[转帖] Happy Birthday 生日快乐歌的起源

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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
Louisville, Kentucky Experimental Kindergarten, and Dr. Patty Hill, the
principal of the same school, together wrote a song for the children,
entitled "Good Morning to All." When Mildred combined her musical talents, as
the resident expert on spiritual songs, and as the organist for her church,
, d, \+ f+ l3 Bwith her sister's expertise in the area of Kindergarten Education, "Good
Morning to All" was sure to be a success.

+ N9 z% y2 c. V& A' U　　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。
2 H( y# j/ P6 g( Q
& W( d+ C8 q* a3 G( D" S& Q　　The sisters published the song in a collection entitled "Song Stories of
7 _$ P# U$ G) J+ U+ ^3 ?# O/ jthe Kindergarten" in 1893. Thirty-one years later, after Dr. Patty Hill became
+ T& R' p9 p; M" B( R/ o  rthe head of the Department of Kindergarten Education at Columbia University's
5 _' h* g, ]9 }6 X' m" l# NTeacher College, a gentleman by the name of Robert H. Coleman published the
! |8 d! A; u5 Z" k' v  ?song, without the sisters' permission. To add insult to injury, he added a
0 E7 j# j5 A0 H$ m  ]1 zsecond verse, the familiar "Happy Birthday to You."

　　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。
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9 A* k) A5 I% l  o8 g+ ~( G/ q　　Mr. Coleman's addition of the second verse popularized the song and,
& X# f0 H- E8 r$ i. G9 q0 meventually, the sisters' original first verse disappeared. "Happy Birthday to
You," the one and only birthday song, had altogether replaced the sisters'
0 m' d2 x4 c! A+ h; {. I2 Poriginal title, "Good Morning to All."

: T# ]7 c) [2 v7 e7 P　　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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! P) p7 d5 w; u. f" ]　　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
& W& C9 p4 J( h9 y0 Oproved 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
/ f2 z  N: A) |6 o* z- y  Npurposes.

　　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。