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Birthday
Studio album by The Association
Released	March 7, 1968
Recorded	September 12, 1967 – February 23, 1968
Studio	United Western Recorders, Hollywood, CA
Genre	Sunshine pop, psychedelic pop
Label	Warner Bros.-Seven Arts
Producer	Bones Howe
The Association chronology
Insight Out (1967) Birthday (1968) Greatest Hits (1968)

Professional ratings

Review scores
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Allmusic

Birthday is The Association's fourth album. Despite the ostensibly psychedelic cover, the album was even lighter on psychedelic influences than their first three, with "The Time it is Today" being the sole representative of conventional psychedelic rock. Most of the album, including the two hit singles, "Everything That Touches You" (which hit number 10 in the charts) and "Time For Livin'" (which reached number 39) is in the easy-listening symphonic pop vein.

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.

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.	"You Ain't Goin' Nowhere"	Bob Dylan	McGuinn	Lloyd Green (pedal steel guitar), Gram Parsons (organ)	2:33
2.	"I Am a Pilgrim"	traditional, arranged Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman	Hillman	John Hartford (fiddle), Roy Husky (double bass), Roger McGuinn (banjo), Chris Hillman (acoustic guitar)	3:39
3.	"The Christian Life"	Charles Louvin, Ira Louvin	McGuinn	JayDee Maness (pedal steel guitar), Clarence White (electric guitar)	2:30
4.	"You Don't Miss Your Water"	William Bell	McGuinn	Earl P. Ball (piano), JayDee Maness (pedal steel guitar)	3:48
5.	"You're Still on My Mind"	Luke McDaniel	Parsons	Earl P. Ball (piano), JayDee Maness (pedal steel guitar)	2:25
	Side 2
1.	"Hickory Wind"	Gram Parsons, Bob Buchanan	Parsons	John Hartford (fiddle), Lloyd Green (pedal steel guitar), Roger McGuinn (banjo), Gram Parsons (piano)	3:31
2.	"One Hundred Years from Now"	Gram Parsons	McGuinn, Hillman	Barry Goldberg (piano), Lloyd Green (pedal steel guitar), Clarence White (electric guitar)	2:40
3.	"Blue Canadian Rockies"	Cindy Walker	Hillman	Clarence White (electric guitar), Gram Parsons (piano)	2:02
4.	"Life in Prison"	Merle Haggard, Jelly Sanders	Parsons	Earl P. Ball (piano), JayDee Maness (pedal steel guitar)	2:46
5.	"Nothing Was Delivered"	Bob Dylan	McGuinn	Lloyd Green (pedal steel guitar), Gram Parsons (piano, organ)	3:24
6.	"Pretty Boy Floyd"	Woody Guthrie	McGuinn	Roy Husky (double bass), John Hartford (acoustic guitar, banjo, fiddle), Chris Hillman (mandolin)	2:34

Singles

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

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
• Milton Holland, Dale Anderson, Gene Estes, Larry Bunker – vibes, various percussion
• Red Callender – double bass, tuba
• James Decker, Arthur Maebe, William Hinshaw, David Duke – french horns
• Emanuel Klein, Jimmy Zito, Buddy Childers, Tony Terran, Bobby Bryant – trumpets
• Lew McCreary, David Wells – trombones
• James Decker, William Hinshaw – french horns
• John Johnson – saxophone
• Paulo Alencar, Arnold Belnick, Henry Ferber, Jacques Gasselin, Jerome Reisler, Ralph Schaeffer, Sidney Sharp, William Weiss, Shari Zippert – strings