It’s wonderful.” The fact that there are some nonblack folks who have been exposed to it is also great. “No matter where the song is started,” one respondent to my poll wrote, “if someone else starts singing it, all black people in the vicinity join-whether they know the birthday boy/girl or not. Nevertheless, I’m glad that Stevie wrote it and that its chorus is still a signifier of kinship for so many black people. Maybe peak Stevie Corn, right alongside “ Ebony and Ivory.” The verses are earnestly clumsy (“The whole day should be spent/ In full remembrance/ Of those who lived and died for the oneness of all people”) and the synthesizers are cheesy. Stevie’s “Happy Birthday,” on the other hand, is joyful and raucous. This is clearly true, since the traditional “Happy Birthday” isn’t even celebratory it’s a staid musical obligation in the bleak face of aging.
Regardless of their race, a good portion of respondents who were familiar with the song agreed that it’s the better birthday song.
