The Story behind "Happy Birthday to You"
Do you know that the "Happy Birthday to You" song is the first song sung in outer space?
您是否知道“生日快乐”这首歌是在太空中唱响的第一首歌？
Apollo IX astronauts sang it on March 8, 1969. It is one of the most popular English songs of all time. Here's the story behind it.
阿波罗九号宇航员于1969年3月8日演唱了这首歌。这是有史以来最受欢迎的英语歌曲之一，这里是这首歌曲背后的故事。
The song was written by two sisters from Kentucky, Mildred and Patty Smith Hill. It was first published under the title of "Good Morning to All" in 1893. It was used as a classroom greeting. Teachers sang it each day to welcome their students to the classroom.
The composer, Mildred Hill, was a concert pianist. Her sister Patty Smith Hill wrote the original lyrics for the song while she was a teacher in a kindergarten in Louisville, Kentucky, where Mildred also taught.
这首歌的作曲家米尔德雷德·希尔是一位音乐会钢琴家。她的姐姐帕蒂·史密斯·希尔在肯塔基州路易斯维尔的一所幼儿园任教时，为这首歌写了最初的歌词，米尔德雷德也在那里教课。
The Hill sisters copyrighted their songs on October 16,1893 .
希尔姐妹于1893年10月16日取得了这首歌的版权。
However, it appeared without their agreement in Robert H. Coleman's songbook on March 4, 1924. Coleman changed part of the lyrics to say, "Happy Birthday to You", although the song still had its original title.
然而，未经她们的同意，这首歌出现在了罗伯特·H·科尔曼1924年3月4日的歌集中。尽管这首歌仍使用了其原来的歌名，但是科尔曼将歌词的一部分改为“祝你生日快乐”。
The song was then published several times over the next ten years, often with small changes in the lyrics.
然后，在接下来的十年中，这首歌被发行了好几次，每次都在歌词上做了一些很小的改动。
In 1934, when the song was sung every night in a Broadway Musical, another Hill sister, Jessica, went to court over the copyright problem of the song. She was angry about the theft of the song and the failure to pay to her sisters. She won her case.
1934年，当该歌曲每晚在百老汇音乐剧中被演唱时，另一个希尔姐妹—杰西卡，就该歌曲的版权问题向法院起诉。她对这首歌的盗用和未向姐姐们付钱感到气愤。她胜诉了。
The Hill family owned the rights to the melody and had to be paid every time the song was part of a commercial production.
希尔家族拥有这段旋律的版权，每当这首歌曲成为商业产品的一部分时就可以收取版权费。
The Hill sisters, who devoted their lives to educating children, could never imagine that the simple little song would continue to earn about $2million every year.
希尔姐妹，她们一生都致力于教育孩子，她们简直无法想象这首简单的小调会继续每年都为她们赚取200万美元。
2026年1月6日于经典龙苑
