The History Of The Happy Birthday Song

Sometimes some of us older folks become quite discouraged. Who wants to celebrate another birthday? We prefer instead to join sour old Solomon as he says,

A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth. -Ecc 7:1 ESV

I humbly suggest that if this is your controlling attitude, you miss many opportunities to give thanks to our Lord for His goodness. Birthday celebrations give us one such. Our birthday celebrations can and should include songs of praise and thanks to the One who has granted another year filled with His mercy, love and blessings.


By the way, what do you know about the well known happy birthday song? Here are some Happy Birthday Fun Facts. The story begins at the end of the 19th century. Mildred J. Hill and Patty Smith Hill were kindergarten and Sunday-school teachers. One day, while Mildred was teaching at the Louisville Experimental Kindergarten School where her sister was the principal, she came up with a modest melody we now know as "Happy Birthday." Sister Patty added some simple lyrics to complete the creation of a greeting song for teachers to use in welcoming students to class.

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

This catchy little tune was first published in 1893 in a songbook, Song Stories for the Kindergaten. Ultimately it proved more popular as a song for the children to sing to their teachers with the final line becoming "Good morning to you."

Snopes reports that nobody knows who wrote the words to "Happy Birthday to you." The lyrics appeared in a 1924 songbook edited by one Robert H. Coleman. Radio broadcasts and sound films popularized it. It appeared in a 1931 Broadway musical The Band Wagon. That musical introduced the song "Dancing in the Dark" and inspired two films. In 1933 the "Happy Birthday To You" song also became Western Union's first singing telegram. Irving Berlin's musical As Thousands Cheer, also in 1933, featured the song.

Neither Western Union nor the musicals compensated the Hill sisters for their song. So Jessica Hill, a third Hill sister who administered the copyright to "Good Morning To All," filed suit in 1934. In court she was able to demonstrate the undeniable similarities between "Good Morning To All" and "Happy Birthday To You." So she secured a copyright for "Happy Birthday To You" in 1935. The copyright was renewed in 1963.  In 1988, Birch Tree Group, Ltd. sold the rights of the song to Time Warner Communications, along with all other assets, for an estimated $25 million. It has been incorporated into millions of music boxes, watches, musical greeting cards and other tuneful products. Forbes magazine reports that the song brings in about $2 million in licensing revenues each year.

The next time you sing the Happy Birthday song, remember where it came from and also remember to give thanks for the millions of blessings that come from our Creator and Lord year after year.