In 1934, Jessica (another of the Hill sisters and heir of Mildred’s estate) and Patty Hill assigned several works to Summy, which Warner/Chappell contends included “Happy Birthday” with the lyrics.
The first published version of the song with the lyrics appeared in 1911, and other published versions appeared in songbooks in the 1920s ( One example the filmmakers’ point to is a 1924 songbook called “Harvest Hymns,” which includes the Happy Birthday song). Throughout the course of the legal dispute, plaintiffs produced evidence that “Good Morning to All’s” melody had been changed to include the “Happy Birthday” lyrics as early as 1901. Patty Hill explained that the tune was quickly modified to fit a wide variety of circumstances, including “Good-bye to you,” “Happy journey to you,” “Happy vacation,” Happy New Year and, eventually, Happy Birthday. The sisters assigned the copyright for “Good Morning to All” to Summy in 1983 in exchange for a cut of the songbook’s royalties. Good Morning Dear Children (or teacher) , The tune that would ultimately become known to all of us as “Happy Birthday To You” began: Instead, “Good Morning to All” was meant to be sung by both the teacher and kindergarten students at the start of each day. The published work contained a song called “Good Morning to All,” which utilized the now-familiar melody, but did not contain the lyrics of the now-famous Happy Birthday song. Summy Company published a collection of these songs in 1893. The sisters created simple songs that were easy to teach to young children to help engage them in the activities and schedule of kindergarten. Deeper digging reveals that Patty Hill, a pioneer of early-education developmental education and kindergarten principal from Louisville KY, and her sister, Mildred, a pianist and composer, initially created the song in 1893. Out of curiosity, I searched Google for “who wrote happy birthday to you” and came up with a long list of articles on the topic, including a Wikipedia page specifically written on Happy Birthday To You. Berlin is a prolific song writer who is also know for many other popular songs that are still sung to this day, such as “White Christmas”, “There’s No Business Like Show Business”, and “God Bless America” to name just a few. Some believed that Russian Born, Jewish-American writer & composer Irving Berlin, composed the song in the early 1900s. So I just had to write about this and well, being the non-attorney that I am, I reached out to Brian Focarino, one of my favorite copyright and trademark guest contributors, to help me in writing the remainder of this piece. So I, all proud of my non-attorney self, proceeded to tell him that I knew why restaurants did not sing the Happy Birthday Song, “Because it’s protected by copyright!!” To which he simply replied, “Not any more!” Again, What? He then proceeded to tell me how the case has recently been brought to court with new evidence that the case had been overturned as there was new evidence brought to light that the song belonged in the public domain. This was my opportunity to impress my friend with my knowledge. The restaurant staff came through preparing to celebrate the birthday of a patron with their own special chant and ride on saddle. This weekend, I was having dinner at the Texas Roadhouse with a friend of ours who happens to also be an attorney and law professor. It is just a song somebody made up and has passed on and on and on right? Wrong! Do you know why you almost never hear restaurant staff singing the Happy Birthday song? Because it’s protected by copyright.” What? We have been singing the Happy Birthday song our entire lives. Gene looked at me and said, “That’s surprising.
Many years ago, Gene and I were having dinner at a local family-owned restaurant when the restaurant staff came through the restaurant clapping and singing the Happy Birthday song. Yes, there have been different variations to the song over the years, such as, “You smell like a Monkey, and you look like one too!” Where did that come from anyway? No Clue! But it is, after all, the most recognized song in the English language according to the 1998 Guinness Book of World Records. For as long as I can remember, whenever we celebrated a birthday, we inevitably would gather around the birthday boy or girl and sing “Happy Birthday To You.” And although I may not know you personally, I can pretty much bet that you know exactly which Happy Birthday song I am referring to.
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