Birthdays are Best

Hurting your ears with birthday fervor.

By

Jenn Goddu
1–2 minutes

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I recently mortified an undergraduate by having the entire class sing her “Happy Birthday.” The reward? They all could leave class early. I didn’t anticipate, however, how horrific we would all sound. The guy with the lowest voice starting us off didn’t help any. Really. It was awful.

It’s pretty hilarious how poor it can sound when a bunch of us try and sing Happy Birthday to one another. The more the merrier at the party, but don’t count on the serenade to sound so hot.

Have you seen, though, the American Cancer Society’s campaign built around the idea of giving people more birthdays? Their tagline right now is, “The Official Sponsor of Birthdays.” There are several videos available with famous folks singing the Happy Birthday song (ranging from Deborah Harry to Justin Bieber or Weezer to Incubus).

Here’s a particularly soulful version from Jennifer Hudson. Yeah, when I sing in someone’s voicemail, I sound just like this!

Comments

2 responses to “Hurting your ears with birthday fervor.”

  1. The Happy Birthday Song Goes Public | Birthdays are Best

    […] I am, of course, happy to think nothing untoward will happen to me for singing happy birthday in public. Well, not legally anyway, I cannot blame anyone who questions my enthusiastic yet often dischordant efforts. […]

    Reply
  2. Reactions to Singing the Birthday Song | Birthdays are Best

    […] Recently, though, I was part of a group of women singing out loud to a friend. She had told us in advance that this group meeting would coincide with her birthday. She had reminded us the week of when we were planning the buffet contributions. She had welcomed the cake bought in her honor. Yet, when the singing started, she became completely embarrassed. Head in her heads, she tried to make herself small, as we sang around her. Please note: this was not in public and we weren’t that off key! […]

    Reply

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