![\"Birthday.Song_[1]\"](\"https:\/\/fredgrams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Birthday.Song_1.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWhat song is more familiar to\u00a0millions than the one\u00a0beginning\u00a0“Happy Birthday to you…!?” It’s been around forever, or so it seems, because it is sung\u00a0more than any other song\u00a0except perhaps “For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow.”<\/span><\/u><\/a> Do the math.\u00a0Everywhere, everyone\u00a0in the English-speaking world (and then some)\u00a0has a birthday every day of every year, and\u00a0there exists no\u00a0more spontaneous\u00a0birthday\u00a0greeting\u00a0than the ubiquitous “Happy Birthday!”<\/p>\n The history of this most innocent and\u00a0popular song\u00a0is fascinating and complicated<\/span><\/u><\/a>, starting with a\u00a0couple of\u00a0Kentucky schoolteacher sisters named Patty and Mildred\u00a0Hill\u00a0penning a little ditty in 1893\u00a0for their students called, “Good Morning to you!” Jump ahead 40\u00a0years when the\u00a0not-so-backwoods sisters sue no less a personage than Irving\u00a0Berlin for using a variant of their song in a\u00a0comedy revue skit\u00a0(“As Thousands Cheer,” 1933<\/span><\/u><\/a>)\u00a0involving\u00a0a birthday party for John D. Rockefeller\u00a0at which\u00a0his generous relatives\u00a0present him with the modest gift of Rockefeller Center. The music, never\u00a0 officially copyrighted and\u00a0dating unquestionably back to\u00a01893, would be acknowledged as public domain; but the handful of words\u00a0legally copyrighted in 1935 (“Happy Birthday to you”) sung to that melody would yield\u00a0untold $millions for\u00a0the persons or parties holding\u00a0the rights\u00a0for the next 80 years.\u00a0Using the song for mere\u00a0seconds in a feature film might cost\u00a0producers\u00a0tens of thousands..or\u00a0more! Things\u00a0turned unseemly as even Girl Scouts were forbidden to sing it routinely\u00a0around the campfire without paying a royalty.<\/p>\n And then….internet detectives\u00a0progressively yielded up printed\u00a0versions of the\u00a0Happy Birthday\u00a0lyrics\u00a0going back further<\/span><\/u><\/a> and further\u00a0until,\u00a0under\u00a0close examination in court<\/span><\/u><\/a>, the song was\u00a0declared\u00a0public domain<\/span><\/u><\/a> in 2015, not subject\u00a0to copyright<\/span><\/u><\/a>.\u00a0Needless to say,\u00a0further lawsuits abound\u00a0demanding retroactive\u00a0compensation for illicit royalties paid to\u00a0copyright owners\u00a0like Warner\/Chappel\u00a0 who, it was determined, never owned the song!\u00a0Nobody does. It belongs to all of us now.<\/p>\n Knowing full well that the music was public domain when creating FredGrams<\/a>, I’ve taken the opportunity to use “Happy Birthday” in a variety of my musical\u00a0Happy Birthday greeting cards<\/span><\/u><\/a>:<\/p>\n A Chinese-sounding birthday greeting: Happy Panda Birthday<\/span><\/u><\/a>!<\/p>\n A barking Happy Birthday message\u00a0from some floppy friends: Happy Basset Birthday<\/span><\/u><\/a>!<\/p>\n Birthday wishes\u00a0amidst\u00a0Hollywood pomp and glamour:\u00a0Happy Movie Palace Birthday<\/span><\/u><\/a>!<\/p>\n There are\u00a0dozens of other happy birthday\u00a0cards\u00a0at FredGrams<\/a> using that ridiculously simple little tune, and I daresay there will be dozens more. It’s not a song that’s going away<\/p>\n
![\"marilyn_monroe_happy_birthday_mr_president\"](\"https:\/\/fredgrams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/marilyn_monroe_happy_birthday_mr_president.jpg\")
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