Do you know that the "Happy birthday to you" song is the first song sung in outer space? Apollo IX astronauts 1 it on March 8, 1969. It is one of the most popular English songs of all time. Here is the story behind it.
The song was written by two sisters from Kentury, Mildred and patty Smith Hill. It was first published under the2of "Good morning to All" in 1893. It was used as a classroom3. Teachers sang it each day to welcome theirs 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 song while she was a teacher in a kindgarten in Louiville, Kentury, where Mildred also 4.
The Hill sisters copyrighted (取得版权) their song on October 16, 1893. However, it appeared5their agreement in Robert H. Coleman's songbook on March 4, 1924. Coleman changed part of the lyrics to say, "Happy Birthday to you", 6the song still had it's original title. The song was then published several times over the next ten years, often with small7in the lyrics. In 1934, when the song was sung every night in a Broadway Musical, another Hill sister, Jessica, went to court(法院) over the copyright problem of the song. She was8about the theft of the song and the failure to pay to her sister. She9her case. The Hill family owned the rights to the melody and had to be10every 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.
