Happy Birthday (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year)
Happy Birthday (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year) is a song that was written by Ron Kitson, published by Sure-Fire Music, and recorded by Loretta Lynn in the Fall of 1964 and released before Christmas of that year by Decca Records on a 45 RPM single.
It was not only an instant Country hit, but up until Christmas was receiving considerable air play on "Pop-Rock" stations on the east and west American coasts and was a "Pick Hit of the Week" on WWDC, Washington, DC. It continued up the Country Charts well into the Spring of 1965 reaching #3 on the Billboard Country Charts. Happy Birthday Spent 15 weeks in the top ten and received a BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) award in 1965.
The song was included on the Loretta Lynn LP "Songs From My Heart" in 1964 and later on the Decca LP "Loretta Lynn's Greatest Hits" which was duplicated also on CD. According to Kitson, "I first sang the song to Loretta back stage at the "Horse Shoe" night club where she was appearing in Toronto, Ontario and she wanted a tape of it which she took back to Nashville where she recorded it a few weeks later. She first performed it on the Grand Ole Opry with Connie Smith providing harmony during the DJ Convention in Nashville in October 1964."