Happy, Happy Birthday Baby

Last updated
"Happy, Happy Birthday Baby"
Single by The Tune Weavers
B-side "Ol' Man River"
ReleasedJuly 1957
Recorded1957
Length2:22
Label Casa Grande (Boston, Massachusetts)
Checker (rest of the United States)
Songwriter(s) Margo Sylvia, Gilbert Lopez
"Happy, Happy Birthday Baby"
Single by Ronnie Milsap
from the album Lost in the Fifties Tonight
B-side "I'll Take Care of You"
ReleasedMarch 8, 1986
Genre Country
Length3:39
Label RCA Nashville
Songwriter(s) Margo Sylvia, Gilbert Lopez
Producer(s) Ronnie Milsap, Rob Galbraith, Tom Collins
Ronnie Milsap singles chronology
"Lost in the Fifties Tonight (In the Still of the Night)"
(1985)
"Happy, Happy Birthday Baby"
(1986)
"In Love"
(1986)

"Happy, Happy Birthday Baby" is a 1957 song written by Margo Sylvia & Gilbert Lopez. "Happy, Happy Birthday Baby" was originally performed by The Tune Weavers, who had their only hit with this song. Both Margo Sylvia and Gilbert Lopez were members of The Tune Weavers. The single went to number four on the R&B chart and went to number five on the Hot 100. [1] The B-side of "Happy, Happy Birthday Baby, was The Tune Weavers version of "Ol' Man River".

Contents

The inspiration for the song came from Margo's then-boyfriend, Donald Clements, who was a member of a group called the Sophomores. When he broke up with her, Margo came up with the lyrics to express how she wanted to stay with him. "The words came so easily. It was real," she recounted to Wayne Jancik in The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders. Margo and the rest of the Tune Weavers recorded it and "Ol' Man River" in an 18-hour session on March 7, 1957, in Boston, with Margo eight months pregnant. Seven months later, the song reached its peak of popularity in the United States. [2]

Based on the similarities in melody, "Happy, Happy Birthday Baby" appears to have inspired two future Top 20 hits. "I'm On The Outside (Looking In)" by Little Anthony and the Imperials (#15 1964) appears inspired by the main tune of this song, and "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" by Freddy Fender (#8 1975) appears inspired by the chorus of this song.[ citation needed ]

The track was originally released on the Casa Grande label. It was later re-released on the Checker label, but this later version omitted the final four saxophone notes (at the coda) which were part of the song's signature.

In 1988, Margo Sylvia recorded a Christmas version of the song called "Merry Merry Christmas Baby" for Classic Records. It was included on the Ultimate Christmas Album by Collectables Records.

Cover versions

Dodie Stevens covered this song for the holidays with almost the same lyrics titled Merry Merry Christmas Baby.

Chart performance

Chart (1986)Peak
position
US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [5] 1
Canadian RPM Country Tracks1

In other media

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References

  1. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 592.
  2. Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, expanded first edition (Billboard Books, 1998) ISBN   0-8230-7622-9, pp. 40.
  3. Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 233.
  4. "Rosie & The Originals - The Best Of (CD)". Discogs.com. 1999. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
  5. "Ronnie Milsap Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.