Don’t Spend Too Much Time Digging for the Meaning Behind “Badge” by Cream

It’s London in 1966, where Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker formed the world’s first rock supergroup. Considered the “cream” of blues and jazz musicians in the UK, they called themselves Cream. 

Performing with The Yardbirds and John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Clapton was the elite blues guitarist in Britain’s exploding blues revivalist scene. “Clapton Is God” graffiti could be seen around town. Bassist Bruce and drummer Baker, meanwhile, had played together in Graham Bond’s jazz and R&B group.

The group acted as a showcase for each musician’s considerable technical skill. At the same time, Cream had become one of the loudest live bands of the time. The on-stage “loudness wars” added tension to an already fractured relationship between Baker and Bruce. Eventually, the tension between the two would prove too much to overcome. Cream broke up within three years of forming.

Cream’s best-known songs are the psychedelic singles “Sunshine of Your Love” and “White Room.” Before the band’s dissolution, Clapton wrote “Badge” with his friend George Harrison. It appeared on Cream’s fourth and final studio album, Goodbye. 

Thanks largely to Harrison, “Badge” is a songwriter’s song, graceful and smooth, with Harrison acting as a kind of guru injecting peace into a chaotic and imploding situation.  

L’Angelo Misterioso‘s Big Break

During a prolific late ’60s collaboration, “Badge” was written by Eric Clapton and The Beatles’ George Harrison. On Harrison’s handwritten lyric sheet, he wrote ‘Bridge’ to note the middle portion of the song. Clapton misread ‘Bridge’ as ‘Badge.’ Thus, the previously untitled track had a name. 

Thinkin’ about the times you drove in my car
Thinkin’ that I might have drove you too far
And I’m thinkin’ about the love that you laid on my table

I told you not to wander ’round in the dark
I told you about the swans that they live in the park
Then I told you about our kid; now he’s married to Mabel

The swans living in the park line came from an intoxicated Ringo Starr. In fact, several lines were adapted from drunken chats with Starr, leaving the song essentially meaningless. 

[RELATED: Behind the Slightly Arrogant Band Name: Cream]

Cream was known for extended improvisations, so “Badge” is the rare Cream song that’s less than three minutes long. It mixes Baker’s and Bruce’s jazz leanings with Harrison’s knack for pop melodies. 

Knowing the background of Harrison’s drunken conversation with Starr, one can imagine Starr’s intoxicated philosophy informing the following chorus:

Yes, I told you that the light goes up and down
Don’t you notice how the wheel goes ’round?
And you better pick yourself up from the ground
Before they bring the curtain down
Yes, before they bring the curtain down, ooh

Clapton sang lead vocals on “Badge,” another rarity for Cream. Bruce, the band’s bassist, handled most vocal duties. Producer Felix Pappalardi played piano and Mellotron, and Harrison also played guitar on “Badge.” He was credited under the pseudonym L’Angelo Misterioso to avoid breaching his recording contract.

And After All, You’re My Wonderwall

Harrison and Clapton had worked together before. Clapton appeared on Harrison’s 1968 debut solo album, Wonderwall Music. He also recorded the legendary lead lines on The Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”  

The appropriately named Goodbye was Cream’s final album. They’d agreed to split up in May 1968. Goodbye was released in 1969 after the band had already dissolved. Following Cream’s demise, Clapton and Baker formed a supergroup called Blind Faith with Steve Winwood and Ric Grech. Blind Faith was short-lived as well, and only released one classic album. 

Moving away from the spotlight, Clapton toured as a sideman guitarist, supporting Delaney & Bonnie and Friends. That tour led to yet another supergroup that enjoyed incredible work from Clapton, Derek and the Dominos. This group would also have a short lifespan and release a single LP, the brilliant Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. 

The friendship between Clapton and Harrison produced all kinds of collaborations; there was a kind of incestuousness to all of it. Delaney & Bonnie’s band members worked on Harrison’s All Things Must Pass. The session with Harrison led to the formation of Derek and the Dominos. (And there’s the matter of Clapton’s infatuation with Harrison’s wife, Pattie Boyd that led to the Derek and the Dominoes song “Layla,” but that’s for another article.)

Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images