Happy birthday to me!
Last year, when I turned 46, I wrote a silly little non-rhyming birthday song inspired by evolution and loosely based on the children’s classic (“Happy birthday to you/ You live in the zoo/ You look like a monkey/ And you smell like one, too”). It went:
Happy birthday to me
I don’t live in a tree
But I look like a primate
Because I am one.
Today I’m turning 47. (A fact that I’m ever so slightly freaked out about, as it means I am now officially in my late 40s). So I’ve decided to keep this tradition going, and have written another evolution- themed self- aggrandizing birthday song. And this one even rhymes! It goes like this:
Happy birthday to me
I evolved from the sea
I’m a cousin to plankton
And the rat and the bee.
So happy birthday to me… and Happy New Year to all of you!
31 comments
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drdave
December 31, 2008 at 6:44 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy Birthday indeed.
And nice poems.
Juliana Marie
December 31, 2008 at 7:07 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Very best of birthday wishes to you, and well done on the poem. Your choice of cousins to mention speaks to me as well, having had several pet rats over the years, and being a big fan of honey – guess I’m indifferent to plankton, except for that character on SpongeBob Squarepants. Happy writing & editing in 2009 – looking forward to your continued edifying influence.
Mike Haubrich, FCD
December 31, 2008 at 9:16 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy Birthday!
Steve Caldwell
December 31, 2008 at 9:38 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Greta,
Happy birthday — here’s an e-rose for you:
@—–>—–>—–
Christine
December 31, 2008 at 9:51 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy birthday and happy New Year to you!
Vanessa
December 31, 2008 at 10:14 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy birthday, sweetie! I’m sorry I couldn’t see it in with you in person this time — I hope it’s been fun!
Have a great year with many wonderful things, including much more trenchant prose.
efrique
December 31, 2008 at 11:33 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy Birthday.
(My 46th is in a few weeks.)
I really like the earlier song, but then I’m a fan of unexpected non-rhymes.
mimbles
January 1, 2009 at 1:30 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy Birthday Greta!
Cath the Canberra Cook
January 1, 2009 at 3:17 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy Birthday! Love the rhymes, and we’re the same age, cool.
Kit Whitfield
January 1, 2009 at 3:18 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy birthday!
The Count
January 1, 2009 at 3:38 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy Birthday Greta, and may you and Ingrid have a wonderful New Year.
vjack
January 1, 2009 at 4:59 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy birthday, and here’s to another year of outstanding reality-based blogging!
J. J. Ramsey
January 1, 2009 at 5:48 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy Birthday and Happy New Year!
Yazbec
January 1, 2009 at 7:46 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Have a great b-day, and thanks for everything!
Marley Fitz
January 1, 2009 at 8:02 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy birthday. Hope you have something wonderful planned for today. Of course, if you rang in the new year last night, you might need today to recover. In any case, hope your day is a good one.
natalie m
January 1, 2009 at 8:52 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy birthday! I would never, never have guessed you were in your 40s from the photos of you you’ve posted!
arnie
January 1, 2009 at 9:09 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Hey! I stumbled on your blog today and haven’t been able to get away from it for hours. You and your articles are quite awesome
Happy birthday and huge thanks for what you are doing!
Clare
January 1, 2009 at 10:28 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy birthday, Greta, and a happy new year to everyone!
nina hartley
January 1, 2009 at 1:16 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy Birthday, Greta! Keep those great blogs coming. Late 40′s is great. I’m going to be 50 in March, so I’d love to be “only” 47 again (but only if I knew then what I know now).
Party hearty!
agnohumanist
January 1, 2009 at 5:31 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy b-day, Greta, from the Midwest. I’ve been reading your blog for about a year now, and I am constantly impressed with your writing–stylish, informative, witty, entertaining, incisive…and several other adjectives! LOL
Ebonmuse
January 1, 2009 at 7:29 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy 47th, Greta, and many happy returns.
skepticscott
January 1, 2009 at 8:12 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy Birthday to you, Greta! I reached 47 just one day earlier than you, but sadly discovered your blog only today. As if I didn’t already have enough to absorb me…
yinyang
January 2, 2009 at 7:21 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
A very merry un-birthday, and a belated Happy Birthday to you, Greta!
Caitlin Muelder
January 2, 2009 at 12:53 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy birthday my cousin extrodinaire! I loved your songs for last year and this year so much! The line about plankton was my favorite!
Love you
Caity
DeSwiss
January 3, 2009 at 2:13 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy Birthday Greta!
Ola
January 3, 2009 at 4:15 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy birthday, dear Greta! May your wishes come true, so you have space for new ones!
Kay
January 3, 2009 at 5:41 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Hey GC, long time lurker here… just wanted to say Happy Birthday to you!
And i love the birthday songs, they are made of awesome
absent sway
January 4, 2009 at 2:41 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy birthday, my fellow new-year’s-eve baby! *starts singing the Beatles* If I weren’t attempting to be rational lately, I would say something about this meaning that we have some sort of cosmic connection
Mephit
January 5, 2009 at 4:38 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy birthday, belatedly.
Dave Haaz-Baroque
January 5, 2009 at 10:07 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy (belated) birthday!
mathyoo
January 5, 2009 at 4:10 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
darn it! I haven’t made time to catch up on blogs for a week or so. My birthday is New Year’s Eve, too! I turned 43 on the 31st.