CULTURE WATCH : Birthday Ditty: It’s a Happy One

“Happy birthday to you . . . .”

When schoolteacher Mildred J. Hill first wrote the melody to these words, she probably had no idea the song would become one of the most widely sung songs in the world.

Hill, born in Louisville, Ky. on this date in 1859, and her sister, Patty Smith Hill, originally penned “Good Morning to All” in 1893 as a children’s song. The “Happy Birthday” lyrics were added several years later.

It has been translated, parodied and adapted to a wide variety of celebratory occasions. Children can be heard singing “Happy birthday to you, You live in a zoo. . . .” Many 12-step recovery programs celebrate a member’s years of sobriety with a birthday cake and a chorus of “Happy Birthday,” often adding the refrain “keep coming back,” as a reference to staying clean and sober.

The song is big business, too. Copyrighted in 1935, it was purchased in 1989 by Warner-Chappell Music Group, a division of Time Warner, as part of a reported $25-million deal. Each time the song is sung in public, at a restaurant party, for example, royalties are supposed to be paid. The copyright expires in 2010.

Otherwise somber adults will break out in smiles when surprised with this song. Children are delighted to both receive and sing the little four-line ditty.

Even now, someone somewhere is surely being treated to a rendition of “Happy Birthday.”