Besides, the lyrics require that “it’s my birthday too, yeah.”īut, if you are looking at that 2030 date and fearing your little toddler will never legally hear the song without bankrolling Warner until he turns 13, we have good news. Besides, belting out the Beatles’ “You Say It’s Your Birthday” would be jarring for old Aunt Addie. I suppose the world could have given up and found another song to sing, but of course anything new would also be copyrighted.
The royalties nearly broke a civil rights documentary titled “Eyes On the Prize” when it showed people singing Happy Birthday to Martin Luther King Jr.įor a while, Warner Brothers was pulling in $2 million a year just so people could carry on a birthday tradition. Now owning the song, they declared their copyright on it until 2030.Īccording to an article in the “All That’s Interesting” website, things would get pretty expensive for anyone who wanted stand on a stage and belt out “Happy Birthday.” Disney, the article declares, had to pay $5,000 to use the song in a parade. The Summy Company eventually became Birch Tree Ltd., and in 1963 Warner Music bought Birch Tree for a cool $25 million. Summy Company.Īccording to the copyright, she and Mildred and Patty would now collect royalties from anyone who sang the song for profit until 1991. She won, and published the piece through the Clayton F. And so, in 1935, she filed a lawsuit to get the song copyrighted. Everyone was using their song and they weren’t making a penny. It wasn’t long before the ladies had the genius to use the same tune to celebrate students’ birthdays, changing the words to “Happy Birthday to you.”įor a while anyone was allowed to sing this little ditty, but as its popularity grew, a third sister named Jessica Hill grew morose. Jingle Bell Rock wasn’t available yet, so her sister sat down at the piano and together they composed a piece they called “Good Morning To You.” The lyrics? Mildred was a kindergarten teacher in 1893 and she wanted a maddening and simplistic song for her students to sing. There is contention about who wrote the piece, but most people credit sisters Mildred and Patty Hill. Numbers 2, 3 and 4? Frozen’s “Let it Go,” Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off,” and, oddly enough, Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler.” According to a Men’s Health article from 2015, it was the most-Googled song on earth in January of that year. It was the Guinness Book of World Records that declared this masterpiece of simplicity (the lyrics contain only 12 different words) to be the world’s most popular song.
That song is “Happy Birthday To You,” and, no, neither Michael Jackson nor Paul McCartney ever owned it, despite what the Gospel of Facebook has told you. Until three years ago that wasn’t the case.
#Happy birthday song for adults free#
You’ll be happy to know you can now sing the world’s most popular song, free of charge.
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