was mainly written by Paul McCartney .-Structure:...
" and "
Carry That Weight"Carry That Weight" is a song by The Beatles. Released on Abbey Road and part of the long, climactic medley that closes the album, it features vocals from all four of The Beatles...
", as well as Ringo Starr's song "
It Don't Come Easy"It Don't Come Easy" is a song released as an Apple Records single by Ringo Starr in April 1971, reaching #4 in both the U.S. and UK singles charts. It was Starr's first solo single in the UK, but his second in the U.S. - following the breakup of The Beatles.- Background :Starr reportedly composed...
".
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
BadgeA badge is a device, patch, or accoutrement which is presented or displayed to indicate some feat of service, a special accomplishment, a symbol of authority granted by taking an oath , a sign of legitimate employment or student status, or as a simple means of identification...
.
Original Goodbye performers
- Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE is an English blues-rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, and composer. Clapton has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Yardbirds, of Cream, and as a solo performer, being the only person ever to be inducted three times...
- lead guitarA lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, and guitar solos within a song structure.In rock, heavy metal, blues, jazz and fusion bands and some pop contexts as well as others, the lead guitar lines are usually supported by a second guitarist who plays...
& vocals
- Jack Bruce
John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician, composer and singer. He is best-known as an electric bass guitarist, harmonica player and pianist, and was most famous as a vocalist and the bass guitarist for the 1960s rock band Cream. He lives in Suffolk...
- bass guitarThe electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum....
& backing vocals
- Ginger Baker
Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker is an English drummer, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith...
- drumThe drum is a member of the percussion group of music instruments, technically classified as a membranophone.. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with parts of a player's body, or with some sort of...
s
- Felix Pappalardi
Felix A. Pappalardi Jr. was an American music producer, songwriter, vocalist, and bass guitarist.-Career:...
- pianoThe piano is a musical instrument which is played by means of a keyboard. Widely used in Western music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
& mellotronThe Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard. The heart of the instrument is a bank of parallel linear magnetic audio tapes,...
- George Harrison
George Harrison MBE was an English rock guitarist, singer-songwriter and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist in The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian mysticism, and helped broaden the horizons of the other Beatles, as well as...
(credited as L'Angelo Misterioso for contractual reasons) - rhythm guitarRhythm guitar is the use of a guitar to provide rhythmic chordal accompaniment for a singer or other instruments in a musical ensemble. In ensembles or "bands" playing within the acoustic, country, blues, rock or metal genres , a guitarist playing the rhythm part of a composition supports the...