"Badge" is a song written by Eric Clapton and George Harrison, and recorded by British

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

group

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

on their final album, ''

Goodbye Goodbye, Good bye, or Good-bye is a parting phrase and may refer to: Film * ''Goodbye'' (1918 film), a British drama directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Goodbye'' (1995 film) (''Tot Ziens!''), a Dutch film directed by Heddy Honigmann * ''Goodbye'' ...

''. Also issued as a single in March 1969, "Badge" peaked at number 18 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and number 60 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart.

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 notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desc ...

and track listing. The only discernible word on the page was "

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

" (indicating the song's bridge section). Due to Harrison's handwriting, however, Clapton misread it as "badge"—and the song was titled soon thereafter. Harrison remembered the story thus: Common legends or misconceptions are that the name came about because its

chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...

was B–A–D–G–E (which is not true) or simply because the notation of a

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

standard tuning In music, standard tuning refers to the typical tuning of a string instrument. This notion is contrary to that of scordatura, i.e. an alternate tuning designated to modify either the timbre or technical capabilities of the desired instrument. Viol ...

(E–A–D–G–B–E) can be arranged to spell "Badge".

Writing and publishing credits

In the US,

Atco Records ATCO Records is an American record label founded in 1955. It is owned by Warner Music Group and operates as an imprint of Atlantic Records. After several decades of dormancy and infrequent activity under alternating Warner Music labels, the comp ...

' 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 Robert Colin Stigwood (16 April 1934 – 4 January 2016) was an Australian-born British-resident music entrepreneur, film producer and impresario, best known for managing Cream (band), Cream, Andy Gibb and the Bee Gees, theatrical productions ...

's company Casserole (BMI). Atco later corrected this in 1969 with the release of '' Best of Cream'', which lists both Clapton and Harrison as the song's authors. The UK single of "Badge" released by

Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

gave writing credit to both Clapton and Harrison, with publishing credit going to Dratleaf and Harrisongs Ltd. Since the early 1990s the writing credit has been listed as Clapton/Harrison with publishing credit going to E.C. Music, Ltd. and Harrisongs.''Cream of Clapton'' Liner Notes

Personnel

* Eric Clapton – lead guitar, vocals *

Jack Bruce John Symon Asher Bruce (14 May 1943 – 25 October 2014) was a Scottish bassist, singer-songwriter, musician and composer. He gained popularity as the primary lead vocalist and ‍bassist ‍of British rock band Cream. After the group disband ...

– bass guitar *

Ginger Baker Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (19 August 1939 – 6 October 2019) was an English drummer. His work in the 1960s and 1970s earned him the reputation of "rock's first superstar drummer", for a style that melded jazz and African rhythms and pi ...

– drums *

Felix Pappalardi Felix A. Pappalardi Jr. (December 30, 1939 – April 17, 1983) was an American music producer, songwriter, vocalist, and bassist. He is best known as the bassist and co-lead vocalist of the band Mountain, whose song "Mississippi Queen" peaked at ...

– piano, mellotron * George Harrison (credited, for contractual reasons, as "L'Angelo Misterioso") – rhythm guitar

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Badge (Song) Cream (band) songs 1969 singles Songs written by George Harrison Songs written by Eric Clapton Polydor Records singles Atco Records singles 1968 songs