Badge (song)

Last updated

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 [Starr] walked in drunk and gave us that line about the swans living in the park. [5]

Common legends or misconceptions are that the name came about because its chord progression was B–A–D–G–E (which is not true) or simply because the notation of a guitar's standard tuning (E–A–D–G–B–E) can be arranged to spell "Badge". [6]

Reception

Cash Box said "More subdued drumming and almost conventional instrumental work show the Cream in a new light, one which should have a tremendous impact on listeners of cleaner-cut rock who may not have been into the blues outings that hit earlier." [7] Billboard called it an "easy beat, driving rocker." [8]

Writing and publishing credits

In the US, Atco Records' initial releases of Goodbye and of "Badge" as a single gave the song's writing credit to Clapton alone, with publishing credit to Robert Stigwood's company Casserole (BMI). [9] Atco later corrected this in 1969 with the release of Best of Cream , [10] which lists both Clapton and Harrison as the song's authors. The UK single of "Badge" released by Polydor Records gave writing credit to both Clapton and Harrison, with publishing credit going to Dratleaf and Harrisongs Ltd. [11] Since the early 1990s the writing credit has been listed as Clapton/Harrison with publishing credit going to E.C. Music, Ltd. and Harrisongs. [12]

Personnel

Charts

"Badge"
Badge - Cream (European single sleeve).jpg
German single picture sleeve
Single by Cream
from the album Goodbye
B-side "What a Bringdown"
Released
  • February 1969 (1969-02) (album)
  • March 1969 (US single)
  • April 1969 (UK single)
RecordedOctober 1968
Studio IBC, London
Genre Rock
Length2:43
Label Atco
Songwriter(s) Eric Clapton, George Harrison
Producer(s) Felix Pappalardi
Cream USsingles chronology
"Crossroads"
(1969)
"Badge"
(1969)
"Lawdy Mama"
(1970)
Cream UKsingles chronology
"White Room"
(1969)
"Badge"
(1969)
Chart (1969-1970)Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report) [13] 43
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) [14] 18
Canadian Top Singles (RPM) [15] 49
Finnish Albums (Soumen Virallinen) [16] 39
Netherlands (Dutch Tip 40) [17] 14
UK Singles (OCC) [18] 18
US Billboard Hot 100 [19] 60
US Cashbox Top Singles [20] 65
West Germany (Official German Charts) [21] 29

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References

  1. Castleman, Harry; Podrazik, Walter J. (1977). "1969 – 'But If Paul's Alive, How Did He Die?'". All Together Now – The First Complete Beatles Discography 1961–1975 (Second ed.). New York: Ballantine Books. p.  73. ISBN   0-345-25680-8.
  2. "UK Top 40 Chart Archive, British Singles & Album Charts". Everyhit.com. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  3. "The Billboard Hot 100 - Chart Listing For The Week Of May 03 1969". Billboard . Retrieved 18 January 2009.
  4. Welsh, Chris (December 2000). Cream: The Legendary Sixties Supergroup. ISBN   9781476851501.
  5. "George Harrison performs on Badge by Cream". Beatles Bible. 21 November 1968.
  6. . Later in Clapton's career he added a vocal refrain of "Where is my badge?" to an extended coda when "Badge" was played live. Cream: Selections From Cream - Those Were the Days. Hal Leonard. 1999. p. 2. ISBN   0-7935-9084-1.
  7. "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. 22 March 1969. p. 18. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  8. "Spotlight Singles" (PDF). Billboard. 22 March 1969. p. 71. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  9. Atco Records single #45-6668
  10. Atco Records album #SD 33-291
  11. Polydor Records single #2058-285
  12. Cream of Clapton Liner Notes
  13. Kent, David (2005). Australian Chart Book 1940–1969. Australian Chart Book Limited. ISBN   0-646-44439-5.
  14. "Cream – Badge" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  15. "RPM Search Engine" (PHP). Library and Archives Canada . 31 March 2004. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  16. Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. p. 100. ISBN   951-31-2503-3.
  17. "Cream – Badge | Top 40". Dutch Tip 40 (in Dutch). Stichting Nederlandse Top 40. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  18. "UK Top 40 Chart Archive, British Singles & Album Charts". everyhit.com. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  19. Whitburn, Joel (2011). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles. Menomonee Falls, WI: Record Research Inc. p. 209. ISBN   978-0-89820-188-8.
  20. Hoffmann, Frank (1983). The Cash Box Singles Charts, 1950–1981. Metuchen, NJ & London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. p. 135.
  21. "Offiziellecharts.de – Cream – Badge" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 21 May 2019. To see peak chart position, click "TITEL VON Cream"