[78-L] Oldest Happy Birthday Recording

[David Lewis]

  On 8/21/2010 8:58 PM, Jim Shulman wrote:
> And we can thank the 1935 copyright for the ghastly birthday chants you hear
> in chain dinner-house restaurants (such as Applebees, Ruby Tuesday's, etc.)
> who abhor paying a license fee for using the traditional song.
 
Mike Biel answered:
Fred Waring also was disgusted about this, so he put together a routine 
of a replacement song in honor of the 20th birthday of Green Giant 
frozen foods, and put it out on a promotional 7-inch transparent record 
pressed by Decca.  The new song never caught on.
Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com

****
There's a reason why it never caught on; have you ever heard it? Yeucch! 
 
Raymond Scott also tried a new spin on the idea with "Happy Birthday to You,"  recorded November 29, 1940 and released on Columbia 35864. It's a charming effort, but it didn't catch on either.
 

Uncle Dave Lewis uncledavelewis at hotmail.com