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.

My Song In The Night

What are your favorite folk hymns? I was delighted that the new Lutheran Service Book includes several. Notable are the following examples:

• 456 - Were You There - author unknown
• 543 - What Wondrous Love Is this - author unknown
• 686 - Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing by Robert Robinson
• 711 - Savior, like a Shepherd Lead Us - author unknown
• 728 - How Firm a Foundation - author unknown
• 744 - Amazing Grace by John Newton

There are others we love, I'm sure, that are not in LSB, that you love and sing to yourself. When leading worship I've always tried to chose hymns  based upon three principles:

1. Does the hymn reflect correct Biblical teaching? 
2. Can we sing it? 
3. And can we remember it?

So many times we've been in worship services where the tune is unfamiliar and the words strange. Many of us cannot read music and are not trained musicians, but we love to sing. Put us in that position and we sit there with a blank stare or even close the book. "What's the use?" we mutter.

How sad.

In reflecting upon Asaph's Psalm 77 today I came across his troubled plea, "Let me remember my song in the night" (Psalm 77:6). As he wrote, Asaph's life seemed to be nothing but night, gloom and trouble. God seemed deaf to his cries. His hand was weary, his soul discomforted. Unable to sleep he finally pleaded, "Let me remember my song in the night."

In that sense, I realize how critical it is to be able to remember and sing to yourself the strong and comforting hymns of corporate worship. Their message and the music that carries them are so important in those dark, dark nights in our lives. Asaph's prayer is not unfamiliar to many of us.

I went searching for a folk song, based upon Asaph's cry in the night. Here's one I found. Perhaps you will want to add it to your repertoire of songs to remember when those dark nights come. Listen to the link, a choral version. It speaks of affliction, deserts and night. Yet in the midst of those dark nights I can call to Jesus, my soul's delight and be comforted. Jesus is my Savior, my song in the night.    

MY SONG IN THE NIGHT
Southern Folk Hymn

O Jesus my Savior, my song in the night,
Come to us with Thy tender love,
my soul’s delight.
Unto Thee, O Lord, in affliction I call,
My comfort by day, and my song in the night.

O why should I wander, an alien from Thee,
Or cry in the desert Thy face to see?
My comfort and joy, my soul’s delight,
O Jesus my Savior, my song in the night.

My song in the night, my song in the night,
in the night, in the night, in the night.

O Jesus my Savior, my song in the night.
Come to us with Thy tender love,
my soul’s delight.
My comfort and joy, my soul’s delight,
O Jesus my Savior, my song in the night.

My song my song in the night,
in the night, my song
My comfort and joy, my soul’s delight.
O Jesus my savior, my song in the night,
in the night. My song in the night.

Formal and Informal Worship Music

My Lenten meditations upon the psalms today led me to Psalm 61 and King David's prayer, "Lead me to the rock that is higher than I" (Psalm 61:2). Blue Letter Bible has a link in its commentary on that Psalm to Erastus Johnson's 19th century hymn by that name. They indicate their links come from the Cyber Hymnal website. In exploring that website I came upon the familiar contemporary hymn writer, John Ylvisaker and his comments about the two streams of congregational music. 

Ylvisaker's comments upon the tensions in congregations about music are quite instructive. Here are a few snippets. I commend the entire article to your study. He distinguishes between the rather formal worship of the Temple in Jerusalem and the more informal, rhythmic, popular style of singing in the local synagogues. In the synagogues they used tambourines and guitar-like instruments. At the temple they used trumpets, large harps and "loud clashing cymbals," which would suggest a more classical performance oriented music.

When the Roman emperor Constantine was converted and Christianity became the religion of the known world, Christians began to experience the luxury of Temple worship again, Ylvisaker writes. "But unfortunately, the pendulum swung too far to that end and got stuck there. For over one thousand years (until Luther) worship music was the exclusive domain of monastic choirs, cantors and priests. To compensate for this, the Christians would create parallel feasts and celebrations with accompanying music of a more popular nature. This is the root of the carols, ballads, biblical songs and mystery plays. It gave the people a chance to participate even though they were excluded from the official worship of the church."

He continues, "It's only recently that we've been forced to decide between formal and informal, between orthodox and pietist, between contemporary and traditional. I don't think its ever been a legitimate demand on the worshiper. I, for one, can be nurtured by both streams. I need to have my mind stimulated by the performance tradition and I need to have my heart touched by full participation in the song tradition of the church."

After listing side by side summary outlines of both traditions, Ylvisaker concludes, "What one sees above is evidence of strongly contrasting styles of worship. But the most fascinating thing about it is that the same people are moving gracefully back and forth between them. The horrible decision of trying to determine which you are just isn't there. If you swing too far to the formal side, you end up in rationalism; if you swing too far to the informal side, you end up in emotionalism. Please note that Martin Luther was very critical of both of these extremes."