People from around the world whose language is not English are singing the song “Happy Birthday To You” even when they do not understand the lyrics. If one can believe the Ginis World Book of Records of 1998, this is the most popular song in English and many other non- Anglaic speaking areas, since it has been translated into at least 28 languages.
The melody of the song “Happy Birthday To You” comes from the song “Good Morning to All”, which is traditionally attributed to Americans, sisters Pety and Mildred Hill.
Pety was the director of the kindergarten and she wrote the text, while Mildred worked as a music teacher and composer, so she created this melody. Sisters used this song, which was created in 1893 for pedagogical purposes.
As a music teacher’s greetings to the children, the song was published in 1896 in the “Songs for kindergarten”. The combination of this melody, and the text as a birthday card, first appeared in the press in 1912, after which it began to planetary to conquer the world.
The song is copyrighted till 2030Â
In 1988, the music company Warner / Chappell Music bought copyright for this song for an incredible $25 million. However, recently by the Federal Court in Los Angeles, this company no longer holds the copyright for the song Happy Birthday, nor has it ever had the right to do so.
In September 2015, the Federal Court ruled that the copyrights of 1935, which belonged to Warner / Chappell Music, cover only a specific piano arrangement, but not the text. The judge did not find evidence that Hil’s sisters were the author of this popular text.
Although the aforementioned music company certainly did not send lawyers to birthday parties around the world, it demanded monetary compensation every time the song was used in commercials, films, or within any profitable project. Thanks to the usage of the song, the company earned about $ 2 million annually!
The most famous performance of this song is “Variations” by Peter Heydrich. He made 14 variations on this theme, or arranged them in the style of some of the great musicians of music – Mozart, Bach, Haydn, Betoven, Brams, Dvorak …
To recall this unavoidable children’s mega-hit, we chose VIDEO attachments whose public performance of the song “Happy Birthday To You” is not subject to copyright.
