Mama Lisa's Books

Birthday Songs From Portugal and The Dominican Republic

Since the “Happy Birthday to You” song has recently gone out of copyright, we've enhanced our collection of Birthday Songs around the World! There are however two birthday songs that we know of that are widely sung and that are still under copyright. One is a Portuguese Birthday Song [...]

The Happy Birthday Song in France

The Happy Birthday to You song was taken out of copyright on Tuesday! This is particularly great because people all over the world sing the song in both English and their own languages. When I studied in France, the couple I lived with sang the Happy Birthday song in English at birthday [...]

The Happy Birthday Song is finally in the Public Domain!

Finally we can all sing the Happy Birthday to You song publicly for free!  The tune has been in the public domain for a long time but a copyright was claimed on the lyrics by the music publishing company, Warner/Chappell. On Tuesday, a Federal Judge ruled that the company does not have a [...]

Spanish Song – I Love You Mommy, with Recording

Sara Quintanar was kind enough to share with us a Spanish song she wrote and sang with some of her students.  It's called Mam te quiero mucho (I Love You Mommy). This is a wonderful song for Mother's Day, Valentine's Day or really any day at all.  What mother wouldn't love to hear [...]

Lyrics to the Norwegian Birthday Song with an English Translation and YouTube Videos

Here are lyrics to the Norwegian Birthday song “Hurra for deg som fyller ditt år!” (Hurray for You for Celebrating Your Birthday). It's a birthday song written by Margrethe Aabel Munthe (1860 - 1931): Hurra for deg som fyller ditt år! (Norwegian) Hurra for deg som fyller [...]

Mother's Day in Mexico with a Spanish Song

Mother's Day in Mexico is called Día de las Madres in Spanish. It's held on May 10th every year. The evening of the 9th is also important. Grown children are expected to spend the evening before Mother's Day with their Moms too. Many Mexican mothers wake up to their children singing Las [...]

Do You Know the Romanian Birthday Song – “La Multi Ani”?

Naomi wrote: Hello! I am looking or the words for the traditional La Multi Ani sung at birthdays in Romanian. It starts off with “La Multi Ani sa traiti...” There is another song (which I am not looking for, but which pops up all the time!), which is “Cine sa traeasca” (a [...]

Can Anyone Help with a Cuban Rhyme/Finger Play that starts with “Chiquitica así”?

Jeannie Backer wrote to us for help with a Cuban Finger Play. Here's her note... My mother from Cuba used to sing a song/rhyme to usthat I only partially remember, maybe you have heard something similar. It's not a song as much as a cute thing that a child says to adult to ask for

The [...]

About the Song “Cooma Lotta Veesay”

We received the note below with the song “Cooma Lotta Veesay”. Many variations of this song exist, including “Kumala Vista”. It also shares lyrics with the action song called “Flee, Fly, Flo“. Here's the email: “In the late 1950s, we lived near a [...]