So you want to sing “Happy Birthday” to your kid?

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Did you enjoy this video? I actually enjoyed the delight on my granddaughter Mia’s face more when she watched the video and started to sing along with the Chipmunks.

“Happy Birthday to You”, also known more simply as “Happy Birthday”, is a traditional song that is sung to celebrate the anniversary of a person’s birth.

As long as I can remember, my mother (now 79 years old) used to sing this song to my brothers and me on our birthdays. Even after we moved out of the house, she would sometimes sing it over the phone to us.  When our kids celebrated their birthdays, she sang it too them as well and since Mia was born three years ago, she also sang it to her.

I will have my birthday in a few weeks and I know she and Mia will sing this song to me even before I have my first cup of coffee.

According to the 1998 Guinness Book of World Records, “Happy Birthday to You” is the most well recognized song in the English language and the song’s base lyrics have been translated into at least 18 languages^.

The song has quite an interesting history. In the late 1800′s, two sisters, Patty and Mildred J. Hill, both kindergarten school teachers, created a little song that consisted of only 4 lines (three of which are identical) and 16 words and this song “Good Morning to You” was sung every day at the school.  In 1893, they published the tune in their songbook Song Stories for the Kindergarten.

Apparently the Hill Sisters’ students enjoyed it so much to sing this song that they also began singing it at birthday parties but they changed the lyrics to “Happy Birthday” and today this song is sung all over the world when somebody has a birthday.

Robert Coleman included “Good Morning to All” in a songbook with the birthday lyrics as a second verse in 1924. The song was also published in 1928 in Children’s Praise and Worship. In 1933 it was again published by Coleman in The American Hymnal.

Not many people are aware that “Happy Birthday to You” was actually copyrighted as a “work for hire” in 1935 and technically it is illegal to publicly perform the song unless royalties are paid to the Summy Company and its owner, Warner Chappell who bought the company in 1990.

In 2008, Warner Chappel  collected about $5000 per day ($2 million per year) in royalties for the song. This includes, and I quote, ” use in film, television, radio, anywhere open to the public, or even among a group where a substantial number of those in attendance are not family or friend to whoever is performing the song”.

Apparently the copyright will only expire in the year 2030 and if you take into consideration that the value  of “Happy Birthday” is estimated at US$5 million,  it is enough to stop you dead in your tracks before you allow the guests at your kid’s theme party to start singing the song.

Don’t worry, you are not paying them to perform this song and what would a birthday be without it. Wake up your kid (or spouse/friend) on his or her birthday with “Happy Birthday to You” and know that after reading this article, you will not only have brought joy to their day but will also be able to share in an age old tradition – and if you tell this story at your kid’s theme party, you will also share the origin of  the song with everybody.

Clever Mom!

This article was adapted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Birthday_to_You

You can also listen to the original “Good Morning to You” by clicking on the above-mentioned link.

One last little tidbit about this song:

One of the most famous performances of “Happy Birthday to You” was Marilyn Monroe‘s rendition to U.S. President John F. Kennedy in May 1962.

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