Happy Birthday (Birthday Party song)
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| “Happy Birthday” | ||
|---|---|---|
| Single by The Boys Next Door | ||
| B-side | "Riddle House" | |
| Released | Feb 1980 | |
| Format | 7" | |
| Recorded | Richmond Recorders, Melbourne, 1980 | |
| Length | 3:59 | |
| Label | Missing Link | |
| Writer(s) | Nick Cave Mick Harvey Rowland S. Howard | |
| Producer | Tony Cohen | |
"Happy Birthday" is a 1980 song and single by The Boys Next Door. The song is not related to the popular children's birthday song "Happy Birthday to You". It can be considered a parody.
The first album it appeared on was The Birthday Party. It was later included as track two on the 1992 compilation Hits.
The release of the single was part of the band's rebranding of themselves as The Birthday Party before their relocation to London. It is notable for several reasons. The mundanity of the song's lyrical subject matter, an eleven year old boy's birthday party, contrasts strongly to the discordance of the music. The song is also an excellent showcase for the sub-vocalisations that marked Nick Cave's early singing style, including grunts, wordless shrieks and on two separate occasions an impersonation of a barking dog. The song also displays the band's innovative use of two lead guitarists playing two separate riffs.
