Singing Happy Birthday is Risky Business – $10,000 Worth!

It’s birthday week at the Lindau’s. From the 11^th to the 20th we will celebrate my sister’s, son’s, mother-in-law’s and husband’s special day. Whew! There will be many presents purchased, cakes baked and photographs taken. We are going to celebrate!

Where in the heck did birthday cakes come from anyway? After FSOG (five seconds on Google), I had my answer. Thank you Wikipedia. It was no big surprise. Germany baked the first celebratory cakes in the middle-ages. I wonder if they were German Chocolate or Black Forest. All I know is that they were probably dang tasty judging by the German bakeries I have had the pleasure of knowing intimately.

What about birthday candles? The Greeks made honey cakes and decorated them with candles as an offering to Artemis, the goddess of the moon. Apparently the flame resembled the moon. What? Well maybe if I squint my eyes…

In Europe, it was believed that evil lurked on a child’s birthday and somehow candle lighting would ward off the devilish lurker. How creepy to have worry about that! I always worried about getting the kids to Laser Storm on time.

Wishes go back to ancient mythology with the lighting of fires to send prayers to the gods. The Irish believed that blowing candles out after making a wish sent it to the heavens on its curling smoky vapor. Not true. Just made that up since I’m Irish. There is no conclusive history about who started that tradition.

Here’s the mind exploder! The history of the Happy Birthday song. Early credits go to the Hill sister’s, Patty and Mildred in 1893 who published the song, Good Morning to All! This was a ripped off modified version from the original by Horace Waters’ Happy Greetings to All.

Preston Ware Oren and Mrs. R.R. Forman were credited with composing Happy Birthday to You when the Summy Corporation copyrighted the song in 1935. In 1990, the song was purchased from the company by Warner Chappel for $15 million! The copyright won’t expire until 2030.

Anyone profiting from the song without permission risks being sued.

Whoa! So not only do we have to be careful of using photos and music without permission, we can’t sing the Happy Birthday song without taking the chance of being slapped with copyright infringement! Wendy Williams from the show of the same name stated that it cost her $700 to have the song performed on an episode. Some have paid up to $10,000 to include the song in a film.

Now that I think about it, I rarely hear Happy Birthday sung in movies. The lame and copyright-free song, For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow is usually substituted and now I understand why!

Another look at the history was an eyebrow raiser. Warner Chappel Music is from THE TIME-WARNER. They have been receiving around $5000 dollars a DAY in royalties since ’98 amounting to $2 million a year! Who is paying for the use of the song? According to Wikipedia, “This includes use in film, television, radio, anywhere open to the public, or even among a group where a substantial number of those in attendance are not family or friends of whoever is performing the song.”

Restaurants don’t allow their employees to sing it to their patrons, but opt for other unprotected Happy Birthday tunes.

Even though the company was sold in 2004, it is still illegal for anyone to perform or sing the song publicly. This is WARNER MUSIC people! I wouldn’t risk it, although there are several YouTube videos with views in the millions.

I think that as long as you don’t pass around a hat for your amazing vocals and sing only to your friends and family, you my dear readers, can sing Happy Birthday without risk of prosecution.

Happy Birthday to You is the most recognized song worldwide. Other copyright laws exist outside of the US, so I still wouldn’t dance on the table while singing karaoke in Madrid.

I will safely be singing the song four times this week with my family!

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear everyone with a November birthday which seems like a lot of people,

Happy Birthday to you!