Apr
16
You’ve probably noticed that the ubiquitous chorus Happy Birthday to You almost never appears in films or television programs. You may have heard it explained that Paul McCartney and/or Michael Jackson own the copyright to the song and charge an exorbitant licensing fee for authorized use of the tune. That is only partially true. Neither McCartney nor Jackson (please stop singing ‘Ebony and Ivory’–that means all of you…I mean it!) own the rights, but the company who does has deep pockets and an itchy trigger finger when it comes to enforcing their rights. For more on the history of the most widely-known song in the English language (yes, even more widely-known than Sinatra’s My Way), you can read Mark Steyn’s history on his ‘Song of the Week’ feature.
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