The tyranny of fake birthday songs is over
Brace for a lot more “Happy Birthday” in the future.
I’m not sure if this is good or bad. My brain says it’s good. But now that the most popular tune in the English language is fair game for festive warbling, my ears are hoping to live under an assumed identity in French Polynesia.
As of this week, if a significant court ruling stands, “Happy Birthday” is no longer under copyright protection. Right? It was always weird to think there was a coda of legal issues tacked onto “Happy Birthday.” It was strange to learn this six-note soundtrack to our most pervasive ritual — birthday celebrations — was not a free-for-all. It was like hearing someone say, “You know, technically, you’re not allowed to use the sidewalk without paying this concrete factory in Portland.”
Well, those days are over. While there was never any real threat the cops would kick down your door and slap cuffs on the kids during a party, “Happy Birthday” can now be used royalty-free in television, film, theatre or any public performance.
This could affect everything from YouTube videos to street buskers to the chain restaurants that once forced servers to gather around a slab of black forest cake to serenade birthday diners with a bastardized, wildly disorienting rendition of the 122-year-old tune: “It’s Your Birthday! YAY! It’s Your Birthday! HOORAY! We’re not allowed to sing the real song unless we . . . PAY!”
The tyranny of fake birthday songs is done.
On Tuesday, in a remarkable 43page decision, Judge George H. King of the United States District Court in Los Angeles ruled ownership of “Happy Birthday to You” — in particular, the lyrics — was unclear. So he blew out the candles on a big corporate money-maker and regifted the ditty to the public domain.
The case of Happy Birthday vs. the World gained traction two years ago when filmmakers — including Jennifer Nelson, who was working on a documentary about the song — filed a class-action lawsuit. They believed the song was already in the public domain. They objected to licensing fees.
I don’t fully grasp the provenance of the song, or what exactly did or did not get registered in the courts over the last century.
The point is: Nobody else seems to grasp this either.
If we start at the beginning, which is 1893, we discover a song originally titled “Good Morning to All.” It’s published in a book of sheet music called Song Stories for Children by the Clayton F. Summy Company.
A kindergarten teacher in Kentucky named Patty Smith Hill and her sister Mildred came up with the melody. The first recorded lyrics, however, only appear 18 years later, in the book called The Elementary Worker and His Work.
Fast-forward to 1935, the year Summy registers a tweaked version, “Happy Birthday to You.” But as you fast-forward, keep in mind lyric credits are now missing from the record. The Hill sisters never sought legal recognition of their most famous song. Next, jump to 1988, the year music publisher Warner/Chappell acquires the old Summy catalogue and, as its lawyers have argued ever since, the rights to “Happy Birthday.”
According to estimates, “Happy Birthday” generated annual revenues of $2 million. This little song was big business. But in retracing the history, Judge King arrived at an opinion that I’ll paraphrase without the legalese: “Yeah, sorry, it doesn’t look like Summy ever bought the lyrics. So that means you guys at Warner/Chappell don’t have a valid claim on copyright. Not sure who owns the song. But knock it off with the royalty demands. It’s not yours.”
Or as the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Mark Rifkin, told me on Wednesday: “It’s been my great honour to be part of the effort to liberate the world’s most popular song. Many people have worked tirelessly to prove that Warner/Chappell does not own a copyright to ‘Happy Birthday,’ and we are extremely pleased with the court’s ruling. We believe the decision has worldwide implications.”
That’s for sure. Even if we leave aside the issue of copyright in the common culture and the problem of corporate overreach, the liberation of “Happy Birthday” will be felt everywhere, from low-budget films to TV rom-coms to the job satisfaction surveys filled out by workers at TGI Fridays or Red Lobster.
Sing it loud, sing it without fear of reprisal: “Happy Birthday” is free at last. vmenon@thestar.ca