6 May
2015
6 May
'15
3:48 a.m.
I've always heard/sung it "To *our* dear Name, May *he/she* have a long,
long life!"
Substitute "they" or other pronouns as gender/genderfree suggests.
Erik
--
Prof. Erik B. Erhardt, UNM Statistics, (505)750-4424 stat.unm.edu/~erike
On Tue, May 5, 2015 at 8:01 PM, Delia Clark via Organizers <
organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
I’ve actually always heard it sung with parallel
grammar, a little
differently from in Will’s video:
We wish you a happy birthday,
A joyous and celebrated birthday,
To you dear Susan,
May you live a long, happy life!
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Delia Clark
PO Box 45
Taftsville, VT 05073
802-457-2075
deliaclark8(a)gmail.com
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On May 5, 2015, at 9:57 PM, Don Peabody via
Organizers <
organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Sung with gusto, who cares about grammar? But Quakers improved the
torturous
"ha--aa-aa--py" with "a very merry." Better poetry; scans with
much more grace.
On May 5, 2015, at 9:40 PM, Rob Lindauer via Organizers wrote:
> The non-parallel grammar of the lyrics have always grated on me
>
> On 05/05/2015 06:45 PM, William Loving via Organizers wrote:
>> Dear Contra friends,
>>
>> With the help of a number of contributors I believe I finally have a
good
accounting of the origins of the now rapidly spreading “Contra Dance
Birthday Round”. You can read all I’ve put together here on the Downtown
Amherst Contra Dance website, with more details, links to recordings and
sheet music:
>>
>> http://www.amherstcontra.org/Amherst_Contradance/Birthday_Song.html
>>
>> We’ve known for a long time that the song was composed in the 1950s or
early 60s by Dorothy Dushkin, co-founder of the Kinhaven Music School &
Camp in Weston, Vermont, but the origins of the tune have remained a
mystery until recently. Some years ago, long-time contra dance caller Ralph
Sweet came across an out-of-print Girl Scout songbook at a flea market, and
in it he recognized a song that had the same melody as the birthday round.
He bought the book, took it home and then, misplaced it for a time.
>>
>> In today’s mail, I received from Ralph a photocopy from that book with
the
song “Whene’er You Make a Promise”, written in 1828 by English composer
William Shield, who also composed the tune to “Auld Lang Syne” (to lyrics
from Robert Burns). The original lyrics are lovely and may also be familiar
to anyone who was in the Girl Scouts or Girl Guides, this apparently having
been sung as a campfire song for generations.
When e're you make a promise,
Consider well its importance
And...when...made,
Engrave it upon your heart.
Enjoy!
Will Loving
Northampton, Massachusetts
USA
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Rob Lindauer
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