Happy Birthday To You: Lyrics, History and Who Owns It

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The most sung song in the English language spent most of the last century being invoiced for. Below are the lyrics, what actually happened in court, and where the melody really came from.

The lyrics

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear [name]
Happy birthday to you

That is the whole song. Four lines, one of which is repeated three times. Its simplicity is the reason a room of strangers can sing it together without rehearsal, which is the entire job it does.

The common extra verses

The traditional add-on , sung in the UK, Ireland and Australia: "How old are you now?" repeated, ending in "How old are you now?"

The American cheer , spoken rather than sung after the song ends: "Are you one? Are you two?" counting up until the child confirms their age.

The mocking verse , universally known to schoolchildren and rarely appreciated by adults: "You look like a monkey, and you smell like one too."

Where the melody came from

The tune was written in 1893 by Mildred J. Hill, a kindergarten teacher and organist from Louisville, Kentucky. Her sister Patty Smith Hill, an educator, wrote the original words. The song was called Good Morning to All, and the lyrics were:

"Good morning to all, good morning to all, good morning dear children, good morning to all."

It was published in a collection called Song Stories for the Kindergarten, designed to be simple enough for very young children to sing back after hearing it once. That design goal is exactly why it works as a birthday song a century later.

Nobody knows who first swapped the words to "happy birthday". The birthday version appeared in print by 1912 without an author credited, and had spread across the United States before anyone attempted to claim it.

The copyright fight

1935. The Clayton F. Summy Company registered a copyright on a specific piano arrangement of the song. That registration became the basis for every royalty claim that followed.

1988. Warner/Chappell Music acquired the company holding the rights, for a reported 25 million dollars — a price justified almost entirely by this one song.

The following decades. Warner/Chappell collected an estimated 2 million dollars a year in licensing. Any film, television show or advertisement featuring the song had to pay, typically thousands of dollars per use. This is why characters in films so often sing an odd alternative birthday song instead — production companies were avoiding the fee.

2013. A documentary filmmaker named Jennifer Nelson was charged 1,500 dollars to use the song in a film about the song. She sued.

September 2015. Judge George H. King ruled that the 1935 registration covered only that particular piano arrangement, not the lyrics themselves. Warner/Chappell had been collecting royalties on something it did not own.

February 2016. Warner/Chappell agreed to a 14 million dollar settlement, repaying those who had been charged, and the song was formally declared public domain.

What you can do with it now

Sing it, record it, film it, put it in a video, use it in an advertisement, or sell something containing it. No licence is required and no royalty is owed for the traditional song and lyrics.

One important limit: specific recorded performances are still copyrighted separately. The song is free; a particular artist's recording of it is not. If you want the song in a video, sing it yourself or use a recording explicitly licensed for reuse. Lifting a commercial recording from a streaming service is still infringement, and automated content matching on YouTube and Instagram will catch it.

Where it sits in the party

The song works because it is a signal, not a performance. It tells everyone in the room to stop talking, turn towards one person, and pay attention for fifteen seconds. Almost nothing else in ordinary life does that.

Two practical notes. Light the candles only once you have everyone's attention, because candles burn down while people are being gathered and wax on icing is the most common small disaster at a birthday. And nominate someone to start the singing — a room where everybody waits for someone else to begin produces the awkward false start that ruins the video.

Facts worth telling at the table

• It is recognised as the most frequently sung song in the English language.
• Mildred Hill died in 1916, long before the song became valuable, and never earned from the birthday version.
• Astronauts sang it aboard Apollo 9 in 1969, one of the first songs performed in space.
• Warner/Chappell paid roughly 25 million dollars for a catalogue valued mainly on a song it turned out not to own.
• The song has been translated into virtually every written language, usually keeping the melody and replacing the words entirely.

Common questions

Is Happy Birthday To You copyrighted? No. A US federal court ruled in 2015 that the copyright claim was invalid, and a 14 million dollar settlement in 2016 confirmed the song is public domain.

Can I use Happy Birthday in a YouTube video? Yes, if you sing it yourself or use a recording licensed for reuse. The song is free; individual commercial recordings of it are still protected.

Who wrote Happy Birthday To You? Mildred J. Hill wrote the melody in 1893 and her sister Patty Smith Hill wrote the original words, for a kindergarten song called Good Morning to All. Whoever changed the words to "happy birthday" is unknown.

Why did films avoid using the song? Warner/Chappell charged licensing fees, often thousands of dollars per use, until 2016. Production companies wrote alternative birthday songs to avoid the cost.

What was the song originally called?Good Morning to All, published in 1893 as a greeting song for kindergarten classrooms.

Can I sell a product with the Happy Birthday lyrics on it? Yes. The lyrics and melody are public domain and free for commercial use.