The Origins of the Happy Birthday Song
The Happy Birthday song is known by many throughout the world. It is sung by grown-ups and children alike to help celebrate the day in which a person was born. Life is full of trials and tribulations, so to take the time to celebrate having made it another year is very important to many people, in a sense, it’s like an annual milestone celebrating another year of life. Originally the Happy Birthday song was titled ‘Good Morning to you’. The lyrics were different, but the tune remained largely the same. This version of the song was co-composed by a teacher named Mildred Hill who was born in 1859. However, it wasn’t until 1911 that the lyrics were altered to be about birthdays.
By 1924 the song was a widely recognized melody because by that point it was sung in primary schools for nearly 30 years.
Currently the Happy Birthday song is public domain, however, that was not always the case. The popular song was the first copywrite secured in 1934 by Jessica Hill, with the copy-written version being published in the following year by the Clayton F company. Initially, if the song was sung for profit the Hills had rights for it until 1991, later this would be extended until 2030. In 1988 ownership of the song went to Warner Music.
In 2010 a dispute about ownership of the Happy Birthday song started to come into question and the issue was taken to court 3 years later. The dispute continued for two years. Because the song appeared in a songbook in 1922 without and copyright information attached, the lawyers argued that this indicated the song was in the public domain long before Warner Music got hold of it. In 2015, it was ruled that the popular birthday song is no longer under copyright, which means it is royalty free and can be used in both nonprofit and for-profit endeavors.