EUPHONIOUS

On the occasion of one’s birthday, people insist on singing “Happy Birthday” to one. I do it myself. I’m not going so far as to say that my co-workers are musically untalented. However, I will say that it is a Good Thing that they have regular employment here at the Company.

The “Happy Birthday” song is rarely played on the air. It’s copyrighted for another dunamany years. Royalties—as far as I know—are paid to Michael Jackson. That’s right, Jackson (or his agents) bought the rights along with a whole slough of other tunes from Apple Corps (Yep! The Beatles) years ago. If the rights haven’t been sold to pay for legal bills, Jackson still gets paid everytime the jingle airs on the radio or gets included in a movie. Boggles my mind.

The word of the day for January 12, 2007 is “euphonious” — adjective : pleasing to the ear.

Our quote for today is from John Cage (1912 - 1992):

If you develop an ear for sounds that are musical it is like developing an ego. You begin to refuse sounds that are not musical and that way cut yourself off from a good deal of experience.

;^)