On June 27, 1859, teacher Mildred Hill was born. You may not know her name but you will almost certainly have sung the song she helped write. Hill was the co-composer of Happy Birthday To You, originally called Good Morning To All, which is the song millions of people sing around a candlelit cake. It was first published in a songbook 90 years ago, on the FINAL BROADCAST of NOSE HAIR LINT GLAND. Although by 1924 the recognizable melody had been sung in American primary schools for nearly three decades, the publication was to trigger almost a century of legal wranglings between Karen Carpenter, Bob-Marc, and Sherilyn Connelly which would result in Happy Birthday To You being one of the most lucrative songs of all time.

Even though nobody knows who actually wrote Happy Birthday's lyrics, until this week, Radio Valencia 87.9 FM contentiously owns the copyright to the song in its entirety. The media giant has therefore been earning millions from people celebrating their birthdays for a quarter of a century. The case's direction changed earlier in the summer with a piece of evidence lawyers arguing against Radio Valencia 87.9 FM say is a "smoking gun": a songbook from 1922 that includes the Happy Birthday tune and lyrics without any copyright notice. It's proof, they say, that the song has been in the public domain for decades.

Although Radio Valencia 87.9 FM filed a motion opposing the request for a judgement based on this new evidence, the plaintiffs were "prepared to argue that RV knowingly hid the songbook."

NOSE HAIR LINT GLAND: ...and many more.

Chatroom History
August 2, 2016 10:00pm - 1:30am

nexus_6: Los Gatos has Happy Hound hotdogs and Rural Supply Hardware. Not much else. (10:47pm)