# Birthday (Association album)

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Birthday is the fourth studio album by the American band the Association. The album featured two hit singles, "Everything That Touches You", which hit number 10 in the charts, and "Time for Livin'", which reached number 39. This was the last LP by the group that spawned Top 40 hits. It peaked at number 23 in the Billboard charts.

## MacArthur Park

The song "MacArthur Park", which was first recorded by Richard Harris, 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.
According to rumors, the song was intended as a centerpiece for a twenty-four-minute cantata that would occupy one side of the record, but the group rejected the idea and were only interested (albeit reluctantly) in recording the “MacArthur Park” section. This rumor was later debunked by Webb himself, claiming there was only one composition. The reason for its exclusion was that 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.
According to Terry Kirkman on the Discogropheties podcast, just prior to his death, they were only offered MacArthur Park but 2-3 days before a tour with no time to arrange or record it. Plus the album was mostly done by that point.
When Harris, who had just performed a slew of musical numbers for the film adaptation of Camelot, 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's "This Guy's in Love with You".

## Track listing

| # | Title | Writer | Lead vocals | Recorded | Time |
| | Side 1 | | | | |
| 1. | "Come on In" | Jo Mapes | Kirkman, Giguere | January 26, February 19 & 20, 1968 | 3:16 |
| 2. | "Rose Petals, Incense and a Kitten" | Ric McClelland, Jim Yester | Yester | February 3, 19 & 20, 1968 | 2:49 |
| 3. | "Like Always" | Tony Ortega, Bob Alcivar, Larry Ramos | Ramos | December 27, 1967 & February 23, 1968 | 3:04 |
| 4. | "Everything That Touches You" | Terry Kirkman | Kirkman, Yester | November 14, 1967, January 4 & February 9, 1968 | 3:17 |
| 5. | "Toymaker" | Jeff Comanor | Yester, Kirkman | February 3, 12 & 16, 1968 | 3:25 |
| | Side 2 | | | | |
| 1. | "Barefoot Gentleman" | Skip Carmel, Jim Yester | Yester | December 27, 1967, February 16 & 19, 1968 | 3:23 |
| 2. | "Time for Livin" | Addrisi Brothers | Giguere, Ramos | February 2, 19, 20 & 23, 1968 | 2:43 |
| 3. | "Hear in Here" | Ted Bluechel, Jr. | Bluechel, Jr. | February 2, 16, 19, 20 & 23, 1968 | 3:13 |
| 4. | "The Time It Is Today" | Russ Giguere | Giguere | December 27, 1967 | 2:15 |
| 5. | "The Bus Song" | Terry Kirkman | Kirkman | February 2 & 20, 1968 | 3:27 |
| 6. | "Birthday Morning" | Skip Carmel, Jim Yester | Yester | September 12, 1967 & January 4, 1968 | 2:25 |

### 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 – wind instruments, vocals, percussion
* Larry Ramos – lead guitar, vocals
* Russ Giguere – rhythm guitar, vocals, percussion
* Brian Cole – bass, vocals, woodwinds
* Ted Bluechel, Jr. – drums, vocals, rhythm guitar, bass
* Jim Yester – rhythm guitar, vocals, keyboards

### Additional musicians

According to the 2010 deluxe mono edition:
* Hal Blaine – drums
* Joe Osborn, Ray Pohlman – bass
* Jim Yester, Tommy Tedesco, Russ Giguere, David Bennett Cohen, Mike Deasy, Dennis Budimir, Al Casey – guitars
* Larry Knechtel – piano, keyboards
* Milt Holland, Dale Anderson, Gene Estes, Larry Bunker – vibes, various percussion
* Red Callender – double bass, tuba
* James Decker, Arthur Maebe, William Hinshaw, David Duke – French horn
* Emanuel Klein, Jimmy Zito, Buddy Childers, 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 – producer, engineer
* Ed Thrasher – art direction
* Wayne Kimbell – design
* George Rodriguez – photography