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The melody of "Happy Birthday to You" was written by American sisters Patty and Mildred Hill in 1893 when they were school teachers in Louisville, Kentucky. The verse was originally intended as a classroom greeting entitled "Good Morning to All". The lyrics were copyrighted in 1935, 11 years before Patty's death, and the ownership has swapped hands in multi-million dollar deals ever since; the copyright is currently owned by Time Warner (a subsidiary of which bought the rights in 1988) and is scheduled to expire in 2030. It is not completely certain who wrote the lyrics to "Happy Birthday to You."
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, "Happy Birthday to You" is among the top three most popular songs in the English language, along with " Auld Lang Syne" and " For He's a Jolly Good Fellow ."
One of the most famous performances of "Happy Birthday to You" was Marilyn Monroe's rendition to U.S. President John F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald Kennedy ( May 29, 1917 November 22, 1963), often referred to as Jack Kennedy or JFK was the 35th ( 1961 1963) President of the United States. He was the youngest ever to be elected president and the youngest president ever to die in office in May 1962Events January January 1 Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand January 3 Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro January 4 New York City introduces a train that operates without a crew on-board January 8 Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is e.
Many alternate versions exist, most commonly sung as a joke, for example:
Some versions of the song add the line "And many more" as the final lyric.
There is a 1935 copyright registration for "Happy Birthday to You," but "Good Morning to All" was published in 1893 and is public domainThe public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. Proprietary interest is typically represented by a cop by U.S. statute. One cannot use the "Happy Birthday to You" lyrics for profit without paying royalties. Except for the splitting of the first note in the melody "Good Morning to All" to accommodate the two syllables in the word happy, melodically "Happy Birthday to You" and "Good Morning to All" are identical.
"Good Morning to All" is printed in Song Stories for the Kindergarten, published 1893 (revised edition published 1896). It credited Patty Hill for the lyrics and Mildred Hill for the music.
Neither the words nor the music of "Good Morning to All" are copyrighted under U. S. federal statute.
In 1924Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s Years: 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 See also 1924 in aviation 1924 in film 1924 in literature 1924 in mu, 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. Children's Praise and Worship, edited by Andrew Byers, Bessie L. Byrum and Anna E. Koglin, published the song in 1928.
Later the "Happy Birthday to You" lyrics combined with the Hills' published melody showed up on stage. The Broadway musical The Band WagonThe Band Wagon is a 1953 musical comedy film which tells the story of an aging musical star who wants to star in a Broadway play that will restart his career. But the play's director wants to make it a pretentious retelling of Faust and brings in a prima used "Happy Birthday to You" in 1931. The Hill family won a 1934 law suit granting them the 1935 copyright for "Happy Birthday to You," which does not affect today's public domain status of "Good Morning to All."
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 legal protection for one split note.
Whether or not changing the words "good morning" to "happy birthday" should be protected by copyright is a different matter. The words "good morning" were substituted with "happy birthday" by others than the authors of "Good Morning to All."
An interesting earlier songbook is Golden Book of Favorite Songs (Chicago, 1915). It includes the song "Good Morning to All" printed with the alternate title: "Happy Birthday to You." However, the "Happy Birthday to You" lyrics are not actually printed along the staff.
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 authored by the Hills, and it was published without notice of copyright under the 1909 U. S. copyright act, that the 1935 registration is invalid. (Please note: Wikipedia does not give legal advice. )