---
title: "Happy Birthday"

meaning: "Pandemic birthday alone until mom pulls you onto the lawn: drive-by line of cars sings your song, no evidence left, wish you were here."

year: 2020
release: "Masks and Monsters"
releaseType: "album"

artist: "Scoobert Doobert"
artistId: "#scoobert"

coWriters: ["Eric Radloff"]
credits: "Written by Luke Francis Walton and Eric Radloff (Gokudaxij; streaming credits: Okudaxij). Performed by Scoobert Doobert with Gokudaxij. Mixed and mastered by Luke Francis Walton. Album art by Gentle Giant Illustrations."

spotify: "https://open.spotify.com/album/13zzM1QEnrvJ7kRwUGNIFw"
officialVideo: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU2a2IK7gVw"
apple: "https://music.apple.com/us/album/happy-birthday-feat-okudaxij/1526427944?i=1526428033"

themes: ["pandemic", "birthday", "isolation", "Masks and Monsters", "Gokudaxij", "family"]

isrc: QZK6P2060457
isrcSource: soundexchange
lyrics: |
  Lonely on your special day
  Everyone a world away
  No one there to celebrate
  You can cry if you want

  Nothing new to entertain
  Nothing left to contemplate
  Nothing keeping you awake
  You float along

  You hear a knock
  It's Amazon
  Open up
  It's just your mom
  She pulls you out onto the lawn
  You squint at the sun

  Blink your eyes
  And see them all
  Stretching out across the block
  Line of cars are crying out
  They sing your song

  Baby
  Know you get a little sad
  Know you wanna get away
  Birthday
  Everybody sings your song
  So won't you sing along?

  Everybody passing bye
  Everybody saying hi
  Everybody waves goodbye
  See you next year

  Everybody came and went
  No one left a single mess
  Not a shred of evidence
  Wish you were here

  Baby
  Know you get a little sad
  Know you wanna get away
  Yeah
  Birthday
  Everybody sings your song
  So won't you sing along?

draft: false

---

Track twelve on [*Masks and Monsters*](/albums/masks-and-monsters/), **feat. Gokudaxij** (**Eric Radloff**; [Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/happy-birthday-feat-okudaxij/1526427944?i=1526428033) and the [official MV](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU2a2IK7gVw) list **Okudaxij**). Co-written and performed with Luke Francis Walton; North Park lockdown, **August 2020**. The [music video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU2a2IK7gVw) is Luke and Okudaxij on camera — *HBD with Okudaxij* on Scoobert’s channel (Jul 2020); the track also appears on the [full visual album](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zcGome9-yI). Same collaborator as *Adonde Eres* on [*$WAMI$*](/albums/wami/) and the features on [*Dragon Ball $d*](/albums/dragon-ball-d/), here without Babidi and trading cartoon lore for a pandemic birthday.

It starts in lockdown solitude (*no one there to celebrate / you can cry if you want*), the same dissociated register as [*My Mind Is Slowly Slipping*](/songs/my-mind-is-slowly-slipping/). Then the turn: *you hear a knock / it's Amazon / open up / it's just your mom*, package expectation becoming parent, and she pulls you onto the lawn for a drive-by parade, the 2020 substitute for a room full of people.

The sting is in the cleanup: *no one left a single mess / not a shred of evidence / wish you were here*. The spotless kindness turns into a Pink Floyd punchline. You miss the people who just left, or you miss normal life.

Less meme than [*Flip Flop Phil*](/songs/flip-flop-phil/), more tender than [*Quarantine and Chill*](/songs/quarantine-and-chill/). The record's socially distanced celebration, before [*Coca Cola*](/songs/coca-cola/) and [*Corona*](/songs/corona/) on the back half.

---