It was written by a couple of American sisters and published in (I
think) the 1890s with the text, "Good morning to you," etc. So the
melody and those words are public domain.
Ooh, that's news to me. Can anyone point me to an actual copy of the 1890s
version (or any pre-1923 version). It's one thing to say something is
public domain because you know as historical fact when it was written. It's
another to actually have a public domain copy in front of you.
mdl
Ahem. I keep waiting for this thread to die, but since it won't here
is the straight poop, quoted from James J. Fuld's _The Book of World
Famous Music_ wh. IMO ought to be on every musician's bookshelf:
Happy Birthday to You. Copyright 1935, renewed 1963, Summy-Birchard
Company, Evanston, IL.
The melody was originally published as _Good Morning to All_ in
Mildred J. Hill and Patty S. Hill, _Song Stories for the
Kindergarten_ (Chicago, 1893), p. 3. On the title page, the music in
the book is credited to Mildred J. Hill. the copyright copy was
deposited at the Library of Congress on Oct. 16, 1893; copies also at
BPL, BR, NYPL, SS and JF.
Apparently w.o authorization, the words and music of _Happy Birthday
to You_ were included in _Harvest Hymns_, compiled and edited by
Robert H. Coleman, and published by him in Dallas, TX, on March 4,
1924 [copyright records, LC]. Number 218, entitled _Good Morning to
You!_, has _Happy Birthday to You_ as the second stanza. There is no
credit for authorship of words or music or special copyright notice.
LC(CDC) and JF. Coleman included this song in at least three other
collections published by him in 1930-1933; LC and NYPL.
_Happy Birthday to You_ was sung w.o authorization in the musical
show _As Thousands Cheer_, and a lawsuit relating thereto was
reported in _The New York Times_, Aug. 15, 1934, p. 19, col. 6.
(_Jessica M. Hill vs. Sam H. Harris et al._, United States District
Court, Southern District of New York, New York, NY, File no. E78-350).
The first authorized publication of _Happy Birthday_, w. credit to
Mildred J. Hill and Patty S. Hill, was as a march w.o words, by
Clayton F. Summy Co., Chicago, on Dec. 27, 1934 [copyright records,
LC]; no first edition has ever been found, but a microfilm at the
publisher shows this arrangement has p.n. 3022. After 3 other piano
arrangements of the march, also w.o words, two arrangements, w. words
by the same persons, retitled _Happy Birthday to You_, were published
by the same concern on Dec. 6, 1935. [copyright records, LC] One is
octavo and has a collective title front cover, entitled _Union School
Chorus Music._ This song is no. 96, the last of 16 titles on the
front cover. The price is 8 cents. p. [2] is blank, m. on p. [3].
p.n. 3076. Back cover adv. _Glad..-Cuckoo.._ LC(CDC). No first
edition of the other has been found; it was probably a piano-vocal
arrangement with p.n. 3075 (early edition at JF).
_Happy Birthday to You_ is probably the most frequently sung music,
at least in this country. Mildred J. Hill, a church organist, concert
pianist, composer and authority on Negro spirituals, was born in
Louisville KY in 1859 and died in Chicago in 1916 (ASCAP). Dr. Patty
Smith Hill was born in Louisville KY in 1868, wrote words for the
1893 book while she was Principal of the Louisville Kindergarten
Training School, became Professor Emeritus of Education at Columbia
University, and died in NYC in 1946. [_The New Yorker_, March 8,
1941, p. 12; _ULS_, p. 2006. This article also contains additional
general material on the song, as does Sigmund Spaeth, "The Three Top
songs of all Time," in _Variety_, Jan. 10, 1962, p. 184.] [Also
Margot Gayle, "The Birthday Song," in _The American Family_, New York
NY, Jan. 1950, p. 10; NYPL.] [The words of _Happy Birthday to You_
were probably written by Patty Hill about 1893 as variatnt words to
be sung on a child's birthday at the demonstration kindergarten, of
wh. Patty Hill ws the Principal, run by the Louisville, KY,
Kindergarten Training School. The teachers in training, and the
children, apparently spread the song.]
The song, both as _Good Morning to All_ and as _Happy Birthday to
You_, bears a similarity to _A Happy New Year_ included in _The Story
of the Jubilee Singers_ (London, 1875), p. 213, at BM(CDC) and JF,
and a considerable similarity to _Happy Greeting to All_ included in
_The Anniversary & Sunday School Music Book No. 1_ (New York NY
1858), p. 17, at BR. _Happy Birthday_ also bears a similarity to
_Good Night to You All_ in Asa Fitz, _The Exercise Song Book_
(Boston, 1858), p. 28, at BPL and JF.
End of citation.
Any questions?
Translations of library sigla upon request.
--
Andrew Stiller
Kallisti Music Press
http://home.netcom.com/~kallisti/
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