The Birthday Round

At our dance and other regional dances, we have a sweet tradition of singing a special song to celebrate dancers’ birthdays.

Beyond Kinhaven

Dorothy Dushkin composed the new lyrics in the late 50s or early 60s and the song has been sung at Kinhaven ever since. According to David Kaynor: “My cousins Chapin, Cammy, and Van Kaynor all went to Kinhaven and learned the round there. I believe Cam used to lead the round at Northfield dances and the old Monday night dances at the Unitarian Meetinghouse in downtown Amherst in the late 1970s. In 1980, I started leading it at Greenfield dances.”

When you sing the song or pass it on, please be sure to credit Dorothy Dushkin and William Shield, as well as the Kaynor family for giving us this lovely round and tradition.

Usage

Though this is probably best sung as a 3 or 4-part round, in practice at contra dances it is generally sung as just two parts. In Western Massachusetts, it’s sung in unison once through and then again in two parts with lots of harmonies on the last note. At Kinhaven, it was apparently sung relatively slowly but at contra dances it is usually sung up tempo to give it a more celebratory feel and avoid the fairly strong tendency to slow down after the initial unison part. Some videos I’ve found of the original lyrics have it being sung quite up tempo as well.

The lyrics have also altered slightly over time to be more inclusive. If just one person is being sung to, their name is usually said after “to our....dear....”, but when singing to more than one, as is often the case at contra dances, “friends” can be substituted for someone’s name and “you” or “they” is now used instead of gendered pronouns (he/she).

As sung to one person:

We wish you a happy birthday,
A joyous and celebrated birthday,
To our....dear....<person’s name>,
May you have a long, long life.

As sung to more than one person (multiple people with the same birthday):

We wish you a happy birthday,
A joyous and celebrated birthday,
To our....dear....friends,
May they have a long, long life.

The video above shows the song as it is generally sung at the Guiding Star Grange #1 contra dances in Greenfield, Massachusetts. The song is also in the “Rise Again” songbook, the latest edition of the well-known “Rise Up Singing” by Annie Patterson and Peter Blood.

You never know where you’ll hear this… the song is traveling far beyond the North America as well... someone posted recently on Facebook that “I sang it to Italians in Africa a few years ago...” 

Music & Keys

Susan Conger and Jacqui Grennan have kindly provided the music in two keys, for download:

• Birthday Round in D (PDF)

• Birthday Round in F (PDF)