
Wish Someone a Happy Birthday with a Delightful Music Box Since 2016, the song has been in the public domain. Ownership of the song again changed hands several more times in the coming years and saw its fair share of lawsuits. Sengstack bought all the copyright claims. The problem was that upon his death a man named John F. In the end, the Summy Company was granted the rights to the Hill sisters’ songs, and the sisters got only one-third of all the revenues. To solve the problem, they formed the Hill Foundation, Inc., so they could file another lawsuit, this time against Summy. However, it didn’t take long for the Hills to realize that Summy was short-changing them on the royalties they were owed. They published multiple versions of the song, just to be safe.

Jessica Hill and Summy decided to publish the song a second time, this time as “Happy Birthday (to You)” in 1935. At that point, she sued the musical’s directors. The final straw for her was when the song was featured in the Broadway musical As Thousands Cheer. In the 1930s, Patty and Mildred’s younger sister, Jessica, noticed that the song wasn’t being properly attributed to her family. However, when Summy went to renew his copyright claim for the song in 1921, the song had become synonymous with birthday parties, making it extremely popular. Summy had filed when “Good Morning to All” was first published was valid for 28 years. The Complex History of the “Happy Birthday” Copyright To this day, it’s unclear who was responsible for changing the lyrics. It wasn’t until the beginning of the 20 th century, that the iconic “Happy Birthday” lyrics appeared alongside the melody in print.

Many chose “Good Morning to All” because it was easy for children to sing and remember. With the rise of these parties came the need for a song to match the occasion. That was all the way back in 1893.Īt that time, the concept of a birthday party was just beginning to take off. Summy, who filed a copyright claim for all the songs in the book. This version of the song called “Good Morning to All” was created with the intent of teachers singing it to their students at the beginning of class. She included the composition in the book Song Stories for the Kindergarten, but with different lyrics. It was Patty who was responsible for first publishing the song. Mildred was the mastermind behind the melody, while Patty was the brains behind the lyrics. It seems to be very fitting that they were both teachers. Hill (top) and Patty Smith Hill (bottom) from Louisville, Kentucky. The composers behind this famous song were two sisters – Mildred J. Here’s a rundown of the history of “Happy Birthday!” Who Wrote the Birthday Song? The lyrics have been translated into almost 20 languages, and it’s been iconic for over a century. The tune of “Happy Birthday” is one of the most instantly-recognizable melodies in many places throughout the world.
