The worst part of happy birthday is when you hear a group of people singing it, say in a restaurant or even your own home. They’re usually meandering all over the place in terms of the melody and are often in different keys entirely.
About a year ago, I heard a group of people in a restaurant singing happy birthday to one of their friends there and it was incredible, everybody was on pitch, they had harmonized it beautifully, everything was perfect. So perfect in fact that I had to go over and congratulate them and they smiled and said “oh, we all sing together in a chorus.“ 😅
That made me realize that I can't recall ever hearing 'Happy Birthday' sung well. It's usually heard sung by a group of people all over the place and that's what it is associated with.
I've always found the restaurant-specific birthday songs aspect of this really interesting.
I have a distinct memory from the 2010s of a local radio station DJ talking about how "Happy Birthday" had just entered the public domain for the first time. To celebrate, she sang it live on air, but it made her so nervous that she broke off and didn't finish it.
As usual, you've written a great narrative. There are plenty of songs out there with questionable histories about their composers. Any chance you could investigate some of them for future columns?
The worst part of happy birthday is when you hear a group of people singing it, say in a restaurant or even your own home. They’re usually meandering all over the place in terms of the melody and are often in different keys entirely.
About a year ago, I heard a group of people in a restaurant singing happy birthday to one of their friends there and it was incredible, everybody was on pitch, they had harmonized it beautifully, everything was perfect. So perfect in fact that I had to go over and congratulate them and they smiled and said “oh, we all sing together in a chorus.“ 😅
That made me realize that I can't recall ever hearing 'Happy Birthday' sung well. It's usually heard sung by a group of people all over the place and that's what it is associated with.
When people sing Happy Birthday everybody smiles right before the octave jump because they know it's going to sound terrible.
I've always found the restaurant-specific birthday songs aspect of this really interesting.
I have a distinct memory from the 2010s of a local radio station DJ talking about how "Happy Birthday" had just entered the public domain for the first time. To celebrate, she sang it live on air, but it made her so nervous that she broke off and didn't finish it.
As usual, you've written a great narrative. There are plenty of songs out there with questionable histories about their composers. Any chance you could investigate some of them for future columns?
I could. What songs come to mind ?
These are questionable songwriting credits:
Robbie van Leeuwen -- Venus
Rita Coolidge -- Layla
Mark Farner -- We're an American Band
Lou Gramm -- I Want to Know What Love Is
Prince -- Stand Back
George Harrison -- It Don't Come Easy
Paul McCartney -- Waterfalls
Yoko Ono -- several of John Lennon's songs
and finally, what are the correct songwriting credits for Please Mr. Postman?
I have a long piece on the history of “Venus” in my forthcoming book “Uncharted Territory”. The rest … tbd
Thanks. Looking forward to the book. Enjoy the ride when it's released!
This is a great piece of musical history. I'm assuming the digital age really wrecks havoc with copyrights. Who owns Three Blind Mice?
You may have seen Mr Beato getting effusive about this song. Copyright too.
https://youtu.be/8emalPh3iKc?si=lz9UwfkkczrGKL5U