The History of 'Happy Birthday to You' Song

The History of "Happy Birthday to You"

"Happy Birthday" had its origins in 1893, when Mildred Hill, a kindergarten teacher in Louisville, Kentucky, put together a simple little tune. Whether she composed it entirely out of her head, or was influenced by other "folk song" fragments, is not clear. But when her younger sister Patty Hill, also a teacher, added words, the groundwork was laid for a very pleasing song.

From Greeting to Celebration

They called it "Good Morning to All":

• Good morning to you,
• Good morning to you.
• Good morning, dear children,
• Good morning to all.

"Good Morning to All" was initially intended, and used, as a welcoming song to be sung by the teacher to the class each morning. But when it was published later in 1893, in a book of songs for kindergartens, it proved to be popular in reverse – children sang it to their teachers, rather than the other way around, and the word "children" was popularly replaced by "teacher".

The Song's Evolution

So the song gently morphed into "Good Morning to You". In this form, young children across the United States began to sing the song. The slow development from "Good Morning" to "Happy Birthday" seems to have come from children themselves, with encouragement from Patty Hill, who helped create the new lyric when children liked the song enough to want to sing it at parties.

Publication and Popularity

In 1924, "Good Morning to All," with "Happy Birthday to You" printed as an optional second verse, was published. By then, radio was gaining attention and movies were beginning to take hold. The "Happy Birthday" words supplanted the earlier version, and in 1931 the song appeared in the Broadway show Band Wagon, then became a "singing telegram" for Western Union in 1933, and surfaced again in Irving Berlin's show As Thousands Cheer in 1934.

Securing the Copyright

The third Hill sister, Jessica, believing that Patty and Mildred should have the credit for the now very popular song, and some profit from it, went into battle. Later in 1934 she was able to establish legal copyright to her sisters for their song, and it was officially published in 1935 as "Happy Birthday". Since then, two legal changes in America's copyright system have made "Happy Birthday" copyright until 2030.

Final Recognition

Fortunately, this does not rule out its being sung privately, as it is at countless parties. It has been named in the Guinness Book of Records as one of the three most-sung songs in the English language, along with "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" and "Auld Lang Syne".