Hey, it's Alan, and I just wanted to let you know that you can now listen to the ongoing

history of new music early and ad-free on Amazon music, included with Prime.

Here's a question for you. What is the most performed song of the last 100 years?

Now, think about that before you answer me. What song has been performed by more people more times than

any other song in the last century it's happy birthday it's the most common most recognized

and most universal song in the english language actually it's more than just english it's used in

at least half a dozen other cultures. It's a simple

melody with simple words. Simple sentiments. It's pretty universal and quite timeless.

So here's the next question. Who wrote Happy Birthday? Someone must have, right? Well, the

traditional answer is that Happy Birthday came from two American sisters, Patty and Mildred Hill.

They were a couple of kindergarten teachers from Louisville, Kentucky.

In 1893, they came up with the song for the children that they called Good Morning to You.

Sometime after that, it morphed into Happy Birthday to You.

And so began a copyright war that exists to this day.

People have been fighting over the ownership of Happy Birthday since at least 1912.

In 1990, Warner Chapel, the music publishing company, bought the rights to Happy Birthday for $5 million.

They claim that the copyright

to the song won't expire until 2030, which means that unauthorized public performances

of Happy Birthday are illegal unless royalties are paid to them. This means whenever you hear

Happy Birthday in a movie or a TV show, Warner Chapel is due money.

According to those who keep track of such things, each performance of Happy Birthday on film or TV nets Warner Chapel $10,000.

This is why I haven't sung it yet.

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