Copyright protection for the songbook, including lyrics and melody to “Good Morning to All,” expired in 1949, thus the melody for Happy Birthday has been in the public domain. Summy who filed for federal copyright and published it in a songbook. That same year, the sisters assigned their rights to the song to Mr. The melody of the song was actually first composed for “Good Morning to All” in 1893 by sisters Mildred and Patty Hill. the rights to the melody, and the rights to piano arrangements based on the melody, but never any rights to the lyrics.” Judge King’s 43-page decision examined the complex history of the song that goes back more than a century. rights to the lyrics.Ĭhief Judge George King wrote: “The Hill sisters gave Summy Co. District Court of the Central District of California invalidated a copyright claim to the lyrics of the song of “Happy Birthday To You.” The court held that Warner/Chapelle Music, Inc., successors of Summy Co., was not able to show that the original writers, Patty Hill and Mildred Hill, ever gave Summy Co. This entry was posted in Holidays, Life cycle, Musical, Rituals, festivals, holidays and tagged birthday, Danish, Drinking Song on by Sonya Egoian.On September 22, 2015, a judge of the U.S. This practice shifts focus from solely the celebrating individual to the party-goers as well it is a more collectively engaging and participatory experience. She and her family prepare a layered Danish cake, inside which are hidden dimes, and anyone who bites or finds a dime while eating their cake is granted good luck for the week. However, the informant’s Danish family allows the party guests to seize an opportunity for good luck as well. The “may he live well” translation bestows good fortune or good health, though perhaps both―the interpretation of “well” is ambiguous―on the celebrating individual, which is not atypical for birthday celebrations across most cultures. After all, it is quite common to pair drinking with a birthday party or celebration, and it was perhaps only because of her young age that she first associated the song exclusively with birthdays. In all likelihood, the song served both purposes. The confusion as to whether the song was originally sung in birthday celebration or while drinking seems typical for a family practice that has been passed down through generations―it can become increasingly difficult to discern when and why a song was first introduced into the family. The informant’s close ties with her Danish roots are quite evident Danish traditions and practices have seeped into several different aspects of her life. Han skal leve, han skal leve, han skal leve, højt hurra! When we are celebrating a female’s birthday, the “bravo” verse is changed to “brava” and we say “bravissima” instead of “bravissimo.” I just know everyone said “højt quite loudly (she laughs heartily). The first part “han skal leve”.I’m not positive about what it means but I believe it’s loosely translated as “may he live” or “may he live well.” The “hurra!” is the Danish way to say “hooray!” and I never understood what the ” højt” was for. As the informant sang the song, she was sitting in her dining room table drinking coffee out of a china tea set her mother brought from Denmark. As a child, she remembered learning the song as a birthday song, but as she grew older she learned the song’s first line comes from a Danish drinking song, perhaps one that was sung in celebration. She also sings a Danish song when celebrating family birthdays, and she shared the lyrics as well as the role the song has played in her own life. Furthermore, one of her most treasured family heirlooms is a set of silverware engraved with the family crest as well as an ornate “N” for Nielsen, her mother’s maiden name, and a recognizably Danish one at that. For example, she strings up miniature Danish flags around her Christmas tree each year and makes æbleskiver, traditional Danish pancakes in the shape of little round balls, Christmas morning. The informant’s maternal ancestry hails from Denmark, and although she has never lived in Denmark she has visited the country several times for extended periods and has maintained a strong Danish cultural presence in her lifestyle, especially around the holidays.
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