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What are the lyrics to ‘Happy Birthday’, including the additional verses?
11 July 2023, 13:49 | Updated: 18 September 2023, 16:28
Orchestras pranking their conductors on their birthdays
‘Happy Birthday’ is one of the best-known tunes in the world, but not many people know there are two more verses to it.
After years of singing it for friends and family and flamboyantly harmonising on the last line, we are all pretty familiar with the first verse of ‘Happy Birthday’.
It goes like this:
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dear (name)
Happy Birthday to you.
Read more: Conductor tears apart ‘Happy Birthday’ and makes it better
But what if we were to tell you that are were two whole extra verses, that go like this?
From good friends and true,
From old friends and new,
May good luck go with you,
And happiness too.
How old are you now?
How old are you now?
How old, How old
How old are you now?
Now your mind is feeling suitably blown, here’s the song again, arranged as if the great Polish piano master, Frédéric Chopin, had composed it...
What if Chopin had written ‘Happy Birthday’?
Who wrote ‘Happy Birthday’?
‘Happy Birthday’ was composed by two American sisters, Patty and Mildred J Hill, who wrote the melody in 1893. Patty was a school teacher and Mildred was a pianist and composer.
The melody was originally written for a song called ‘Good Morning to All’, which the sisters wrote together for Patty’s students. The birthday lyrics were added later.
Sing along to the tune with their original lyric, and you can hear it fits the main melody perfectly.
Read more: What if Frédéric Chopin had written ‘Happy Birthday’?
What are the full lyrics to ‘Happy Birthday’?
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dear (name)
Happy Birthday to you.
(usually sung without the two additional verses)
From good friends and true,
From old friends and new,
May good luck go with you,
And happiness too.
How old are you now?
How old are you now?
How old, How old
How old are you now?
