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As some of you have noticed, for people’s birthdays I tend to do the “Happy Song” instead of “Happy Birthday” or something similar.

This dates back to the summer of 1983 when I was between my sophomore and junior years of college. (Folks playing close attention will note a whole lot happened to me that summer.)

The birthday of my (then) friend Ed was in early June. (Yes, this is the middle of the night Ed, but that was 3 years in the future at this point.) My brother was very fond of my (then) friend Ed. (Yes, I think it means what you think that means, no matter how much my mother loudly declares “he’s not gay you know” at family events.)
So, my brother made Ed a birthday cake.
My brother is not known for his ability to cook.
The final cake was about 4” across and he could not fit the word “birthday” on it due to its small size.
So he wrote “Happy Ed” on the cake.

When it came time to have cake and sign, my friend Greg said:
“It’s not right to sing ‘happy birthday’ as the cake only says ‘happy Ed’.”
So, Greg came up with the pattern of birthday song that group of folks still clings to today:
“Happy, Happy, Happy,
Ed, Ed, Ed”

I’m not saying its a good tradition, just one still in use by about 3 people...