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Birthday
Composer(s) : Lennon and McCartney
Year : 1968
Chords/Tabs: Birthday
Notes on "Birthday" (B)
In its "White Album" context of such varied moods and styles, "Birthday"
stands out as a representative example of the sort of plain old blistering
Rock that The Beatles were still capable of in their so-called Late Period.
On the surface, one of the first things you notice is that this is one of
the very few Len/Mac songs that is even partly in strict 12-bar blues form,
though once you probe more deeply, you quickly discover that this is no mere
rote revivalist knock-off.
R&B Revisited
It's really quite a thought provoking paradox: from their repertoire as
Quarrymen, you'd think the only thing they knew how to play, or perhaps
*wanted* to play, were The Blues; see Pollack, "The Quarrymen Sessions, 1960",
_Illegal Beatles #17_, Spring 1990 :-). Later as The Beatles, both at the
BEEB and on their first several EMI albums, their choices for cover songs
were again frequently in the 12-bar mode; "Boys", "Long Tall Sally", "Dizzy Miss Lizzie", and just about anything by Chuck Berry, to name a few.
And yet, when you do a sort through the cannon of official releases looking
for originals which are at least partially built on a strict blues form you
come up amazingly short. Prior to the "White Album", I could only find four
examples: the verses of "Can't Buy Me Love", "You Can't Do That", "The Word",
and the middle eight of "She's A Woman".
This relative dearth of twelve bar originals (pun fully intended) continues
through the "White Album" and beyond, even though the standard wisdom says
that the last couple of albums demonstrate a conscious return to their early
roots. In spite of the number of hard rock songs on those albums, you still
find very few blues numbers: only "Birthday", "Yer Blues", "For You Blue", and
"Ballad of John and Yoko" (and this is even stretching it a tad.) Granted,
there are many songs in the cannon that are very blues-like, (examples abound
throughout, all the way from "I Saw Her Standing There" to "Come Together"),
but if you grade them strictly, they fail the cut.
As an attempt to explain this paradox I would propose that as nascent artists,
The Beatles not just admired their Blues predecessors but, in a burst of
post-adolescent enthusiasm even sought to emulate and sometimes imitate
them; e.g., listen to the Quarrymen do Elvis' "That's When Your Heartache
Begins". But as they matured they likely found that, in spite of all early
interest, the strict blues form was not an idiom they felt all that comfortable
with in terms of self image and expression. Interestingly, they never quite
forgot or expunged the technique from their vocabulary, but it did remain for
them something to be used sparingly, for special effect and exotic tang.
When you consider this elite group of the Beatles' blues songs, it's tempting
to describe their style as "Neo R & B" to the extent that they manifest more
of a self-conscious updated stylization of an old form and not just a
nostalgic evocation of it. In spite of the presence in these songs of
the 12-bar formula, in terms of arrangement, lyrics, and the choice of
keys and chord progressions used in the non-blues sections, they are musically
very different from the classic role models which inspired them.
So much for the leisurely part of the outing; ready for the main event ?
Form
In essence, we have something very close to one of the standard forms, the
two bridge model. The unique twists here are the long intro-like instrumental
opener, and the amazing connector sections which introduce each appearance of
the bridge:
Verse (instrumental) -> Verse (vocal) -> long connector -> Bridge ->
Verse (instrumental) -> short connector -> Bridge -> Verse (vocal)
Another formalistic technique which considerably unifies the song is the
consistent use of antiphony in all appearances of both verse and bridge
sections, as we'll see.
Verse - "You say it's your birthday ..."
This section is a standard 12-bar blues frame with all the chords appearing
as dominant sevenths. If you want to get picky, it's worth pointing
out that the sustaining of the V chord in measure 10 (as opposed to the more
typical move to IV) is mildly unusual though not unheard of. The bassline
riff syncopatedly outlines the chords and is heard doubled by the lead guitar
two octaves higher; e.g., |aa-c#e-gF#--e|a ...
|A7 |- |- |- |
A: I
|D7 |- |A7 |- |
IV I
|E7 |- |A7 |- |
V I
This section appears four times in the song, and though the second and fourth
repetitions with their virtually identical arrangement and lyrics are indeed
quite verse-like, the first and third appearances of this section are entirely
instrumental and appear to serve the purpose of introduction and "solo" break
section, respectively.
The instrumental intro leads right off with an antiphonal gesture which
is carried through almost every section of the song. In this introductory
verse, you have the bass doubled by lead guitar in the odd numbered measures
alternating with parrot-like repetition by just the bass alone in the even
numbered measures. The vocal verses similarly feature the voices only in
the even-numbered measures. The break verse, yet again, features the piano
part in the same place that the voices were.
Long Connector - "Yes we're going to a party party ..."
This section is built out of two eight measure phrases each of which is
hypnotically repetitive, the end result of which is a buildup of tension
that makes you want to beg your partner to tie you down if you don't get
some relief very soon.
The first eight measure phrase features drums only with Macca shreaking a
count-off of the measure numbers that is muffled so far in the background
that it's barely audible except with earphones.
The second eight measures beats away on the V chord (E) with the vocals
coming in as a slight surprise starting in the third measure.
It's tempting to ascribe the shreaking in the first phrase as just another
obscure "clue" of sorts, though the little details in the way the numbers
are recited over the beat definitely add to the building tension. Note
for example how there is a straight-line climax which crests on "7" but
is followed by an "8" that can't even wait for that number measure to begin.
Similarly, during the second phrase, we have both a general crescendo as
well as a quickening of the handwork in the drums.
But even more effective than the buildup per se is the way that when
the climax arrives, it's a "deceptive" one; that V chord resolves not
to I (A) but rather to the old "Buddy Holly" chord of flat-VI (C); do
keep your ears attuned to the way that bassline snakes its way from
the sustained E down toward C during the second half of the last measure.
Bridge - "I would like you to dance -- Birthday"
The choice of C Major as the key for this bridge is not so far out as
it would appear on the surface; C being the relative Major of the parallel
minor of A, and it's a key relationship employed in many other songs; e.g.,
"You're Going To Lose That Girl." In "Birthday", it's quite a surprise
nontheless, coming as the deceptive resolution of that prolonged V chord
of the preceding section. As surprises go, it's actually quite a
pleasurable one at that; one which adds a bit of tonal depth perspective
to the music; as though a door had opened to reveal another universe that
you suspected, but were never quite certain, was there.
This section has musical ties both to the verse in terms of its use of
antiphony (between Macca and the female backers) and to the preceding
connector in terms of its repetitiveness. The bassline in this section also
harkens back somewhat to the riff used in the verse:
|-------- 3X ------|
chords: |C |G |C |G |B |E |
bassline:|C-E-F-F#-|G-F-E-D-|C-E-F-F#|G-G#-A-A#|B |E |
C: I V I V
A: V-of-V V
Other points of interest:
- Note the way the bassline makes its rearward approach to the note B by
a clever "keep going" extension of the upward chromatic motion already
in progress as part of the first half of the riff.
- Note how heady it feels to have arrived on the B Major chord, especially
since we've just barely recovered our bearings from the surprise modulation
to C; the passionately inarticulate noise of Macca screaming "dance" in
rhythmic pattern totally at odds with the beat enhances the rush of it.
For a brief instant, there's a vertigo sensation of not being sure of just
where you stand key-wise from the promentory of this B chord, but before
you are allowed to get too unhinged over it, the music procedes simply
around the cycle of fifths right back to the home key of A. In retrospect,
it all seems like nothing to get hung about, but in the warm moment of
immediate experience, you were moved.
- The appearance of the female bacing voices is another small source of
surprise here; after this, how could Paul have claimed to be upset two years
later about Spector's adding the chorus to "Across the Universe" ? According
to Lewisohn, it was an impromptu decision to recruit Yoko and Patti for their
participation here; makes one wonder what the heck Linda was up to that
evening :-).
Short Connector
There is a profound lesson to be learned about the dramatics of music when
you contemplate how this shorter connecting section serves a functionally
identical purpose to the earlier longer one even though it is musically
so different from that first one in almost every way.
In terms of structural utility, both connectors serve the purpose of
modulating from the key of A to the key of C. But look at the obvious
differences between them, nonetheless:
- This one is only four measures long compared to the earlier one of sixteen.
- Here we have a return to the orchestration of the opening verse with just
guitars playing plain octaves punctuated by sparse drumwork, whereas earlier,
we had quite a bit of drums and even vocals.
- Even the specific strategy for making the modulation is different; here,
the natural minor mode of A (with its C and G naturals -- no sharps!) which
is used for the guitar parts makes for a smooth and gentle transition, while
earlier, the entire mood was one of climax and surprise.
In the end, it's a simple law of physics and the art of avoiding anti-
climax which demands these differences. To put it rather crudely and
simultaneously lift a phrase which Maureen Cleave used to describe John
(not Paul), even "a young man, famous, loaded, and waiting for something"
can't reset *that* quickly. And besides, a repetition of the long connector
would frankly start to chafe, whereas this quieter short one (it's the only
place in the entire song where the drums stop for a few beats) provides
some welcome respite.
Final Verse
The rest of the song follows the gesture of that second connector and
provides more matched bookend ballast and balance than further excitement.
Also direct your attention to the way the suddeness of the complete
ending is molified nicely by two details: the decelerating effect of
the syncopations in the last few measures of the song (they don't appear
anywhere else before this), and the broken octaves on the piano which seem
to psychadelically ricochet even as they fade. The net effect reminds me
of the way your body is jostled when you stop the car too quickly.
Thumping Those Pagan Skins
The drumming and other special percussion effects on this song (such as
maracas, tambourine, and hand claps) are worthy of special notice.
Ringo turns in an effective performance of his trademark technique of
punctuating long stretches of evenly accented eight notes with complex
thirty-second note snare drum fills in all the right places; typically,
though not limited to the boundary lines between sections. BTW, I offer
a gold star to anyone who can tell on what beat of the measure the opening
flourish begins!
If you make the effort on your own to map out how the rest of the
percussion effects are worked into the piece, you'll find the texture
of each section of the song has been carefully and neatly planned out.
The point being that even in a song like "Birthday" which we know was
worked up very quickly, and where a certain informal, "come as you are"
feeling permeates right to the core of the piece, *still*, nothing is left
to chance. This of course is a hot button for those who like to rag
on Paul for being such a control freak, but IMHO, it's this attention
to detail that elevates a good rock song to the level of a gem.
Siezing the moment (this one)
In the final result, it's quite astounding to read in Lewisohn that this
song was essentially composed by Paul, arranged, recorded and mixed in just
one extended session of eleven and a half hours starting in the late afternoon
of September 18, 1968 and running through the wee hours of the next morning.
Of course, to keep it in perspective, this song is no magnum opus; for one
thing, the elements of both words and music here are quite simple, and the
equally simple device of happy repetition is used effectively to expedite the
cranking out of the piece. But none of this diminishes in any way the
incredible prowess demonstrated in this act of spontaneous effusion.
And it is in this spontaneity per se that I believe that the genius of
Macca, circa '68 is manifested. From the style of my analysis you might
get the mistaken impression that I somehow imagine him walking into the
studio after many hours of erudite forethought with the song all worked
out in his head and a point to prove, Mozart-like. Actually, I rather
expect it to have all been quite the opposite way. In this energetically
vital and innovative song, I hear a composer so well primed and up to speed,
so "ready to do the show right now" that the music springs right out of him
without much of a struggle at all, as though it were all so casual,
second-nature, and obviously meant to be.
Regards,
Alan (awp@bitstream.com *OR* uunet!huxley!awp)
---
"It's my birthday too -- yeah" 072290#20
--- H.B.,`A.`
Copyright (c) 1990 by Alan W. Pollack
All Rights Reserved
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Ook op The Beatles [White Album]:
(c) 2025 Serge Girard
(c) Alan Aldrigde, The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics