Do you know that the "Happy Birthday to You" song is the first song sung in outer space？ Apollo IX1 sang it on March 8, 1969. It is one of the most popular English songs of all time. Here's the story behind it.
The song was written by two sisters from Kentucky, Mildred and Patty Smith Hill. It was first published under the2 of "Good Morning to All" in 1893. It was used as a classroom greeting. Teachers sang it each day to3 their students to the classroom.
The composer, Mildred Hill, was a concert pianist. Her sister Patty Smith Hill wrote the original(最初的)lyrics(歌词)for the song4 she was a teacher in a kindergarten in Louisville, Kentucky, where Mildred also taught.
The Hill sisters copyrighted(取得版权) their song on October 16, 1893. However, it appeared without their5 in Robert H. Coleman's songbook on March 4, 1924. Coleman changed part of the lyrics to say, "Happy Birthday to You",6 the song still had its original title. The song was then published several times over the next ten years, often7 small changes in the lyrics. In 1934, when the song was sung every night in a Broadway Musical,8 Hill sister, Jessica, went to court (法院) over the copyright problem of the song. She was angry about the theft of the song and the failure to pay to her sisters. She9 her case. The Hill family owned the rights to the melody and had to be10 every time the song was part of a commercial(商业的)production.
The Hill sisters, who devoted their lives to educating children, could never imagine that the simple little song would continue to earn about $2 million every year.
