For He's a Jolly Good Fellow
The song For He's a Jolly Good Fellow is sung to congratulate a person, usually at a birthday, an extraordinary event or a wedding. They especially like it is sung, if at a sports event their team has won.
The Guinness Book of World Records lists the song as the second most popular in the English -speaking world. He preceded Happy Birthday to You, in third place followed by Auld Lang Syne.
Genesis
The melody comes from the French song Marlbrough s'en va -t -en guerre ( fr., Marlborough Goes to War ' ), which was sung in 1709 during the night after the battle of Malplaquet for the first time. It was then on a French folk tune. Especially popular it was Marie Antoinette who got sung this song more often by her nanny. The tune became so popular in France that Ludwig van Beethoven Wellington's Victory 1813 used in the piece to represent the French so musically. The melody of the song was known in the UK as an exercise for the harpsichord. According to the same melody and the traditional English children's song The Bear Went Over the Mountain is sung.
Text
Since the 19th century the melody with the text For He's a Jolly Good Fellow is sung. The British and American text version differ slightly from each other. The second line " and so say all of us " is the typical British variant, while "which nobody can deny" is used in America. Also a mix of the two variants is also possible due to repetition.
The text, which includes a gender-specific pronouns (he, he ') is, nowadays with the feminine pronoun she ( she ' sung ), which was not the case in earlier times in women. If the song sung at the same time for several people, the pronoun They will ( 'them', plural ) are used. The translation of the English text could accordingly be: " Because he is a funny and good buddy ."