June 27, 2012 - “Happy Birthday to You” Day

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nOncenupon a time (in 1893), a pair of sisters wrote a simple song forntheir nursery school and kindergarten students. Mildred J. Hill wrotena simple tune, and Patty Smith Hill wrote some equal simple,nrepetitive words:

n Goodnmorning to you,

n Goodnmorning, dear children,

n Goodnmorning to all.

nThentwo sang the catchy song with their young students, but they alsonpublished it in a songbook for children.

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nThensong caught on. (That’s the thing about catchy songs, isn’t it? Theyncatch on!)

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nInnmany classes, the young students sang the song to the teacher, so thenwords were changed a little – “good morning to all” becamenanother repetition of “good morning to you,” and “dear teacher”nwas sung in place of “dear children.”

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nAndnsomebody, somewhere, changed the song again to be a birthday song.nPerhaps you have heard it somewhere?

n Happynbirthday to you,

n Happynbirthday dear so-and-so [insert name here],

n Happynbirthday to you.

nWell,nthis latest version really caught on! It is by far the mostnwell-known song in the English-speaking world—maybe the entirenworld!—and it’s been used in millions of music boxes, watches,nmusical greeting cards, and other for-profit products. It’s been sungnon TV and on Broadway and in movies, in space and underwater livingnspaces, in homes and schools, businesses and hospitals.

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n(Bynthe way, many people think that students who sang the Good Morningnsong spontaneously changed the lyrics at birthday parties. Whichnwould mean that the most widely known song in the world was “written”nby a bunch of five- and six-year-old kids whose names we do notnknow!)

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nOkay,nhere’s the weird part…this super-simple, almost ubiquitous (heardneverywhere) song—this song that was written in the 1800s, maybe byna bunch of kids—is still protected by copyright!

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nWh-wh-what???

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nMynsources are unclear about who filed copyright on “Happy Birthday tonYou,” when, on whose behalf. Some sources say that another Hillnsister sued and received copyright protection for Patty and MildrednHill, and that the Hill Foundation collects royalties even to thisnday, but another source says that the publisher of the Hill’snoriginal “Good Morning” song filed for copyright on the birthdaynversion. n

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Whatevernthe case, it seems that some of the profit-making enterprises thatnuse the popular birthday song do pay royalties—adding up to perhapsntwo million dollars worth of royalties per year! It’s totally fine tonsing the song in private, with small groups at birthday parties, fornexample, but it is technically a violation to sing it innprofit-making venues with a lot of people. This is why a lot ofnrestaurants use original songs or other birthday songs—they want tonavoid any copyright lawsuits! Many movies and television shows shownpeople singing just a few notes (apparently this is “fair use”nand doesn’t cost anything), but those who show people singing thenentire song have to pay $10,000 for the privilege! Yikes!

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nBynthe way, copyright laws differ from nation to nation. The song willnbecome “public domain” (free for anyone to use, even for-profitnor large groups) in Europe in 2016, and it will move to public domainnstatus in the U.S. in 2030. And, here’s one more fact to confuse you:nsome lawyers think that the song is already in public domain, rightnnow, because the actual “authors” of the song (who, remember,nmight be a bunch of kids) weren’t the ones who filed for copyright.

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nAlsonon this date:

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