George Harrison performs on Badge by Cream

George Harrison took part in a recording session for the British band Cream on this day, to record the song Badge. It took place at Wally Heider Studios in Los Angeles, with a further overdub at IBC Studios, without Harrison, in December.

Badge was written by Harrison and Eric Clapton. Its title was adopted after Clapton misread Harrison’s handwriting on the lyric sheet, which contained the word ‘bridge’.

I helped Eric write Badge you know. Each of them had to come up with a song for that Goodbye Cream album 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.
George Harrison

Badge was produced by Felix Pappalardi, who had worked with Cream since their Disraeli Gears album. The song was credited to Clapton and Harrison on the UK single, but on the Goodbye album it was credited to Clapton alone.

Due to contractual reasons, Harrison was credited as L’Angelo Misterioso on the album. During the 1960s and 1970s it was often hard for artists to perform on songs for groups signed to rival labels, so pseudonyms were commonly used. Clapton received no credit for his guitar solo on ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, or for his work on Harrison’s 1970 album All Things Must Pass.

Above all, I would like to acknowledge my old friend Eric Clapton, who played many memorable guitar parts on the album. At that time we weren’t ‘allowed’ by our record companies to acknowledge our presence on each other’s albums so he hasn’t had a credit for thirty years.
George Harrison
Sleevenotes to All Things Must Pass

Harrison performs rhythm guitar on Badge. Although the arpeggiated guitars that enter midway through the song are similar to parts of Abbey Road, that particular passage was played by Clapton.

Last updated: 2 October 2011
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