The core of her case depends on the song's long, convoluted history and when it was copyrighted. She paid for the rights to use it, and she's suing Warner/Chappell to get her money back, arguing it's part of the public domain - free for anyone to use. Nelson is working on a documentary about the song. "This is where it gets complicated," says filmmaker Jennifer Nelson, laughing. That means that every time anyone wants to use the song, he must pay a licensing fee, sometimes as high as six figures.īut how did Warner/Chappell get the rights? It turns out the publisher Warner/Chappell Music owns the copyright to the "Happy Birthday" song.
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Well, what did happen to the "happy birthday" part? In Disney's The Emperor's New Groove, for example, the characters sing: "Happy, happy birthday from all of us to you, we wish it was our birthday so we could party, too."Īn episode of Community starts with the words "to you" being sung, followed by cheers and: "That was weird, how come we only sang the last two words? What happened to the 'happy birthday' part?" Instead, you usually hear something that sounds sort of like the song, but not quite. But you'll rarely ever hear it on TV or in a movie. The Guinness Book of World Records calls "Happy Birthday to You" the most recognized song in the English language. Now the song is at the heart of a lawsuit.
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Happy happy birthday song lyrics how to#
Everyone knows how to sing "Happy Birthday to You." But performing the song in movies or on TV requires payment of sometimes hefty licensing fees.