The World’s Most Popular Song:
The story of “Happy Birthday.”

What song is more familiar to millions than the one beginning “Happy Birthday to you…!?” It’s been around forever, or so it seems, because it is sung more than any other song except perhaps “For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow.” Do the math. Everywhere, everyone in the English-speaking world (and then some) has a birthday every day of every year, and there exists no more spontaneous birthday greeting than the ubiquitous “Happy Birthday!”

The history of this most innocent and popular song is fascinating and complicated, starting with a couple of Kentucky schoolteacher sisters named Patty and Mildred Hill penning a little ditty in 1893 for their students called, “Good Morning to you!” Jump ahead 40 years when the not-so-backwoods sisters sue no less a personage than Irving Berlin for using a variant of their song in a comedy revue skit (“As Thousands Cheer,” 1933) involving a birthday party for John D. Rockefeller at which his generous relatives present him with the modest gift of Rockefeller Center. The music, never  officially copyrighted and dating unquestionably back to 1893, would be acknowledged as public domain; but the handful of words legally copyrighted in 1935 (“Happy Birthday to you”) sung to that melody would yield untold $millions for the persons or parties holding the rights for the next 80 years. Using the song for mere seconds in a feature film might cost producers tens of thousands..or more! Things turned unseemly as even Girl Scouts were forbidden to sing it routinely around the campfire without paying a royalty.

And then….internet detectives progressively yielded up printed versions of the Happy Birthday lyrics going back further and further until, under close examination in court, the song was declared public domain in 2015, not subject to copyright. Needless to say, further lawsuits abound demanding retroactive compensation for illicit royalties paid to copyright owners like Warner/Chappel  who, it was determined, never owned the song! Nobody does. It belongs to all of us now.

Knowing full well that the music was public domain when creating FredGrams, I’ve taken the opportunity to use “Happy Birthday” in a variety of my musical Happy Birthday greeting cards:

A Chinese-sounding birthday greeting: Happy Panda Birthday!

A barking Happy Birthday message from some floppy friends: Happy Basset Birthday!

Birthday wishes amidst Hollywood pomp and glamour: Happy Movie Palace Birthday!

There are dozens of other happy birthday cards at FredGrams using that ridiculously simple little tune, and I daresay there will be dozens more. It’s not a song that’s going away

“Happy Birthday, Mr. President….” I doubt Marilyn had to pay a royalty.