Happy Birthday To You. Happy Birthday To You. Happy Birthday To Dear _____. Happy Birthday To You.
Chances are, you were reading those lines in a tune that was silently playing in your mind. We have all become so accustomed to singing them at every birthday — at schools, at house parties, wherever a cake arrives, this is what gets sung before the first cut.
Yet remarkably few people know the story behind the song, who wrote it, or the fact that it was legally protected from being sung at public events until 2016. Yes, really — imagine that: for most of your life, that little tune you hum at every party was somebody's property. So let us find out about this song that has quite literally stood the test of time.
Good Morning to All
Believe it or not, the song we now call Happy Birthday To You began life under a very different title: Good Morning To All. It was first published in 1893, in a book titled Song Stories For The Kindergarten. It is credited to the sisters Mildred and Patty Smith Hill, who wrote and composed the lyrics while serving as teacher and principal of a kindergarten in Louisville. They used to sing it in the same tone we sing today, and they created it as a song that very young children would find easy to sing.
Exactly how Good Morning To All became Happy Birthday To You has many accounts, and the details are debated. However it may have happened, the transformation gave us a beautiful song for birthday occasions.
The Copyright Battle
Here is the part that surprises most people: this song was copyrighted and credited to the Hill sisters. Warner Chappell Music claimed the copyright in the United States and collected licensing fees for its use. Until 2016, it was technically illegal to sing the song in public without paying a hefty fee to the company. And the copyright would have remained active until 2030, if not for a U.S. federal judge who removed the claims to copyright and placed the song in the public domain. So now we can all sing it freely in public, without any fear of being penalized for it.
A Song That Goes Beyond Language
Such is the popularity of this melody that it is hardly limited to English. All over the world, it is sung in every other language by people for their loved ones. And it is not just vocal — notes and pieces have been composed for violin, piano, guitar, and other musical instruments.
It is said that in earlier times, people used to celebrate the birthdays of noteworthy figures like the king, especially in Egypt. Later, the practice trickled down to every other household. This, combined with the cake ritual that people say was introduced by Germans, gained momentum after the industrial revolution, giving us more and more ways to celebrate the special occasion.
Coming back to the song itself, there are still disagreements over who actually wrote or composed it, and who truly owned it. But for us, at least, we know some sides of the story, if not all of it. What remains undisputed is how a simple morning greeting meant for little children quietly became one of the most recognized melodies on the whole planet.
Until next time, when we uncover the story behind some other event or something equally interesting.