Povinovinonon
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Wednesday, March 02, 2005
101 Ways to Say "Happy Birthday"
I've often thought that someone ought to come up with a replacement for Happy Birthday. After all, a copyrighted work won't make much money for its owners if nobody is using it. As a proof of concept, I looked up some public domain songs online, picked a few familiar ones, and turned them into birthday songs. Why use existing melodies instead of writing my own? Because a lot of these songs are already well known, and it's easier to learn new words to a familiar tune than to learn a whole new song from scratch. Plus, these melodies have stood the test of time as being catchy and singable. Plus, I am lazy.
Here are my sample new birthday songs, which I have released to the public domain. As you can tell from listening to them, I am not a professional singer. But what good is a Happy Birthday replacement if anyone can't just bust it out, with no accompaniment? I'm singing to George, my husband, in these examples because his birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks.
Happy Birthday (Oh Susanna)
This work is dedicated to the Public Domain.
Happy Birthday (Go Down Moses)
This work is dedicated to the Public Domain.
Happy Birthday (Polly Wolly Doodle)
This work is dedicated to the Public Domain.
Don't like these? Make your own! If you come up with a good one, let me know. I'd like to hear it.