Harmonising whilst singing happy birthday

[NCParanoia]

Caveat: I know there's bigger and worse things going on in the world that I should be annoyed at, but here we are.

Does this make anyone else totally cringe? I have a family member who always harmonises when we sing happy birthday, especially the last bit. I find it so cringey.. its a bit me me me when the point of singing happy birthday is for the birthday person to be in the limelight. Also isn't it something awful we all sing just because we have to, not because we want to?

Am I alone in this? Do you harmonise when singing happy birthday? If so - why?!

(I promise I'm also a happy, fun person who likes to have a good time. I appreciate i sound like a massive birthday grinch)

Hey - I very briefly had a career as a singing telegram with a friend - we did a couple of birthday parties. I cringe at the memory!

Not quite the same thing,but my late DM used to sing along with hymns if they were on the TV (e.g. Songs of Praise). Which was fine,but for some reason she would sing in an unnaturally deep voice. She would drop a whole octave. No idea why,as she didn't have a particularly low pitched speaking voice. It just used to make me cringe!

its wanky my dh is welsh but never heard him do this however i told him and he thinks its normal

My entire family do this. But only really for family or close friends. We did it in pizza express the other day and the waitress was a bit taken aback but we had fun.

It’s not narcissistic or attention seeking, for us anyway. It’s just a stupid family quirk. It’s fun, and it makes us chuckle.

No birthday singing complete with harmony IMO.

without harmony I mean

This thread is ace.

My extended family do this, they each take a SATB part and behave as if Gareth Malone is hiding inside the cake. I think it’s wanksville, but Happy Birthday the least of my worries because at Xmas they turn up with a stack of carol singing books for enforced warbling around the tree, a la Dickens. Silent Night is in German and In Dulce Jubilo pronounced ‘Dolchay heeeee-oooo-billow’...

They should really be put down.

@NCParanoia

cheetah harmonising is singing the same line of a song but in a different key so it sounds melodic. Probs not the best description but hopefully you know what I mean!

No that is absolutely not what harmonising is. Harmonies are in the same key as the melody and are NOT necessarily the same melodic line as the song (although usually use the same words). If you tried to sing the harmony in a different key it would sound anything but melodic.

Yes. My dad does this every time. To every song. Has anyone had to endure singing Happy Birthday over zoom? There’s a very slight time delay, so not only is everyone out of tune, they’re out of time too. Awful. I used to find my dad harmonizing to everything very cringe-inducing; now I find it hilarious as he gets so much joy out of it 😂

I think it depends on context. I sing in a lot of choirs and if it's HB2U for a singing friend, all bets are off and everyone picks their own notes. Sometimes it's appalling, but usually it's amazing.

But if it's e.g. for a work friend, or somewhere else where most people aren't recreational singers, then I will just sing the tune (and firmly try to start people off on a fairly low note, otherwise everyone screeches and wobbles on the high bit).

Don't get a bee in your bonnet Foundation if you RTFT you'd have seen that i already agreed it was an incorrect description (and PPs have provided a better explanation). I'm not a music-y person so was just doing my best at explaining.

Ha brilliant bluecast you must have really spread the cringe around. Any good telegram stories to tell?

ODFOkaren

I come from a family of wankers (read “singers” and “musicians”) and they ALL do this. It’s like a competitive sport.

And given the opportunity they grab an instrument to play while they are at it.

It makes me want to rip my ears off.

I fucking hate the lot of them and only go for the cake as I’m a fat bastard.
🤣🤣ODFO ...you made me snort

I did not even know this was a thing. I need to witness this, my life is lacking.

@WestendVBroadway

Here are tha 2nd and 3rd verses. You're welcome!

We always do the how old are you now verse, but I thought it was a pisstake- but it's actually a real part of the song?! Happy birthday is the worst song. Don't harmonise it's so lame, just get through it.

OMG you must be a member of my family as I do this. The shame 🎶

Oh dear

Don’t ever hang out with any professional musicians. The harmonies on Happy Birthday get very intricate if a bunch of us are together.

I would much rather the people singing me happy birthday made an effort to sing nicely. For some the effort is "loud" but if you sing well and sing harmony it will be pleasant to the ears. Same as Christmas carols, hymns etc.

Bunch of killjoys!

im jealous.
my family are so self-concious, one refuses to be sung too, one just mouths the words, its hard for people who cant sing to carry the song!

@Commonwasher

This thread is ace.

My extended family do this, they each take a SATB part and behave as if Gareth Malone is hiding inside the cake. I think it’s wanksville, but Happy Birthday the least of my worries because at Xmas they turn up with a stack of carol singing books for enforced warbling around the tree, a la Dickens. Silent Night is in German and In Dulce Jubilo pronounced ‘Dolchay heeeee-oooo-billow’...

They should really be put down.

Should be put down? I assume you’re joking, but even so you wouldn’t say that about any other group of people (at least, I assume you wouldn’t be racist or disablist etc) so why this level of hatred and disgust?

DC are teens now but when they were toddlers and I used to take them to toddler groups and stuff, there was this mum friend who used to harmonise to the songs. Think the likes of bah bah black sheep, wind the bobbin up and shit like that. I was fascinated.

I LOVE harmonizing Happy Birthday 😃
But then again my family and my extended family all do it too. We're all really musical. Most of us play an instrument or sing to a proficient level, belong to amateur orchestras, groups, bands, etc, and a good proportion of us are professional level musicians.
We don't do it to be Me, Me, Me. We do it cos it's so much fun. I love singing it this way, and I love having it sung to me in this way too, in fact I'd be disappointed if they didn't.
I don't think we are hurting anyone, and it brings a but of extra fun to an otherwise mundane song.
I'm -hugely amused- surprised at how much this annoys/angers people

This is such a pathetic thing to get wound up about. At least you’ve actually all got family and friends wishing you Happy Birthday. I’d love to have a big family and lots of music as part of a family life - the Dickensian Carols round the piano at Christmas sounds infinitely better than the lonely Christmasses a lot of people including me experience year in year out. The level of hatred for supposed friends and family members on this thread is just horrible...and all because they add a harmony on the end of Happy Birthday. Weird.

Oh jesus, the seriously sanctimonious have arrived 🙄

I like it! It’s not showing off, it’s making more of an effort to make someone’s birthday tune sound nice. Like decorating a cake. You don’t think, oh what a twat. You think, oh wow they’ve gone to lots of effort for me to make my cake look pretty. Same with the tune and harmonising