"If You're Happy and You Know It" is a popular repetitive

Repetitive song

Repetitive songs are songs containing a large proportion of repeated words or phrases. Simple repetitive songs are common in many cultures as widely spread as the Caribbean, Southern India and Finland. The best-known examples of such songs are probably children's songs...

 children's song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

, stemming from an old Latvian folk song. The song is supposed to belong to the public domain, although many of the different versions of the song are still protected by copyright law. Music to this song coincides with the music of the song "Molodejnaya" written by Isaak Dunayevsky

Isaak Dunayevsky

Isaak Osipovich Dunayevsky was the biggest Soviet film composer and conductor of the 1930s and 1940s, who achieved huge success in music for operetta and film comedies, frequently working with the film director Grigori Aleksandrov...

 for the 1937-1938 Soviet film Volga-Volga

Volga-Volga

Volga-Volga is a Soviet comedy directed by Grigori Aleksandrov, released on April 24, 1938. It centres around a group of amateur performers on their way to Moscow to perform in a talent contest called the Moscow Musical Olympiad. Most of the action takes place on a steamboat travelling on the...

. Another version was written by songwriter Alfred B. Smith (1916–2001). It has, like many familiar childhood cantations, been altered in various ways over the years for various uses.

The original song as it is known to many people begins:

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.

If you're happy and you know it,

And you really want to show it,

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.

A common variation of the fourth line is "Then your face will surely show it."

The song usually proceeds with other verses that replace "clap your hands" with alternate phrases such as "stomp your feet."

OTHER VARIATIONS

If you're happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it

If you're happy and you know it, then you really ought to show it

shout "Hurray!"

say "Amen"

slap your legs

turn around

snap your fingers

slap your knees

nod your head

tap your toe

honk your nose

stomp your feet

clap your nose

Other versions

Numerous variations of the song have been recorded and performed. Some notable versions include:

• In the TV show The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
  The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
  The Suite Life of Zack & Cody is an American sitcom created by Danny Kallis and Jim Geoghan. The series premiered on Disney Channel on March 18, 2005 with 4 million viewers, making it the most successful premiere for Disney Channel in 2005. It was one of their first five shows available on the...
  
  the English and Japanese versions were sung in the Tipton Hotel's entertainment show for adults. is the Japanese version of this song written by Rihito Kimura. A version of it can be seen in the film The 40-Year-Old Virgin
  The 40-Year-Old Virgin
  The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a 2005 American buddy comedy film about a middle-aged man's journey to finally have sex. The film was written and directed by Judd Apatow and co-written by its lead star, Steve Carell, though the film itself features a great deal of improvised dialogue...
  
  .
• For years, Cal Worthington
  Cal Worthington
  Calvin Coolidge "Cal" Worthington is a well-known car dealer throughout the West Coast of the United States. He is best known for his unique radio and television advertisements for the Worthington Dealership Group. He was usually joined by "his dog Spot", except that "Spot" was never a dog...
  
   has used a variation of the tune as the advertising jingle
  Jingle
  A jingle is a short tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. The jingle contains one or more hooks and lyrics that explicitly promote the product being advertised, usually through the use of one or more advertising slogans. Ad buyers use jingles in radio and television...
  
   for his Worthington automobile dealerships in the United States.
• The European resorts of Centerparcs use the tune in their TV adds promoting holiday parcs.
• Raffi
  Raffi (musician)
  Raffi Cavoukian, CM, OBC , better known by his stage name Raffi, is a Canadian-Armenian singer-songwriter, author, essayist and lecturer...
  
   created new lyrics for this song on his Let's Play
  Let's Play (Raffi album)
  Let's Play! is a music album by popular children's entertainer Raffi, released in 2002, and is Raffi Cavoukian's first album ever released in the 2000s.-Track listing:#" Let's Play"#" Swing"#" Yellow Submarine"#" Eensy Weensy Spider"...
  
   album including "If You're Bananas and You Know it, Let it Ring" and "If You're Beautiful and You Know It, Shout Hooray".
• On the children's television show Barney & Friends
  Barney & Friends
  Barney and Friends, also referred to by HiT Entertainment as Barney the Friendly Dinosaur, is an independent children's television show produced in the United States, aimed at children from ages 1-8...
  
  , the tune was used for the song "Mix a Color." In addition, the original song is commonly sung on the show.
• The PBS show "The Kidsongs Television Show" featured the song on the episode "Let's Work Together". Kidsongs
  Kidsongs
  Kidsongs is an American award-winning children's media franchise which includes Kidsongs Music Video Stories on DVD and video, The Kidsongs TV Show, CDs of favorite children’s songs, song books, sheet music, toys and an ecommerce website...
  
   recorded a version for both TV, home video market and a children's music CD.
• It was referenced in the song "Dance with me
  Dance with Me (112 song)
  "Dance with Me" was the third and final single released from 112's 2001 album, Part III. The released version features Rap artist, Beanie Sigel and is featured on the Bad Boy album, We Invented the Remix...
  
  " (2001) by the group 112 (band)
  112 (band)
  112 is an American R&B quartet from Atlanta, Georgia. Formerly artists on Diddy's Bad Boy Records, the group signed to the Def Soul roster in 2002. They had great success in the late 1990s and early 2000s with hits such as "Only You", "Anywhere" and "Peaches & Cream"...
  
  , only changing the word "happy" with "sexy".

External links

• The free score on www.traditional-songs.com. English version.
• The free score on www.traditional-songs.com. German version.
• The free score on www.traditional-songs.com. French version.