The one song everyone sings, but absolutely hates? Happy Birthday.Birthdays are normally a happy occasion (hence the song name), but for some reason we insist on ruining the fun by awkwardly singing in unison. It's weird that for a song so short (I mean you are supposed to wash your hands while singing it twice), no one actually wants to sing it.
The moment someone starts gathering candles and reaching into the fridge for a cake, the same thought enters everyone's mind, "Aw shit we need to sing now." Probably the only thing that gets me through this time is knowing that there will be cake on the other side.
No one wants to sing too loud and be the only voice heard. And you don't want to be too soft and seem like you don't really care either. So the song often varies in volume as one person realizes they're singing way louder than everyone else so they quiet down. And someone else picks up where they left off.
Things get particularly awkard around the "Happy Birthday dear..." part. If it's a family member it's often "Dear Mom," "Dear Dad," or "Dear Aunt so and so." And that's where the problem lies. Unless everyone who happens to be at the party shares the same relationship as the birthday celebrant, there are pauses where no one knows exactly what to say followed by everyone singing what they normally call this person. Awesome. But then the song is soon over and everyone gets to eat cake.
Did I just analyze singing "Happy Birthday" way too much? Yup. Do I really care? Nope.
you should hear how my family does it. we gave up on taking "Happy Birthday" seriously a long time ago, so now we all just see who can sing it most of-key and out of sync. i think it's a much better way of handling that stupid song
ReplyDeleteWhy did the Mattera's stop calling everyone??
ReplyDeleteHaha - maybe a recording should just be played.
ReplyDelete