The Origin of the Song Happy Birthday to You

The story of how the song Happy Birthday to You

came to be, began as a sweet one, that later

soured. Two sisters, Mildred Hill, a teacher at

the Louisville, Kentucky Experimental

Kindergarten, and Dr Patty Hill, the principal

of the same school, together wrote a song for

the children, entitled Good Morning to All. When

Mildred combined her musical talents, as the

resident expert on spiritual songs, and as the

organist for her church, with her sister’s

expertise in the area of Kindergarten Education,

Good Morning to All was sure to be a success.

The sisters published the song in a collection

entitled Song Stories of the Kindergarten in

1893. Thirty-one years later, after Dr Patty

Hill became the head of the Department of

Kindergarten Education at Columbia University’s

Teacher College, a gentleman by the name of

Robert H. Coleman published the song, without

the sisters’ permission. To add insult to

injury, he added a second verse, the familiar

Happy Birthday to You.

Mr Coleman’s addition of the second verse

popularised the song and, eventually, the

sisters’ original first verse disappeared. Happy

Birthday to You, the one and only birthday song,

had altogether replaced the sisters’ original

title, Good Morning to All.

After Mildred died in 1916, Patty, together with

a third sister named Jessica, sprang into action

and took Mr Coleman to court. In court, they

proved that they, indeed, owned the melody.

Because the family legally owns the song, it is

entitled to royalties from it, whenever it is

sung for commercial purposes.

生日快乐歌溯源

关于《祝你生日快乐》一歌是如何产生的故事，一开始是件令人愉快的事，到后来就变得令人很扫兴。事情是这样的：有姐妹俩，一个叫玛德里德·希尔，是路易斯维尔市肯德基实验幼儿园的教师，一个叫柏蒂·希尔，是该校的校长。姐妹俩一道为孩子们谱写了一首歌，歌名为《大家早上好》。玛德里德是当地赞美歌的专家，再加上她的音乐天分，又是当地教堂的风琴师，而且她姐姐在幼儿教育方面也很有经验，《大家早上好》一歌无疑是个巨大的成功。 1893年，两姐妹出版了一部歌曲集，题名为《幼儿园的故事》。三十一年以后，在柏蒂·希尔出任哥伦比亚大学师范学院幼儿教育系系主任之后，一个名叫罗伯特·H·科尔曼的男士未经姐妹俩的允许，私自出版了这首歌，在这首歌后又加上了一段，即大家熟悉的《祝你生日快乐》，这就构成了对姐妹俩的伤害和侮辱。 科尔曼先生增加的第二段歌词使这首歌很快就十分流行。最终，姐妹俩的第一段歌词消失了。《祝你生日快乐》，这首唯一的生日歌完全取代了姐妹俩原来的歌曲名《大家早上好》！ 玛德里德于1916年逝世后，柏蒂与其另一个妹妹杰西卡出面将科尔曼先生告上了法庭。在法庭上