''Birthday'' is the fourth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by the American band

the Association The Association is an American sunshine pop band from Los Angeles, California. During the late 1960s, the band had numerous hits at or near the top of the Billboard charts, ''Billboard'' charts (including "Windy (The Association song), Windy" ...

. The album featured two hit singles, " Everything That Touches You", which hit number 10 in the charts, The Association USA chart history Billboard.com. Retrieved June 2, 2012. and "Time for Livin, which reached number 39. This was the last LP by the group that spawned

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

hits. It peaked at number 23 in the Billboard charts.

MacArthur Park

The song "

MacArthur Park MacArthur Park (originally Westlake Park) is a park dating back to the late 19th century in the Westlake, Los Angeles, Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. In the early 1940s, it was renamed after General Douglas MacArthur, and la ...

", which was first recorded by

Richard Harris Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. Having studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, he rose to prominence as an icon of the British New Wave. He received numerous a ...

, was originally offered to the Association for inclusion on this album. Producer Bones Howes challenged Jimmy Webb to write a pop song that incorporated classical instrumentation and an odd time signature, which he planned to have the Association record. The song was rumored to be intended as a centerpiece for a twenty-four-minute cantata that would occupy one side of the record. This rumor was later debunked by Webb himself, who claimed there was only one composition. Nonetheless, the song was excluded because the group, being able songwriters themselves, were not willing to give up two to three of their songs for the sake of Webb's project. Terry Kirkman on the Discogropheties podcast (recorded just prior to his death) stated that they were offered MacArthur Park only two or three days before a tour. There was no time to arrange or record it, and the album was mostly completed anyway. When Harris, who had just performed a slew of musical numbers for the film adaptation of ''

Camelot Camelot is a legendary castle and Royal court, court associated with King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described ...

'', contacted Webb for a possible collaboration, this was among the compositions that were in consideration. The Harris recording became lead single for his pop record debut, '' A Tramp Shining'', and made its way onto the Billboard Hot 100 at number 79 on May 11, 1968, peaking at number 2 on June 22, 1968 behind

Herb Alpert Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter, pianist, singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, conductor, painter, sculptor and theatre producer, who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (sometimes called "Herb Alpe ...

's "

This Guy's in Love with You "This Guy's in Love with You" is a hit song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David and released by Herb Alpert in May, 1968. Although known primarily for his trumpet playing as the leader of the Tijuana Brass, Alpert sang lead vocals on thi ...

Track listing

Singles

#"Everything That Touches You" b/w "We Love Us" (Warner Bros. 7163) January 8, 1968 (US #10) #"Time for Livin b/w "Birthday Morning" (Warner Bros. 7195) April 24, 1968 (US #39)

Personnel

The Association

Terry Kirkman Terry Robert Kirkman (December 12, 1939 – September 23, 2023) was an American singer and songwriter best known as a vocalist for the pop group The Association and the writer of several of the band's hit songs such as " Cherish", " Everything T ...

– wind instruments, vocals, percussion *

Larry Ramos Hilario D. "Larry" Ramos Jr. (April 19, 1942 – April 30, 2014) was an American guitarist, banjo player and vocalist known primarily for his work with the 1960s pop band the Association. In 1963, he won a Grammy Award with the New Christy Minst ...

– lead guitar, vocals * Russ Giguere – rhythm guitar, vocals, percussion * Brian Cole – bass, vocals, woodwinds * Ted Bluechel, Jr. – drums, vocals, rhythm guitar, bass *

Jim Yester James Yester (born November 24, 1939) is an American musician. He is a member of the sunshine pop group the Association, who had numerous hits on the Billboard charts, ''Billboard'' charts during the 1960s, including "Windy (The Association song ...

– rhythm guitar, vocals, keyboards

Additional musicians

According to the 2010 deluxe mono edition: *

Hal Blaine Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929 – March 11, 2019) was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. ...

– drums *

Joe Osborn Joe Osborn (August 28, 1937 – December 14, 2018Ray Pohlman Merlyn Ray Pohlman (July 22, 1930 – November 1, 1990) was an American session musician and arranger who played both upright bass and bass guitar, and also did sessions as a guitarist. He is credited with being the first electric bass player in ...

– bass * Jim Yester,

Tommy Tedesco Thomas Joseph Tedesco (July 3, 1930 – November 10, 1997) was an American guitarist and studio musician in Los Angeles and Hollywood. He was part of the loose collective of the area's leading session musicians later popularly known as The Wre ...

, Russ Giguere, David Bennett Cohen,

Mike Deasy Michael William Deasy (born February 4, 1941) is an American rock and jazz guitarist. As a session musician, he played on numerous hit singles and albums recorded in Los Angeles in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He is sometimes credited as Mike De ...

Dennis Budimir Dennis Matthew Budimir (June 20, 1938 – January 10, 2023) was an American jazz and rock guitarist. He was considered to be a member of the Wrecking Crew. Biography Budimir learned to play piano and guitar in his youth and first played profe ...

, Al Casey – guitars *

Larry Knechtel Lawrence William Knechtel (August 4, 1940 – August 20, 2009) was an American keyboard player and bassist who was a member of the Wrecking Crew, a collection of Los Angeles–based session musicians who worked with such renowned artists as Sim ...

– piano, keyboards *

Milt Holland Milton Holland (born Milton Olshansky; February 7, 1917 – November 4, 2005) was an American drummer, percussionist, ethnomusicologist and writer in the Los Angeles music scene. He pioneered the use of African, South American, and Indian perc ...

, Dale Anderson, Gene Estes, Larry Bunker – vibes, various percussion *

Red Callender George Sylvester "Red" Callender (March 6, 1916 – March 8, 1992) was an American string bass and tuba player. He is perhaps best known as a jazz musician, but worked with an array of pop, rock and vocal acts as a member of The Wrecking Cre ...

– double bass, tuba * James Decker, Arthur Maebe, William Hinshaw, David Duke – French horn * Emanuel Klein, Jimmy Zito,

Buddy Childers Marion "Buddy" Childers (February 12, 1926 – May 24, 2007) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer and ensemble leader. Childers became famous in 1942 at the age of 16, when Stan Kenton hired him to be the lead trumpet in his band. Biograph ...

, Tony Terran, Bobby Bryant – trumpet * Lew McCreary, David Wells – trombone * James Decker, William Hinshaw – French horn * John Johnson – saxophone * Paulo Alencar, Arnold Belnick, Henry Ferber, Jacques Gasselin, Jerome Reisler, Ralph Schaeffer, Sidney Sharp, William Weiss, Shari Zippert – strings

Technical

Bones Howe Dayton Burr "Bones" Howe (born March 18, 1933) is an American record producer and recording engineer who scored a string of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, often of the sunshine pop genre, starting in 1965 with The Turtles (band), the Turtles cover o ...

– producer, engineer *

Ed Thrasher Edward Lee Thrasher Jr. (March 7, 1932 – August 5, 2006), known as Ed Thrasher, was an American art director and photographer. He was the recipient of a number of Grammy Award nominations for his work on album covers and won a Grammy for Best Al ...

– art direction * Wayne Kimbell – design * George Rodriguez – photography

References

{{Authority control 1968 albums The Association albums Warner Records albums Albums produced by Bones Howe