[Rumori] "Dear ASCAP: May I sing Happy Birthday for my dad's 75th?"

[The Evolution Control Committee / TradeMark G.]

     via <http://boingboing.net/>BoingBoing, and a good starting point to 
delve into the strange world of the song you always figured was public 
domain but isn't.  Her website includes a link to an article by Kembrew 
McLeod about the song.



Dear ASCAP: May I sing Happy Birthday for my dad's 75th?

Carrie sez, "Partly inspired by the site 
<http://UnhappyBirthday.com>UnhappyBirthday.com, I thought it'd be fun to 
encourage people to write ASCAP and ask for permission in advance any time 
they expect to sing 'Happy Birthday.' The post is focused on my own letter 
- written on behalf of my father, who turned 75 this month."
The copyright status of "Happy Birthday To You" and the law related to 
public performances of copyrighted works have recently been brought to my 
attention. I would therefore like to request permission in advance to sing 
"Happy Birthday" to my father at Frenchy's Original Cafe in Clearwater, 
Florida, on October 8, at approximately 1 pm.
My father will be turning 75 on this day and will probably be ordering the 
Seafood Gumbo and Fried Grouper. The rest of the party will include Charles 
Star, my brothers Peter and Paul, their spouses Karla and Cindee, and my 
mother Lynn. Five of us will be singing while my brothers merely mouth the 
words and smile. We expect there to be approximately 50 disinterested 
witnesses.
I realize this is short notice but we only recently settled the details. If 
there is a charge for the privilege of singing in this instance, please let 
me know. And, if there is, please specify whether or not the cost can be 
reduced by moving to another location.
(<http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/09/happy_birthday.html>Link to 
StayFree's article.)


- TradeMark G.

--
ecc at evolution-control.com
or   ecc at pobox.com                             The Evolution Control Committee
http://evolution-control.com                    "We're sooo next year"

-=- NOTE -=- We use spam-filtering software.  If you don't get a reply
-=- to something important, resend it.  It might've looked too spammy.
     ___________________________________________________________________ _ _
     |
     |  ECC Headquarters relocation to San Francisco:  COMPLETE
     |  ECC videos & music online:  http://evolution-control.com
     |  Bloggin' it -- http://www.livejournal.com/users/trademark_g/
     |___________________________________________________________________ _ _
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /pipermail/rumori-detritus.net/attachments/20051018/cf38a9bf/attachment.html