RootsAir From Costa Rica, joined Feb 2005, 4180 posts, RR: 44 Posted (7 years 6 months 4 days 3 hours ago) and read 1046 times:
As the heading says, would you be able to tell me who wrote the christmas songs or at least when they were written ? For exaple, we hear everywhere and in different languages "Jingle Bells", "Silent night", "We wish you a merry christmas" etc...
Concerning Happy Birthhday ,we have heard it with the same melody in many many different languages and I suppose its been going for ages...
Are these songs the result of commercial campagins that took place amny years ago (such as the fact that Santa Claus' Red comes from coca cola )? Or some famous musician who relsleased the song at some time
Thanks in advance to anyone who could answer my question ...
Regards
BM
A man without the knowledge of his past history,culture and origins is like a tree without roots
SlamClick From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 10062 posts, RR: 71 Reply 1, posted (7 years 6 months 4 days 3 hours ago) and read 1041 times:
Happy Birthday was written by two sisters from Kentucky, Mildred J. Hill and Patty Smith Hill. This can be verified at snopes.com which has quite a bit of information about it.
There are many websites out there giving information about music, who composed it, lyrics and so on. I'd just google it by title and you will find more answers than you can remember.
Happiness is not seeing another trite Ste. Maarten photo all week long.
TriStarEnvy From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 2265 posts, RR: 4 Reply 2, posted (7 years 6 months 4 days 3 hours ago) and read 1040 times:
For the holiday tunes, I'm sure with some poking around on the internet, the composers could be found. Chances are good that, they have become, what's known as "public domain", and anyone can perform them, without any sort of composer getting money.
For "Happy Birthday" however, I pulled THIS off the Wikipedia site, as I was curious, too: (SlamClick used the best source, and beat me by mere seconds, looks like...)
The melody of "Happy Birthday to You" was written by American sisters Patty and Mildred Hill in 1893 when they were school teachers in Louisville, Kentucky. The verse was originally intended as a classroom greeting entitled "Good Morning to All". The lyrics were copyrighted in 1935, 11 years before Patty's death, and the ownership has swapped hands in multi-million dollar deals ever since; the copyright is currently owned by Time Warner (a subsidiary of which bought the rights in 1988) and is scheduled to expire in 2030. It thus follows that unauthorized public performances of the song are technically illegal. It is not completely certain who wrote the lyrics to "Happy Birthday to You."
So, I guess next time we sing it at my daughters b-day, I owe Time Warner five cents?!?!??!?!
[Edited 2005-12-19 16:18:04]
If you don't stand for SOMETHING, you'll fall for ANYTHING.
SlamClick From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 10062 posts, RR: 71 Reply 4, posted (7 years 6 months 4 days 2 hours ago) and read 1031 times:
Actually I knew who wrote it so I Googled "patty hill happy" and got dozens of relevant hits right away. I selected snopes first against the chance that it was NOT true.
Happiness is not seeing another trite Ste. Maarten photo all week long.
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From Costa Rica, joined Feb 2005, 4180 posts, 
From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 10062 posts, 
From France, joined Mar 2002, 1884 posts, 
I knew who wrote it so I Googled "patty hill happy" and got dozens of relevant hits right away. I selected snopes first against the chance that it was NOT true.
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