Happy Birthday to You
Encyclopedia
"Happy Birthday to You", also known more simply as "Happy Birthday", is a song that is traditionally sung to celebrate the anniversary of a person's birth
. According to the 1998 Guinness Book of World Records, "Happy Birthday to You" is the most recognized song in the English language
, followed by "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow
." The song's base lyrics have been translated into at least 18 languages., p. 17
The melody of "Happy Birthday to You" comes from the song "Good Morning to All", which was written and composed by American
siblings Patty Hill
and Mildred J. Hill
in 1893. Patty was a kindergarten principal in Louisville, Kentucky
, developing various teaching methods at what is now the Little Loomhouse
; Mildred was a pianist and composer., p. 7 The sisters created "Good Morning to All" as a song that would be easy to be sung by young children., p. 14
The combination of melody and lyrics in "Happy Birthday to You" first appeared in print in 1912, and probably existed even earlier., pp. 31–32 None of these early appearances included credits or copyright
notices. The Summy Company registered for copyright in 1935, crediting authors Preston Ware Orem
and Mrs. R.R. Forman. In 1990, Warner Chappell
purchased the company owning the copyright for $15 million, with the value of "Happy Birthday" estimated at $5 million. Based on the 1935 copyright registration, Warner claims that the United States copyright will not expire until 2030, and that unauthorized public performances of the song are technically illegal unless royalties are paid to it. In one specific instance on February 2010, these royalties were said to amount to $700. In the European Union
, the copyright of the song will expire on December 31, 2016. The actual American copyright status of "Happy Birthday to You" began to draw more attention with the passage of the Copyright Term Extension Act
in 1998. When the U.S. Supreme Court
upheld the Act in Eldred v. Ashcroft
in 2003, Associate Justice
Stephen Breyer
specifically mentioned "Happy Birthday to You" in his dissenting opinion. An American law professor who heavily researched the song has expressed strong doubts that it is still under copyright.
(Lyrics by Patty Smith Hill.)
with candles that have just been lit, with the other guests gathered around. The number of candles is often the same as the age of the birthday person. After the song is sung (usually just once), sometimes party guests will add phrase like "And many happy returns!" or "And many more!" expressing the hope that the birthday person will enjoy a long life. The birthday person is asked to make a wish ("Make a wish!") -- which is done silently—and then blow out the candles. Traditionally, the blowing out of the candles is felt to signify that the wish will come true. Once the candles have been blown out, people often will applaud, after which the first piece of the cake may be served to the birthday person. Often, after the cake has been eaten, each guest gives a gift, usually wrapped in festive paper decorated with pictures of the birthday person's life, to the birthday person. Often the birthday person will then open the gifts, revealing their contents to all. That usually concludes the ritual aspect of a birthday party, which then proceeds much like any other party, but with the birthday person being treated as the guest of honor.
class in Kentucky
. In 1893, they published the tune in their songbook Song Stories for the Kindergarten. However, many believe that the Hill sisters most likely copied the tune and lyrical idea from other popular and substantially similar nineteenth-century songs that predated theirs, including Horace Waters' "Happy Greetings to All", "Good Night to You All" also from 1858, "A Happy New Year to All" from 1875, and "A Happy Greeting to All", published 1885.
The Hill Sisters' students enjoyed their teachers' version of "Good Morning To All" so much that they began spontaneously singing it at birthday parties, changing the lyrics to "Happy Birthday". Children's Praise and Worship, edited by Andrew Byers, Bessie L. Byrum and Anna E. Koglin, published the song in 1918. In 1924, Robert Coleman included "Good Morning to All" in a songbook with the birthday lyrics as a second verse. Coleman also published "Happy Birthday" in The American Hymnal in 1933.
In 1935, "Happy Birthday to You" was copyrighted
as a work for hire
by Preston Ware Orem
for the Summy Company, the publisher of "Good Morning to All". A new company, Birch Tree Group Limited, was formed to protect and enforce the song's copyright. In 1998, the rights to "Happy Birthday to You" and its assets were sold to The Time-Warner Corporation. In March 2004, Warner Music Group
was sold to a group of investors led by Edgar Bronfman Jr. The company continues to insist that one cannot sing the "Happy Birthday to You" lyrics for profit without paying royalties
: in 2008, Warner collected about $5000 per day ($2 million per year) in royalties for the song., pp. 4,68 This includes 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 friends of whoever is performing the song. For this reason, most restaurants or other public party venues will not allow their employees to perform the song in public, instead opting for other original songs or cheers in honor of the birthday celebrant.
Except for the splitting of the first note in the melody "Good Morning to All" to accommodate the two syllables in the word "happy", "Happy Birthday to You" and "Good Morning to All" are melodically identical. Precedent (regarding works derived from public domain material, and cases comparing two similar musical works) seems to suggest that the melody used in "Happy Birthday to You" would not merit additional copyright status for one split note. Whether or not changing the words "good morning" to "happy birthday" should be covered by copyright is a different matter. The words "good morning" were replaced with "happy birthday" by others than the authors of "Good Morning to All". Regardless of the fact that "Happy Birthday to You" infringed upon "Good Morning to All", there is one theory that because the "Happy Birthday to You" variation was not written by the Hills, and it was published without notice of copyright under the Copyright Act of 1909
, the 1935 registration is invalid.
Professor Robert Brauneis cited problems with the song's authorship and the notice and renewal of the copyright, and concluded "It is almost certainly no longer under copyright." Many question the validity of the current copyright, as the melody of the song was most likely borrowed from other popular songs of the time, and the lyrics were improvised by a group of five- and six-year-old children who never received any compensation.
In the EU and other countries in which copyright lasts for the life of the author(s) plus 70 years, the copyright will expire after December 31, 2016, as Patty Hill died in 1946 while in the United States, the song is currently set to pass in to the public domain in 2030.
's rendition
to U.S. President John F. Kennedy
in May 1962.
The Walt Disney Company
paid the copyright holder U.S. $5,000 to use the song in the birthday scene of the defunct Epcot
attraction Horizons
.
The documentary film The Corporation states that Warner/Chappell charges up to U.S. $10,000 for the song to appear in a film. Because of the copyright issue, filmmakers rarely show complete singalongs of "Happy Birthday" in films, either substituting the public-domain "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow
" or avoiding the song entirely. Before the song was copyrighted it was used freely, as in Bosko's Party, a Warner Brothers cartoon of 1932, where a chorus of animals sings it twice through. The entire song is performed in tribute to the title character of Batman Begins
, a Warner Brothers film.
In the 1987 documentary Eyes on the Prize
about the US Civil Rights Movement
, there was a birthday party scene in which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's discouragement began to lift. After its initial release, the film was unavailable for sale or broadcast for many years because of the cost of clearing many copyrights, of which "Happy Birthday to You" was one. Grants in 2005 for copyright clearances have allowed PBS
to rebroadcast the film as recently as February 2008.
Birthday
A birthday is a day or anniversary where a person celebrates his or her date of birth. Birthdays are celebrated in numerous cultures, often with a gift, party or rite of passage. Although the major religions celebrate the birth of their founders , Christmas – which is celebrated widely by...
. According to the 1998 Guinness Book of World Records, "Happy Birthday to You" is the most recognized song in the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, followed by "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow
For He's a Jolly Good Fellow
"For He's A Jolly Good Fellow" is a song which is sung to congratulate a person on a significant event, such as, a promotion, a birthday, the birth of a child, or the winning of a championship sporting event. The melody originates from that of the French song "Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre...
." The song's base lyrics have been translated into at least 18 languages., p. 17
The melody of "Happy Birthday to You" comes from the song "Good Morning to All", which was written and composed by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
siblings Patty Hill
Patty Hill
Patty Smith Hill is perhaps best known for co-writing the tune which became popular as Happy Birthday to You. She was an American nursery school, kindergarten teacher, and key founder of the National Association Nursery Education which now exists as the National Association For the Education of...
and Mildred J. Hill
Mildred J. Hill
Mildred J. Hill was an American songwriter and musicologist, who composed the melody for "Good Morning to All", later used as the melody for "Happy Birthday to You".-Biography:...
in 1893. Patty was a kindergarten principal in Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, developing various teaching methods at what is now the Little Loomhouse
Little Loomhouse
The Little Loomhouse is a place on the National Register of Historic Places in the Kenwood Hill neighborhood on the south side of Louisville, Kentucky. It consists of three log cabins from the nineteenth century Victorian Era: Esta Cabin, Tophouse, and Wisteria Cabin. It not only displays weavings,...
; Mildred was a pianist and composer., p. 7 The sisters created "Good Morning to All" as a song that would be easy to be sung by young children., p. 14
The combination of melody and lyrics in "Happy Birthday to You" first appeared in print in 1912, and probably existed even earlier., pp. 31–32 None of these early appearances included credits or copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
notices. The Summy Company registered for copyright in 1935, crediting authors Preston Ware Orem
Preston Ware Orem
Preston Ware Orem was an American composer, pianist, and writer on music. He is frequently grouped with other composers as part of the Indianist movement in American music....
and Mrs. R.R. Forman. In 1990, Warner Chappell
Warner/Chappell Music
Warner/Chappell Music, Inc. is an American music publishing company, and a division of the Warner Music Group. The company traces its origins back to 1811 and the founding of Chappell & Company, a music publishing company and instrument shop on London’s Bond Street that, in 1929, began a rapid...
purchased the company owning the copyright for $15 million, with the value of "Happy Birthday" estimated at $5 million. Based on the 1935 copyright registration, Warner claims that the United States copyright will not expire until 2030, and that unauthorized public performances of the song are technically illegal unless royalties are paid to it. In one specific instance on February 2010, these royalties were said to amount to $700. In the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, the copyright of the song will expire on December 31, 2016. The actual American copyright status of "Happy Birthday to You" began to draw more attention with the passage of the Copyright Term Extension Act
Copyright Term Extension Act
The Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 extended copyright terms in the United States by 20 years. Since the Copyright Act of 1976, copyright would last for the life of the author plus 50 years, or 75 years for a work of corporate authorship...
in 1998. When the U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
upheld the Act in Eldred v. Ashcroft
Eldred v. Ashcroft
Eldred v. Ashcroft, was a court case in the United States challenging the constitutionality of the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act...
in 2003, Associate Justice
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States...
Stephen Breyer
Stephen Breyer
Stephen Gerald Breyer is an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, and known for his pragmatic approach to constitutional law, Breyer is generally associated with the more liberal side of the Court....
specifically mentioned "Happy Birthday to You" in his dissenting opinion. An American law professor who heavily researched the song has expressed strong doubts that it is still under copyright.
"Good Morning to All"
- Good morning to you,
- Good morning to you,
- Good morning, dear children,
- Good morning to all.
(Lyrics by Patty Smith Hill.)
"Happy Birthday to You"
Structurally, the text of the song consists of four lines, three of which are identical. Each of the three identical lines is precisely the title of the song: "Happy birthday to you!". The other line is "Happy birthday, dear _____," where the blank "_____" is replaced by the name of the person whose birthday is being celebrated, and serves to address the song to that person. For example, "Happy Birthday, dear David."Traditions
It is often the tradition that at a birthday party, the song "Happy Birthday to You" is sung with the birthday person seated in front of a table where there is a birthday cakeBirthday cake
The birthday cake has been an integral part of the birthday celebrations in Western cultures since the middle of the 19th century. Certain rituals and traditions, such as singing of birthday songs, associated with birthday cakes are common to many Western cultures. The Western tradition of adding...
with candles that have just been lit, with the other guests gathered around. The number of candles is often the same as the age of the birthday person. After the song is sung (usually just once), sometimes party guests will add phrase like "And many happy returns!" or "And many more!" expressing the hope that the birthday person will enjoy a long life. The birthday person is asked to make a wish ("Make a wish!") -- which is done silently—and then blow out the candles. Traditionally, the blowing out of the candles is felt to signify that the wish will come true. Once the candles have been blown out, people often will applaud, after which the first piece of the cake may be served to the birthday person. Often, after the cake has been eaten, each guest gives a gift, usually wrapped in festive paper decorated with pictures of the birthday person's life, to the birthday person. Often the birthday person will then open the gifts, revealing their contents to all. That usually concludes the ritual aspect of a birthday party, which then proceeds much like any other party, but with the birthday person being treated as the guest of honor.
History of the song
The origins of "Happy Birthday To You" date back to the mid-nineteenth century, when two sisters, Patty and Mildred J. Hill, introduced the song "Good Morning to All" to Patty's kindergartenKindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
class in Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
. In 1893, they published the tune in their songbook Song Stories for the Kindergarten. However, many believe that the Hill sisters most likely copied the tune and lyrical idea from other popular and substantially similar nineteenth-century songs that predated theirs, including Horace Waters' "Happy Greetings to All", "Good Night to You All" also from 1858, "A Happy New Year to All" from 1875, and "A Happy Greeting to All", published 1885.
The Hill Sisters' students enjoyed their teachers' version of "Good Morning To All" so much that they began spontaneously singing it at birthday parties, changing the lyrics to "Happy Birthday". Children's Praise and Worship, edited by Andrew Byers, Bessie L. Byrum and Anna E. Koglin, published the song in 1918. In 1924, Robert Coleman included "Good Morning to All" in a songbook with the birthday lyrics as a second verse. Coleman also published "Happy Birthday" in The American Hymnal in 1933.
In 1935, "Happy Birthday to You" was copyrighted
Copyright registration
The purpose of copyright registration is to place on record a verifiable account of the date and content of the work in question, so that in the event of a legal claim, or case of infringement or plagiarism, the copyright owner can produce a copy of the work from an official government...
as a work for hire
Work for hire
A work made for hire is an exception to the general rule that the person who actually creates a work is the legally recognized author of that work...
by Preston Ware Orem
Preston Ware Orem
Preston Ware Orem was an American composer, pianist, and writer on music. He is frequently grouped with other composers as part of the Indianist movement in American music....
for the Summy Company, the publisher of "Good Morning to All". A new company, Birch Tree Group Limited, was formed to protect and enforce the song's copyright. In 1998, the rights to "Happy Birthday to You" and its assets were sold to The Time-Warner Corporation. In March 2004, Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...
was sold to a group of investors led by Edgar Bronfman Jr. The company continues to insist that one cannot sing the "Happy Birthday to You" lyrics for profit without paying royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
: in 2008, Warner collected about $5000 per day ($2 million per year) in royalties for the song., pp. 4,68 This includes 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 friends of whoever is performing the song. For this reason, most restaurants or other public party venues will not allow their employees to perform the song in public, instead opting for other original songs or cheers in honor of the birthday celebrant.
Except for the splitting of the first note in the melody "Good Morning to All" to accommodate the two syllables in the word "happy", "Happy Birthday to You" and "Good Morning to All" are melodically identical. Precedent (regarding works derived from public domain material, and cases comparing two similar musical works) seems to suggest that the melody used in "Happy Birthday to You" would not merit additional copyright status for one split note. Whether or not changing the words "good morning" to "happy birthday" should be covered by copyright is a different matter. The words "good morning" were replaced with "happy birthday" by others than the authors of "Good Morning to All". Regardless of the fact that "Happy Birthday to You" infringed upon "Good Morning to All", there is one theory that because the "Happy Birthday to You" variation was not written by the Hills, and it was published without notice of copyright under the Copyright Act of 1909
Copyright Act of 1909
The Copyright Act of 1909 was a landmark statute in United States statutory copyright law. It became Public Law number 60-349 on March 4, 1909 by the 60th United States Congress, and it went into effect on July 1, 1909...
, the 1935 registration is invalid.
Professor Robert Brauneis cited problems with the song's authorship and the notice and renewal of the copyright, and concluded "It is almost certainly no longer under copyright." Many question the validity of the current copyright, as the melody of the song was most likely borrowed from other popular songs of the time, and the lyrics were improvised by a group of five- and six-year-old children who never received any compensation.
In the EU and other countries in which copyright lasts for the life of the author(s) plus 70 years, the copyright will expire after December 31, 2016, as Patty Hill died in 1946 while in the United States, the song is currently set to pass in to the public domain in 2030.
Royalty amounts sought
One of the most famous performances of "Happy Birthday to You" was Marilyn MonroeMarilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
's rendition
Happy Birthday, Mr. President
"Happy Birthday, Mr. President" is a song sung by actress and singer Marilyn Monroe on Saturday, May 19, 1962, for President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, at a celebration of his forty-fifth birthday, ten days before the actual day of his 45th birthday . Sung in a sultry voice, Monroe...
to U.S. President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
in May 1962.
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
paid the copyright holder U.S. $5,000 to use the song in the birthday scene of the defunct Epcot
Epcot
Epcot is a theme park in the Walt Disney World Resort, located near Orlando, Florida. The park is dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, namely international culture and technological innovation. The second park built at the resort, it opened on October 1, 1982 and was initially named...
attraction Horizons
Horizons (Epcot attraction)
Horizons was the name of a dark ride attraction at Epcot , a theme park at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida USA. Located on the eastern side of the "Future World" section of Epcot, the attraction used Disney's Omnimover conveyance system, which took guests past show scenes depicting...
.
The documentary film The Corporation states that Warner/Chappell charges up to U.S. $10,000 for the song to appear in a film. Because of the copyright issue, filmmakers rarely show complete singalongs of "Happy Birthday" in films, either substituting the public-domain "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow
For He's a Jolly Good Fellow
"For He's A Jolly Good Fellow" is a song which is sung to congratulate a person on a significant event, such as, a promotion, a birthday, the birth of a child, or the winning of a championship sporting event. The melody originates from that of the French song "Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre...
" or avoiding the song entirely. Before the song was copyrighted it was used freely, as in Bosko's Party, a Warner Brothers cartoon of 1932, where a chorus of animals sings it twice through. The entire song is performed in tribute to the title character of Batman Begins
Batman Begins
Batman Begins is a 2005 American superhero action film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, directed by Christopher Nolan. It stars Christian Bale as Batman, along with Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Ken Watanabe, Tom Wilkinson,...
, a Warner Brothers film.
In the 1987 documentary Eyes on the Prize
Eyes on the Prize
Eyes on the Prize is a 14-hour documentary series about the African-American Civil Rights Movement. The series was produced in two-stages: Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years 1954–1964 consists of the first six episodes covering the time period between the Brown v. Board decision and...
about the US Civil Rights Movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
, there was a birthday party scene in which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's discouragement began to lift. After its initial release, the film was unavailable for sale or broadcast for many years because of the cost of clearing many copyrights, of which "Happy Birthday to You" was one. Grants in 2005 for copyright clearances have allowed PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
to rebroadcast the film as recently as February 2008.
External links
- "Copyright and the World's Most Popular Song" is a very thorough history and copyright analysis by Robert Brauneis, Associate Professor of Law at George Washington University Law School
- The research paper itself
- Appendices, Documents and Sound Recordings, material relating to the research
- The original edition of Song Stories For The Kindergarten in PDF (public domain). It contains the song "Good morning to you".
- The Happy Birthday Song and The Little Loomhouse