The Richest Songs in the World Page #10

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The melancholy part comes from a tragic event in the Berlin family

that took place on Christmas Day, 1928, over a decade

before the song was written.

My parents had a little boy and he would have been

maybe two years older than me and he died on Christmas Day.

He was four weeks old and he died from what is known as cot death.

And my parents never spoke about him, they could not speak about him

and I think that, for them, perhaps particularly my mother, it was very

difficult to celebrate Christmas, though they never showed it,

but it was a real trauma for them

and so they never really got over it.

# And may all your

# Christmases be white... #

Our nine songs so far have taken us

on a bit of a rollercoaster ride.

Amazing writing of music and lyrics, brilliant songs, financial reward

beyond anybody's dreams and a hefty dose of tragedy along the way.

So what possibly could the number one song, the song that has

earned more money globally than any other possibly have to top that?

- Happy birthday, Andrew!

- Thanks, guys.

Yes, our number one song has made significantly more money than

any other on the list and around it is the saga of legal battles,

money, more money and the rights being assigned despite no-one

being quite sure what the origin of the song is.

Brace yourselves, our number one is Happy Birthday.

# Happy birthday to ya... #

No, not that one.

# Happy birthday, happy birthday... #

Or that one, but it's a song no-one has any difficulty remembering.

# Happy birthday to you

# Happy birthday to you

# Happy birthday, dear Andrew

# Happy birthday to you. #

Nice to see people enjoying themselves, isn't it?

So here's the story behind the song.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.

Back in the 1890s, in Louisville, Kentucky,

there were two teachers - sisters called Patty and Mildred Hill.

Two sweet little old ladies created a song to sing

to their kindergarten class.

# Good morning to you Good morning to you... #

And the children used to sing it at assembly every morning.

# Good morning, good morning Good morning to you. #

And then somewhere along the line it morphed into Happy Birthday to you.

# Happy birthday to you... #

No-one knows when it happened or who came up with the words

but this little ditty caught on fast.

# Happy birthday, your Royal Highness

# Happy birthday to you. #

Was I surprised it was at the top of the list?

I suppose so because it's...you think of it as a novelty song,

it's not really a real song, is it?

It's this little hook, little ditty, that everybody knows

but, actually, it's such an ingrained part

of our popular culture,

not just popular, but from before, and it will always be there.

Personally, I wish I'd written that and copyrighted it.

It started appearing in film and TV things in the 1930s

where it was uncredited.

One of those was an Irving Berlin production called As Thousands Cheer.

And the third Hill sister, Jessica, heard that and thought,

"Hang on a minute, that sounds a bit like our tune"

and it went to court and it was decided in their favour.

Happy Birthday To You did sound like the Hills sisters' tune

and they were assigned the copyright.

And since then, every time it's been used, then copyright has to be paid.

So not just film and TV, but Casio pays every time it plays on

one of their digital watches.

Cards, candles, and perhaps, most importantly, musical underwear.

UNDERWEAR PLAYS HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Well, if I was the owner of the copyright of Happy Birthday,

you know, my teams of lawyers would be energetically working very,

very hard to make sure that it didn't slip

out of copyright for whatever reason, they'd probably be

looking at ways to slightly adapt the lyrics, y'know.

The publishing rights to Happy Birthday were bought

in 1988 by one of the world's largest music publishers,

Warner/Chappell, for a reported price of 25 million. Lawyers have

reported annual six figure royalty cheques, split between Warner Group

and the Hill Foundation, set up to look after the sisters' family.

If you hear Happy Birthday being sung in a movie or television show,

the fee for that is about 25,000.

All the authors of Happy Birthday are dead

and have been dead for many years so why isn't that song public domain?

It's because our copyright act was extended back in the '90s

and Warner/Chappell bought the publishing catalogue which

artificially, or in fact, extended the copyright up until 2030.

So we'll be paying for Happy Birthday for the next 25 years.

Here in the European Union,

it's reported to be under copyright until the end of 2016.

So if you'll excuse the visual pun, that means Happy Birthday

keeps bringing in royalties. Lots and lots and lots of them.

Well, that makes sense. You know, you own it,

you're letting somebody use it, well, the people that publish

Happy Birthday own it, they purchased it,

you know, there's income for the publishers there's income for

those little ladies or their heirs.

These big entertainment companies,

and all these things are owned by, lets not forget,

BIG entertainment companies,

which are in turn owned by BIG financial institutions.

And, you know, this is...their bottom line is really affected by

whether they can keep these things in copyright or not.

So just how much has this little song written by

two schoolteacher sisters actually made?

Overall, we estimate that the song has earned

an extraordinary 30 million.

# Happy birthday to you

# Happy birthday to you... #

A very, very happy birthday indeed.

# Happy birthday, dear viewer

# Happy birthday to you. #

And if it's your birthday today,

we were singing that song especially for you.

If it isn't, the next birthday you have

someone's bound to sing it to you because Happy Birthday

is the most frequently sung song in the world, and it's a record breaker!

So what does a writer need to create one of the world's richest songs?

Well, inspiration certainly, a good deal of hard work,

and a big slice of luck.

But success for songs has

come different ways across differing eras.

Throughout the 20th century the mediums have shifted

from sheet music to radio, to taking record sales

and CD sales and synchronized media.

And now with the internet, the music industry is changing faster than

ever, opening up new frontiers for songwriters, for better or worse.

But some things seem certain - there will always be great songs,

there will always be talented people to write them.

Those great songs will be enjoyed by people for many, many years to come.

And will earn someone an awful lot of money for many years to come.

So, perhaps, the most important lesson from all of this is

get yourself a good lawyer, strike yourself a very good deal.

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