Posts Tagged ‘song’
“Come they told me / Pa rum pum pum pum”*…
A special Holiday Hiatus-interrupting edition of (Roughly) Daily to share this excerpt from the Pee Wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special in 1988…
Happy Holidays!
TotH to @BoingBoing.
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As we hum along, we might recall that it was on this date in 1823 that “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (aka “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”) was published for this first time in the Troy, New York Sentinel on this day in 1823. It was originally published anonymously though the author was Clement Clarke Moore who was a professor and didn’t want his reputation to be ruined for writing such an un-scholarly verse. At the urging of his children he acknowledged his work in 1837, then, in 1844, included the poem in a collection of his works.
“Wherever you go, I don’t care where you go, just send me something in the mail from where you are”*…
Just one of the hundreds of postcards from the J. Smith Archive that one can enjoy on the “virtual road trip” that is Cardboard America.
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As we hit the road, we might sing “Happy Birthday” to Mildred J. Hill; he was born on this date in 1859. She wrote the music: In the early 1890s, she composed the tune which (with lyrics by her sister Patty) was called “good Morning to All” and was published in 1893 in Song Stories for the Kindergarten. In 1912, her music was appropriated (with lyrics by an unknown author) and published as “Happy Birthday”– which has gone on to become (according to the Guinness Book of Records) the most recognized song in the English language.
Famously tied up by copyright (to wit the rarity of its appearance on TV or in movies), Hill’s estate still receives royalties from it performance.
Mildred (left) and her sister Patty
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