Origins of the Happy Birthday Song
Every year, we gather with friends and family and celebrate our birthdays. We gather around and sing a classic – “Happy Birthday to You”. In this song’s early days, it spread like wildfire across America, and today, it holds the Guinness World Record for the most popular song in the English language. But where did this tune come from?
“Happy Birthday to You” first started out as a greeting song, made by two teaching sisters – Patty and Mildred J. Hill. Initially debuting as “Good Morning to All”, the sisters published their newly created song into a songbook – Song Stories for the Kindergarten, which was displayed at Chicago World’s Fair in 1893.
Original lyrics to “Good Morning to All”
Good morning to you Good morning to you Good morning dear teacher, Good morning to all
Although Patty and Mildred supposedly composed the melody and wrote the lyrics, there is some speculation as to whether they are truly the original composers of “Good Morning to All”. The tune of the song seems to have plagiarized some of their song’s elements from other greeting songs written in the same era, but not everyone agrees on this outlook.
School children soon began creating their own variations on the song, eventually creating “Good Morning to You”. In the early 1900’s, the original song, “Good Morning to All”, was published in a book, and reproduced, creating “Good Morning to You”. Over time, “Happy Birthday to You” became increasingly popular, taking over its original counterpart, and was even featured on Broadway.
Shortly after, “Happy Birthday to You” became copyrighted by the Hill family, but only for the song’s melody – not the lyrics. In 1988, Warner/Chappell earned legal rights to the song, to which made up to 2 million dollars annually with the song. Delving into more modern history, Warner/Chappell settled the copyright case, and the song is now public domain.
Since its creation, renditions of the song have been made. One of the most memorable has been Marilyn Monroe’s performance of “Happy Birthday Mr. President”, which was performed for President John F. Kennedy’s 45th birthday.
Sources:
Lowe, Lindsay. “The Surprisingly Controversial History of the ‘Happy Birthday’ Song.” Parade, Parade: Entertainment, Recipes, Health, Life, Holidays, 26 May 2020, parade.com/1042106/lindsaylowe/happy-birthday-song-history/.
“Learn about the Story behind ‘Happy Birthday to You’ Song.” Galaxy Music Notes, galaxymusicnotes.com/pages/about-happy-birthday-to-you.
Desk, India Today Web. “The Happy Birthday Song Was Written Today in 1859, and It Was Actually Copyrighted.” India Today, 27 June 2017, www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/happy-birthday-song-origin-facts-985001-2017-06-27.