Song of the Day 11/23: Cream, “Badge”
Eric Clapton and George Harrison’s lives and careers were intertwined to a remarkable degree — they played on each other’s albums, they gave each other guitars, they even stayed friends as they vied for the same woman, Harrison’s first wife, Pattie Boyd. But they only wrote one song together.
As Harrison explained years later, “Each of them had to come up with a song for that ‘Goodbye Cream” album [the band had already announced they were breaking up, mainly because Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce couldn’t get along] 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.”
The song, released in 1969, became the Cream’s last charting single, though it only reached No. 60 in the U.S. Harrison plays rhythm guitar on the track but, because of contractual issues, is listed in the album’s credits as L’Angelo Mysterioso.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSpW6MePb10
The song hasn’t been covered much, but one that got a decent amount of radio airplay was this effort by Fanny, one of the first successful all-girl bands, on their 1970 debut album. That group had formerly performed as Wild Honey; their new name was suggested to producer Richard Perry by — wait for it — George Harrison.
I wonder if George was having a laugh. In Britain, a woman’s “fanny” is a slang expression for her lady bits. That’s why Brits call a “fanny pack” a “bum bag.” Because that’s where it goes.
BTW, “Badge” is my favorite Cream track. Thanks for the reminder.
Interesting to note the all girl band Fanny got “noticed” by two mere cover songs, good job on both Badge and Ain’t that Peculiar but that’s it. No originals worth the time of day and yet noted by the guitar magazines.
Guitarist June Millington was well respected in the LA scene of the early ’70s. She did session work outside the band, most notably for Barbra Streisand. I would guess that gave her a lot of connections among the folks who publish guitar magazines.