"For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" is a popular song that is sung to congratulate a person on a significant event, such as a promotion, a birthday, a wedding (or playing a major part in a wedding), a retirement, a wedding anniversary, the birth of a child, or the winning of a championship sporting event. The melody originates from the French song "Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre" ("Marlborough Has Left for the War").
The tune is of French origin and dates at least from the 18th century. [1] Allegedly it was composed the night after the Battle of Malplaquet in 1709. [2] It became a French folk tune and was popularised by Marie Antoinette after she heard one of her maids singing it. [3] The melody became so popular in France that it was used to represent the French defeat in Beethoven's composition Wellington's Victory , Op. 91, written in 1813. [4]
The melody also became widely popular in the United Kingdom. [5] By the mid-19th century [6] it was being sung with the words "For he's a jolly good fellow", often at all-male social gatherings, [7] and "For she's a jolly good fellow", often at all-female social gatherings. By 1862, it was already familiar in the United States. [8]
The British and the American versions of the lyrics differ. "And so say all of us" is typically British, [9] while "which nobody can deny" is regarded as the American version, [4] but the latter has been used by non-American writers, including Charles Dickens in Household Words , [10] Hugh Stowell Brown in Lectures to the Men of Liverpool [11] and James Joyce in Finnegans Wake . [12] (In the short story "The Dead" from Dubliners , Joyce has a version that goes, "For they are jolly gay fellows..." with a refrain between verses of "Unless he tells a lie".) The 1935 American film Ruggles of Red Gap , set in rural Washington State, ends with repeated choruses of the song, with the two variations sung alternately.[ citation needed ]
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As with many songs that use gender-specific pronouns, the song can be altered to match with the gender of the intended recipient. [13] If the song is being sung to two or more people, it is altered to use plurals.
For he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good fellow
For he's a jolly good fellow, and so say all of us!
For he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good fellow
For he's a jolly good fellow, which nobody can deny!
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