#RASP - Rant Around Several Paragraphs #2 - The Birthday Song

So, there has been much talk about he copyright on the birthday song. I'm going to leave that be, because obviously my take on it is the song is public domain and one should be able to use it freely.

No, the point of this post is the singing of the song.

So, we all know the first few lines: “Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday…”

And that's where I pause.

What's the next word in the third line? Is it "dear" or the person's name? There are different opinions on this, certainly, but I'm addressing mine here on this, providing examples of course.

Let's use my name, Kristopha. Should it be October 24 and people have gathered to regale me with gifts and song, in my opinion the third line should go "Happy birthday Kristopha…"

This is because my name has three syllables, the second syllable having the emphasis and not the first or third. Should they have elected to use the shortened form of my name, Kris, the verse would go "Happy birthday, dear Kris", with the "Kris" part drawn out into two "syllables" (Kri-is), just so the post "happy birthday" element maintains three beats and the second of three beats has the emphasis.

So, what about names with emphasis on the other-than-second syllable? For this, we'll use my sister's name, Melonie.

We pronounce her name /'mε l^ ni:/, and so the third line, in my estimation, should be "Happy birthday, dear Melonie". Æsthetically, this pleases my ear, and I think others would agree.

When people in South Africa were singing the Happy Birthday song for Nelson Mandela, it seems a lot of them sang "Happy birthday, dear Madiba", which sounds wrong to me. Since the word/title Madiba has second-syllable emphasis and is a three-syllable word, the line should be "Happy birthday Madiba".

If they'd decided to use his Xhosa name, Rolihlahla, which has emphasis on the second syllable and has four syllables, I'd think it would have the dear: "Happy Birthday, dear Rolihlahla".

If it were my Nigerian cousin-in-law, whose full name is Adetunji (emphasis on the third syllable), there'd be no dear: "Happy birthday Adetunji". It sounds a bit stuffy to call him Adetunji, though, so most of us call him just Tunji (where there would be a dear).

My opinion on any name greater than four syllables is the person would usually have a shorter nickname or an abbreviated name that should fit into these cases.

All that said, I have one more gripe to grapple with: the additional stanzas beyond "How old are you now?". Traditionally in Jamaica, at least, there is a third stanza which goes, "May the Dear Lord bless you." I don't mind this stanza, and it's a nice touch to me but only if multiple people (being more than three) all continue the song through that stanza without pausing.

At my niece's first birthday party, people were pretty much ready to quit singing after the "How old are you now" stanza, but my Dad insisted on singing the Dear-Lord-bless-you stanza too. He was the only one who had continued on to singing it, and the rest of us grudgingly continued on to sing that one. It was just awkward, so my take is one should have some social maturity to gauge pauses and empathize with a group (this coming from someone - me - who is generally socially anxious and awkward anyway!).

That way you don't become the bully who commandeered a nice tradition into a sing-that-stanza-or-burn-in-Hell session.