Happy Birthday
I sometimes wonder if, when people pick up my album and read the track list, if they think this song is the traditional birthday song. I’m not sure if it would help or hurt album sales if they did, but it is something I wonder.
This song came about when I was far away from someone I loved on their birthday. I wanted to sing them the traditional “Happy Birthday” song, but it felt too cliche and not nearly personal enough. So I sat down and started writing my own. At the time, the relationship was complicated by distance and circumstances, and probably a heavy dose of my own stubbornness. I’m sure you’ve had moments like that in different relationships, whether it’s a romantic or platonic one, a sibling, parents, children, or friends, where you just aren’t jiving as well as you’d like to be, but you still love them and care about their well-being. (You can check out the full lyrics here.)
As time went on, the song became less about and for one particular person, and more about a lot of different people in my life. During different birthdays, I would think, “Oh, that verse is reminds me of someone else!” Less than a year after I wrote it, I lost a family member unexpectedly, so verses of the song now mean different things to me than they did at the time of the original impetus for the song. It reminds me that there are songs out there that I love and know well that have taken on an entirely different meaning to me over the years that I’ve known them. Just like relationships change, so do songs and the meanings we give them. Five years from now, I’m not sure how I’ll feel about this song, or how the many relationships I now attach to it will change and develop between now and then.
The first draft of the song, “Happy Birthday.”
I found an old video I did of this, the day after I wrote it. Looking back on it now, I can see how the song has morphed and how my playing and singing of it has changed, and I’m also keenly aware of the need for sunscreen! The volume’s a little quiet– you may have better luck with headphones.
The album version (below) isn’t entirely different, though I am grateful to James Macklin for his expertise on guitar. In the production process, we decided it should stay pretty much as is, without adding too much extra stuff to it, and I like it sparse, simple, and sincere.
If your birthday is coming up, I hope it’s the best one yet, and that the next lap around the sun is better than the one before. Happy Birthday!
-Lacey
p.s. If you’d like to have your very own copy of this song, along with nine other songs, click here!
What a special treat to see the video of you singing this song. It is a beautiful song, and I think it is important to wish people a happy birthday. I’ve often sat at funerals and look at all the flowers and wonder if these people showed the loved one the same love while they were alive to enjoy the fragrance of the flowers and the love being showered upon them! Thanks for the blog, it is very interesting to see how your lyrics are born!
What a special treat to see the video of you singing this song. It is a beautiful song, and I think it is important to wish people a happy birthday. I’ve often sat at funerals and look at all the flowers and wonder if these people showed the loved one the same love while they were alive to enjoy the fragrance of the flowers and the love being showered upon them! Thanks for the blog, it is very interesting to see how your lyrics are born!