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According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Happy Birthday to You is the most popular song in the English language, followed by For Hes a Jolly Good Fellow and Auld Lang Syne. The Happy Birthday to You song has been translated into dozens of different languages. Despite the translation, the song is often sung in English in non-English speaking countries. It is the most popular song sung in the United States. American sisters Patty and Mildred Hill wrote the melody of Happy Birthday to You in 1893. Patty and Mildred were schoolteachers in Louisville, Kentucky. Although the melody remains the same the words have been modified since the original. The originally verse was intended as a classroom greeting entitled Good Morning to All. The song Good Morning to All was part of the book Song Stories for the Kindergarten that the sisters co-wrote and published in 1893. It is not entirely clear who wrote the lyrics to Happy Birthday to You. It is not known who altered the lyrics turning it into a birthday song but it was first published in 1924 on a book edited by Robert H. Coleman. Jessica Hill, another Hill sister, filed a suit because of the unauthorized use of the Happy Birthday to You melody which clearly resembles the melody of Good Morning to All, the song her sisters originally wrote. The present version known around the world was copyrighted in 1935 by the Summy Company as an arrangement by Preston Ware Orem. Due to copyright laws it is set to expire in 2030. The 1935 version was the first copyrighted version to include the lyrics. Warner Chappell purchased the company holding the copyright in 1990 for $15 million US dollars, with the value of Happy Birthday approximated at $5 million. The present copyright status of the Happy Birthday to You song is uncertain. Warner claims that unauthorized public performances of the song are technically illegal unless royalties are paid to them. One of the most famous performances of Happy Birthday to You was Marilyn Monroes performance to U.S. President John F. Kennedy in May 1962. |
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