Birthday songs sung in the US before "Happy Birthday To You"
October 8, 2015 9:56 AM   Subscribe

Looking for music and hopefully audio for birthday songs that might have been sung in the states before ~1860, ideally in English. I feel certain that I have seen a list of such songs in the past, but several decades worth of hubbub about the "Happy Birthday to You" copyright and the generic nature of the possible search terms seem to have have rendered Google helpless. Thanks!
posted by quarterframer to Media & Arts (6 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow"? That dates back to 1709.
posted by xingcat at 10:10 AM on October 8, 2015 [2 favorites]


Songfacts backs up "For he's a jolly good fellow"
posted by jessamyn at 10:16 AM on October 8, 2015


Response by poster: Oooh, that's a good one. Jumping in to amend the request: it should be either fit to celebrate a woman or have non-gendered lyrics.
posted by quarterframer at 10:35 AM on October 8, 2015


Best answer: "For she's a jolly good fellow" has always been an acceptable modification. It may sound odd to modern ears, but it's been sung that way since time immemorial.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 1:20 PM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I just went and looked though old newspaper articles about birthday parties. I can't find anything about them singing during candles being blow out. Parties seemed to have lots of music and singing but nothing about singing during the candles part. I do find several instances of people writing personal birthday verses. example from 1866: "A Happy Birthday Alice, and many, many more, A life without a single storm, upon the sea or shore..." or reference to "singing birthday carols". Here's a "birthday carol",

"Cousin dear, bring thee
Here simple song
Fashioned for thy birthday,
Neither proud, nor long.
Just heartfelt wishing,
That this day may be,
As blessed omen
Of thy life, to thee.
Down thy coming future
May the sunlight sweep,
All along thy pathway
May no shadows sleep..."
posted by ReluctantViking at 1:31 PM on October 8, 2015 [2 favorites]


Among older Australians, women would usually get "For she's a jolly good lassie" rather than fellow, for what it's worth.
posted by Coaticass at 2:52 AM on October 9, 2015


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