What key is Happy Birthday in?

January 26, 2006 4:04 PM

In what key do you sing Happy Birthday?

Is there a natural key ah hoc groups that sing this timeless classic slide into? Or does everyone match pitch with the strongest voice that started singing?

posted by jayCampbell to society & culture (21 comments total)

I sing it in C. (Female alto here.) I think it's because I used to take piano lessons, and initially learned to play the song in C.
posted by Asparagirl at 4:19 PM on January 26, 2006

It seems like most groups sing in the "chord" created by everyone picking his/her own key. Perhaps that's why I find the song so unpleasant most of the time.

I think that when groups actually are on key, it's everyone matching the person who started or the loudest voice.

I'd be intereste to see if I'm wrong and there's some secret ad hoc key.
posted by JMOZ at 4:21 PM on January 26, 2006

I've been with serious choral singers on occasions where we sang an impromptu rendition (for example, dinner for a member's birthday -- not a performance). Trust me, although we adapt fast, we do not naturally choose a certain key for "Happy Birthday."

For "Air ball," on the other hand, people do.
posted by booksandlibretti at 4:36 PM on January 26, 2006

The melody for Happy Birthday is derived from the song Good Morning To You, which I believe was written in D (though I'm not sure why I believe that). I think a lot of crowds tend to follow the strongest voice, as has been suggested. (And I personally always try to do the harmony part at the end, which is no good for anyone involved.)

Tangentially related, but interesting nonetheless.

"Forty-six subjects sang popular songs and their renditions were compared to commercial recordings of those songs. 24% of subjects sang in the correct key, and 67% came within a whole-step of the correct pitch-level."
posted by milquetoast at 4:36 PM on January 26, 2006

(jinx on the linx!)
posted by milquetoast at 4:38 PM on January 26, 2006

You probably already know this but others may find it useful: the first note in "Happy Birthday" is the lowest in the whole song. Start low and it'll prevent you going falsetto towards the end.
posted by blag at 4:52 PM on January 26, 2006

Good point, blag. The highest note of Happy Birthday is also an octave higher than the starting note.

I couldn't resist commenting on the airball phenomenon, which always amuses this Yankees fan.
In the second game of the 2004 ALCS, Pedro Martinez was treated to a chant of 'Pe-dro!' in the bottom of the 6th inning with the notes F and D.
In the second inning of an Anaheim vs. Yankees game on May 12, 2004, 2B Adam Kennedy threw a ball into the face of Jorge Posada, as Posada was attempting to break up a double-play. As Posada was writhing on the ground, the Yankees home crowd let Kennedy know that he was an 'Ass-hole!' with a descending minor third starting on f-sharp.
It appears the airball phenomenon works with many two-syllable chants.
posted by horsewithnoname at 5:31 PM on January 26, 2006

I just started singing it, and on checking with the piano, it turns out I naturally picked the key of C. But playing it in D, G, A, E, etc. all sound about equally "right" to me, which is usually not true of songs that I've learned in any one specific key. Since I've heard it quite a few times in my life, I guess that's at least a little bit of evidence that it probably wasn't always in the same key.

their renditions were compared to commercial recordings of those songs. ... 67% came within a whole-step of the correct pitch-level.

Although I don't think there's really any definitive commercial recording of this particular song, the only one that comes to mind is that of Marilyn Monroe. In this recording, it seems to be in C-sharp.
posted by sfenders at 5:36 PM on January 26, 2006

*does a Nelson Muntz "ha ha"*
posted by knave at 5:51 PM on January 26, 2006

Bought a MeFi account just to answer this:

Sopranos, Tenors, Contraltos, and Baritones (basically anybody with a high or medium voice, who can, for example, sing along with the melody most hymns without falsetto) can sing in the key of G, in which case the low and high notes are two 'D's, one octave apart.

2nd Basses & 2nd Altos might be better off with the key of C, in which case the low and high notes are two 'G's, one octave apart.

If it's being sung by mixed company, G is probably your best bet, since voices low enough to have real trouble with a high D are in the minority.
posted by The Confessor at 5:55 PM on January 26, 2006

Judging by the many office parties I've been to, "off" is the most popular key.
posted by madajb at 6:43 PM on January 26, 2006

A (musical) friend of mine once said that she hated singing Happy Birthday with a group of guys, because she couldn't sing that low and had to match them an octave higher, which was too high for her. So she tried to always be the first one singing, forcing others to adapt to her.
posted by easternblot at 7:17 PM on January 26, 2006

It's kind of you to assume I can stay in key (if I even get there in the first place). I will say as a female alto I aim for G.
posted by scody at 8:01 PM on January 26, 2006

I was just thinking about this last night, oddly enough. I'm not sure what key I sing it, but it's definately NOT the same key as everyone else. Though if everyone would just sing with me, we'd sound fine!
posted by Iamtherealme at 8:27 PM on January 26, 2006

All arrangements / variations I've seen in print are in the key of D.
posted by cbrody at 8:34 PM on January 26, 2006

it's my observation that a lot of people deliberately sing it off-key just to be funny ... at least my family did, and we could have sang it well if we'd wanted to ...
posted by pyramid termite at 10:57 PM on January 26, 2006

Plucking out the note on a guitar that I think Happy Birthday starts on, that first note seems to be C. That appears to put the version in my head in the key of F. But that's just me. And I am a musical novice.

pyramid termite, you must have grown up in an extraordinary family. Though it pains me to say it, I think you're overestimating the musical skill and subtlety of the general public. I hate to burst that bubble. I think people just don't sing good.

Nevertheless, I work with a bunch of phone canvassers and was one in the recent past. We sing Happy Birthday every month and are always all on key. It's uncanny. We are consistently on key even when there's turnover on the staff.

[My theories as to why: we were hired at least in part because our voices sound good, which probably correlates with good voice control; and many people who gravitate toward non-profit work are at least somewhat musically inclined.]
posted by gohlkus at 12:34 AM on January 27, 2006

This question makes me wonder... if a group of non-singers start singing an impromptu song (Happy Birthday, a drinking song, Na na na na hey hey goodbye, etc) is there a particular key that they tend to sing in the majority of the time? Sort of a law of musical probability where if you had to put a bet on what key any group would drift into, would there be a certain key that would be your best bet?
posted by bondcliff at 7:02 AM on January 27, 2006

gohlkus:
That's interesting, if by "on-key," you mean that you were always settling into f-major.
As a phone canvasser, you probably heard the dial-tone all day. The tones that make up the dial-tone are 350Hz and and 440 Hz: that's about as close to implying F-major as you can get. Idle speculation, really, but I wonder if that had anything to do with it.
posted by horsewithnoname at 7:45 AM on January 27, 2006

'A' works best for me...
posted by ob at 8:22 AM on January 27, 2006

horsewithnoname, that's amazing.

It's totally possible and, at worst, extremely clever BS.

By "on-key," I just mean that we all sing in the same key and hit the right notes.
posted by gohlkus at 2:30 PM on February 7, 2006