On a seemingly ordinary day, September 18th, 1968, music history was made in EMI Studio Two. Paul McCartney, arriving early for a Beatles recording session scheduled for 5 pm, found himself drawn to the upright piano. Instead of rehearsing a pre-planned track from their Kinfauns demos, inspiration struck, and he began to tinker with a new song idea. This impromptu moment led to the birth of “Birthday,” a track that deviated from the day’s original recording agenda and became a vibrant addition to the White Album.
Image alt text: Jayne Mansfield and Tom Ewell in a scene from “The Girl Can’t Help It” movie, a key inspiration for Paul McCartney writing the Beatles’ “Birthday” song.
The session’s unusual 5 pm start, rather than the typical 7 pm, was no accident. Chris Thomas, filling in for George Martin as producer, had previously mentioned to Paul that the classic musical comedy “The Girl Can’t Help It” was airing on television that evening. This 1956 film, starring Jayne Mansfield and Tom Ewell, had profoundly impacted the young Beatles during its initial cinema run in Liverpool in 1957. It wasn’t just the comedic storyline that captivated them; it was the film’s showcase of performances by their rock ‘n’ roll idols, many of whom they were yet to witness live. Among these heroes was Eddie Cochran, whose “Twenty Flight Rock” became a pivotal song for Paul when he famously performed it for John in 1957, marking the beginning of their legendary musical partnership. The BBC2 broadcast of “The Girl Can’t Help It” on September 18th, 1968, as part of “The Hollywood Musical” series, was a significant event. In an era before home recording, missing this television showing meant missing out entirely.
Image alt text: A portrait of Chris Thomas, the producer who suggested the early Beatles recording session that led to the creation of “Birthday”.
Chris Thomas recounts the day’s plan: “The idea was to start the session earlier than usual, about five o’clock in the afternoon, and then all nip around the corner to Paul’s house in Cavendish Avenue, watch the film and go back to work. So on the day 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. We had the backing track down by about 8:30, popped around to watch the film as arranged and then came back and actually finished the whole song. It was all done in a day!” This account reveals that the excitement of watching “The Girl Can’t Help It” likely fueled Paul’s creative spark for “Birthday.” Paul himself, in “The Lyrics,” explained their process: “We often started a session with a riff. And for us the riff of riffs was Little Richard’s ‘Lucille.’ It’s the riff Roy Orbison adapted for ‘Pretty Woman.’ So we did the same thing for ‘Birthday.’ All very basic stuff.”
Image alt text: An EP cover featuring Eddie Cochran, whose rock and roll performances in “The Girl Can’t Help It” inspired the musical style of the Beatles’ “Birthday”.
Reflecting on the impromptu songwriting session in 1968, Paul recalled, “The film ‘The Girl Can’t Help It’ was on television, an old rock film. Fats Domino, Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran were in it, and we wanted to see it, so we started at 5 o’clock and just did a backing track, a very simple 12-bar blues thing with a few bits here and there. We had no idea what it was going to be or what was going to go on top of it. We’d just say, ’12 bars in A,’ and then we’d change to D, then we’d do a few beats in C. And we really just did it like that…a random thing. We didn’t have time for anything else. Then we went back to my house, watched the film and then went back to the studio and made up some words to go with it all, which were, ‘They say it’s your birthday, well, it’s my birthday too, yay.’ This song was just made up in an evening. We hadn’t ever thought of it before then. It’s one of my favorites, because it was instantaneous. Also, it’s a good one to dance to. As for the big long drum break, normally we might have four bars of drums, but, with this, we thought, ‘No, let’s keep it going.’ We all like to hear drums plodding on.”
Image alt text: The cover of the book “Many Years From Now” by Barry Miles, a key source of information about Paul McCartney’s memories and songwriting process.
Paul further elaborated in his book “Many Years From Now”: “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.” This hints at a strategic element behind the seemingly spontaneous creation – a recognition of the enduring appeal of occasion-based songs.
Image alt text: The Who performing “My Generation”, a song whose stuttering vocal style influenced the “cha-cha-cha” rhythm in the Beatles’ “Birthday”.
Even though The Beatles had stopped touring two years prior, Paul’s songwriting for “Birthday” seemed to carry a live performance sensibility. In “The Lyrics,” he notes, “‘Birthday’ is one of those songs that was written to be played in a live show – with a view to being performed…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.” He also reveals a surprising lyrical influence: “Two of the lines I’d focus on are ‘I would like you to dance / take a cha-cha-cha-chance.’ I’m reminded that another band that was very much to the fore then was The Who. They had a very memorable moment in ‘My Generation,’ which involved what we used to call a stammer or a stutter on the phrase ‘fade away.’ But when you go ‘f-f-f-f” on live British television, that gets people’s attention. I remember that moment quite vividly. And that impediment, let’s call it, informed the ‘cha-cha-cha’ in ‘Birthday,” just as ‘Birthday’ informed the ‘cha-cha-cha-cha’ in David Bowie’s ‘Changes.’ Being a songwriter is about picking up the baton and holding it for a while and then passing it on.”
Image alt text: A close-up of John Lennon’s face from a 1972 Hit Parader magazine, referencing his co-authorship claim for the Beatles’ “Birthday” song.
John Lennon, in a 1972 Hit Parader interview, corroborated the collaborative nature of “Birthday,” stating it was written by “both of us.” However, his recollection shifted in a 1980 Playboy interview, where he attributed the song solely to Paul: “Paul wanted to write a song about birthdays, so he did that one.”
Image alt text: Sheet music cover for “Happy, Happy Birthday Baby” by The Tune Weavers, a 1950s hit song that John Lennon suggested as an inspiration for “Birthday”.
Intriguingly, the Playboy interview, as printed, placed the song’s creation during their India trip alongside other White Album tracks. John is quoted saying, “Once we had our mantra, we sat in the mountains eating lousy vegetarian food with a lot of time to write all those songs. Paul wanted to write a song about birthdays.” Yet, elsewhere in the same interview session, John is quoted giving a different account: “‘Birthday’ was written in the studio. Just made up on the spot. I think Paul wanted to write a song like ‘Happy, Happy Birthday Baby,’ the old ’50s hit (by The Tune Weavers, US #5, 1957). But it was, sort of, made up in the studio.” Despite the song’s success and enduring popularity, John’s personal opinion was blunt: “It was a piece of garbage.” A sentiment that is overwhelmingly contradicted by the song’s status as a beloved and energetic track in The Beatles’ catalog and a perennial birthday celebration anthem for fans worldwide.
