[转帖] Happy Birthday 生日快乐歌的起源

sweetspot

The story of how the song "Happy Birthday to You" came to be, began as a
sweet one, that later soured. Two sisters, Mildred Hill, a teacher at the
1 v( p- ^* ~+ _% |, G( ZLouisville, Kentucky Experimental Kindergarten, and Dr. Patty Hill, the
1 R  P* L2 h% e) @. F+ w6 zprincipal of the same school, together wrote a song for the children,
entitled "Good Morning to All." When Mildred combined her musical talents, as
# E( h; N$ @" V" `7 Ethe resident expert on spiritual songs, and as the organist for her church,
( E: I! o* X/ X7 ?+ q, Pwith her sister's expertise in the area of Kindergarten Education, "Good
Morning to All" was sure to be a success.

! c' a$ L; J, K　　关于“祝你生日快乐”一歌是如何产生的故事，一开始是件令人愉快的事，到后来就变了味，令人很扫兴。事情是这样 的：有姐妹俩，一个叫玛德里德·希尔，路易思维尔市肯德基实验幼儿园教师，一个叫柏蒂·希尔，该校的校长。姐妹 俩一道为儿童们谱写了一首歌，歌名为“大家早上好”。玛德里德是当地赞美歌的专家，再加上她的音乐天分，又是当 地教堂的风琴师，而且她姐姐在幼儿教育方面也很有经验，“大家早上好”一歌无疑是个巨大的成功。
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( f' }% A& h, ^% ~; ^　　The sisters published the song in a collection entitled "Song Stories of
6 J9 {4 _2 o3 m' w! Uthe Kindergarten" in 1893. Thirty-one years later, after Dr. Patty Hill became
. l- o# L: W1 b9 y; A4 R4 `# E' ethe head of the Department of Kindergarten Education at Columbia University's
Teacher College, a gentleman by the name of Robert H. Coleman published the
5 I: m  J+ \0 t5 s+ X( C% Z: isong, without the sisters' permission. To add insult to injury, he added a
second verse, the familiar "Happy Birthday to You."

, b% K! i+ L8 {. R1 R, y　　1893年，两姐妹发表了一部歌曲集，题名为“幼儿园的故事”。三十一年以后，在柏蒂·希尔出任哥伦比亚大学师范学院幼儿教育系系主任之后，一个名叫罗伯特·H·科尔曼的男士未经姐妹俩的允许，私自出版了这首歌，在这首歌后又加上了一段，即大家熟悉的“祝你生日快乐”，这就构成了对姐妹俩的伤害和侮辱。科尔曼先生增加的第二段歌词使这首歌很快就十分流行。

　　Mr. Coleman's addition of the second verse popularized the song and,
2 s3 x: _0 J6 @+ Q' g3 |eventually, the sisters' original first verse disappeared. "Happy Birthday to
You," the one and only birthday song, had altogether replaced the sisters'
original title, "Good Morning to All."

　　最终，姐妹俩的第一段歌词消失了。“祝你生日快乐”，这首唯一的生日歌完全取代了姐妹俩原来的歌曲“大家早上好！”。
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9 u1 A, o5 K- S　　After Mildred died in 1916, Patty, together with a third sister named
Jessica, sprang into action and took Mr. Coleman to court. In court, they
% k- x1 P) j6 h! t; l1 n+ _) Dproved that they, indeed, owned the melody. Because the family legally owns the song, it is entitled to royalties from it, whenever it is sung for commercial
purposes.

　　玛德里德于1916年逝世后，柏蒂与其另一个妹妹杰西卡出面将科尔曼先生告上了法庭。在法庭上，她们证明，实际上她们拥有这首歌曲调的版权。由于这首歌曲的法定版权属于希尔姐妹家，它便被赋予了皇权，无论何时这首歌因商用目的而被唱的时候，其皇权总是会受到保护的。