# When was "cha cha cha" added to the "Happy Birthday Song"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 2, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-cha-cha-cha-added-to-the-happy-birthday-song/272485 "2004-11-02T03:16:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JustAGuess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/da6949/32.png) [@JustAGuess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustAGuess)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-cha-cha-cha-added-to-the-happy-birthday-song/272485/21 "2011-02-10T02:50:59Z")
My best guess would be that Jimmy Durante’s “ha-cha-cha-cha” would be the likely influence. That signature line was subsequently echoed in many cartoons after 1950 from Warner Bros. to the more contemporary Powderpuff Girls. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-cha-cha-cha-added-to-the-happy-birthday-song/272485/22 "2011-02-10T02:58:07Z")
Never known nor heard the cha-cha-cha and I just sang it to my 3 yr old niece. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-cha-cha-cha-added-to-the-happy-birthday-song/272485/23 "2011-02-10T03:39:25Z")
Since this is about a song, let’s move it to Cafe Society. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-cha-cha-cha-added-to-the-happy-birthday-song/272485/24 "2011-02-10T03:49:04Z")
> [@JustAGuess](#): > > My best guess would be that Jimmy Durante’s “ha-cha-cha-cha” would be the likely influence. That signature line was subsequently echoed in many cartoons after 1950 from Warner Bros. to the more contemporary Powderpuff Girls. Or, more likely, the cha-cha. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-cha-cha-cha-added-to-the-happy-birthday-song/272485/25 "2011-02-10T04:08:36Z")
Jimmy Durante, (as noted), only said “Ha cha cha.” I think the Chipmunks might actually be the source of any new infestations. At the time that the original records were produced, adding “cha cha cha” to the end of various verses of a lot of different songs was a very wide phenomenon, (hence, its inclusion on the Chipmunks record). The recent movies could have simply copied that little schtick out of the originals almost by accident or some nostalgic Boomer on the film’s crew could have made sure that it was included. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-cha-cha-cha-added-to-the-happy-birthday-song/272485/26 "2011-02-10T04:35:45Z")
I had never heard this phenomenon at all until about 5 years ago… since then, kids have done it at EVERY birthday party I’ve been to. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-cha-cha-cha-added-to-the-happy-birthday-song/272485/27 "2011-02-10T04:46:29Z")
I remember hearing it grade school, so that would be 20-25ish years ago. ---
**Author:** ![oliversarmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/eb8c5e/32.png) [@oliversarmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oliversarmy)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-cha-cha-cha-added-to-the-happy-birthday-song/272485/28 "2011-02-10T04:58:08Z")
I have one kid in college and another in high school and this was common when they were little. It seems I may have seen it on Barney, too. However, it never happened when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-cha-cha-cha-added-to-the-happy-birthday-song/272485/29 "2011-02-10T05:06:22Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/MpYG9eE8gN4/hqdefault.jpg "happy birthday to you cha cha cha") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpYG9eE8gN4) My daughter is 7 and it has happened at all of her parties. If you google the complete phrase “happy birthday to you cha cha cha” there are a ton of hits. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-cha-cha-cha-added-to-the-happy-birthday-song/272485/30 "2011-02-10T05:18:51Z")
Never heard it with “Happy Birthday” (and it can’t be any more annoying than that obnoxious harmonizing on the last line–can it?), but it was appended to “Old MacDonald” ca. 1959, and later, the Chipmunks (them again) picked up on that. It was popular for kids to add it at the ends of verses as far back as the early 1960s. ---
**Author:** ![TravisFromOR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@TravisFromOR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TravisFromOR)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-cha-cha-cha-added-to-the-happy-birthday-song/272485/31 "2011-02-10T08:19:32Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > What about the “and many more, on channel four, and frankenstein on channel nine” verses. I also assume those weren’t in the original. 😃 What about, “you look like a monkey, and you smell like one too!!!”? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-cha-cha-cha-added-to-the-happy-birthday-song/272485/32 "2011-02-10T11:00:07Z")
> [@cornflakes](#): > > The meter is changed from 3/4 with two measures per line to 2/4, with three measures per line and an extra beat at the end. I guess you could call it 7/4, but there’s a definite “one-two” 2/4 thing going. > > ‘Happy’ and ‘birthday’ become straight eighth notes, though still lead in notes on the extra beat, or last beat if you’re counting in 7/4 ‘To’ and ‘you’ are quarter notes sung on the downbeats, and ‘cha-cha-cha’ is three eighth notes, with the first ‘cha’ sung on the downbeat of the third measure, or fifth beat, if you’re counting in 7/4. > > Of course, being a bunch of six year olds and their parents, about a third of the voices did straight eighth notes, another third sang the same notes we’ve always known and threw in an extra beat, and another third mumbled, but I detected a strong eighth note contingent. > > Like I said, I heard it at one party several years ago. For the etymologists, I think the kid’s family was Cuban, but I could be wrong. My kids picked it up for a few years, but I honestly don’t know if they do it anymore. It’s pretty catchy, IMHO. Huh. I always thought of it as 3/4 followed by 4/4. And while I’ve not heard the chachacha’s ever recorded, I have heard that particular rhythm pattern, both for the entire song, and just for the third line as a way of keeping the fermata in some sort of time. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-cha-cha-cha-added-to-the-happy-birthday-song/272485/33 "2011-02-10T11:06:51Z")
Here it is on [Youtube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFh-rX_Sfhs#t=0m27s). No one is singing chachacha, but you can hear instruments where the words are normally sung. The part on “happy” seems to be sixteenth notes, though. And it’s in 4/4 throughout, using jazz syncopation to emulate the 3/4. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-cha-cha-cha-added-to-the-happy-birthday-song/272485/34 "2011-02-10T13:38:42Z")
I’ve always heard it started as the birthday song for the old restaurant Chi-Chi’s. It’s annoying, but it seems to disappear around the ninth birthday. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-cha-cha-cha-added-to-the-happy-birthday-song/272485/35 "2011-02-10T14:14:42Z")
I didn’t realize it ‘came from’ anywhere or see it as a reference to anything. I thought it emerged as a reaction to people getting bored of the song because it’s slowish and dull, and you’re forced to sing very often (particularly when you’re in school). BRAAAAAAINS … cha cha cha … BRAAAAAAAAAINNS … cha cha cha … ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-cha-cha-cha-added-to-the-happy-birthday-song/272485/36 "2011-02-10T14:15:51Z")
Apparently, it’s been around a while or at least this [this video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xpg6IA_3iLo) makes it seem so. The guy who made it died in 2004. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-cha-cha-cha-added-to-the-happy-birthday-song/272485/37 "2011-02-10T14:30:24Z")
Other than zombie children singing it that way, it’s not that popular a variation in my region. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-cha-cha-cha-added-to-the-happy-birthday-song/272485/38 "2011-02-10T14:55:39Z")
I prefer the short birthday song. _This is your birthday song It isn’t very long_ ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-cha-cha-cha-added-to-the-happy-birthday-song/272485/39 "2011-02-10T14:55:58Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > I’ve always heard it started as the birthday song for the old restaurant Chi-Chi’s. > > It’s annoying, but it seems to disappear around the ninth birthday. Really? 'Cause I hear it being done for grown-ass adults. I just assumed that it was some kind of obnoxious white-bread cultural meme picked up from _Friends_ or _Seinfeld_ that in my efforts to maintain my calm I either blotted out of my mind or missed entirely. The only time anyone should say, “Cha-cha-cha!” is if they’re dancing a rumba or appearing on an Argentine television program of the same name. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-cha-cha-cha-added-to-the-happy-birthday-song/272485/40 "2011-02-10T15:05:40Z")
When my son was in elementary school in the 1990s, the birthday child was given the option of having Happy Birthday being sung to him/her either with or without the cha-cha-cha addition. If kids are at a birthday celebration, invariably one will add the cha-chas. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-cha-cha-cha-added-to-the-happy-birthday-song/272485.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-cha-cha-cha-added-to-the-happy-birthday-song/272485.md?page=3)