he New Birthday Song, “Your Trip around the Sun,” was written and composed by James Murray in Athens, Ohio in 1997.
A classical arrangement by C. Scott Smith was recorded by The Local Girls vocal trio, The Lark Quartet and The Ohio University Chamber Singers under the direction of Dr. Peter Jarjisian.
On Wednesday, November 5th 1997, the premiere of the song was presented live to First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in Washington DC, in honor of her 50th birthday.
Although the new birthday song, “Your Trip Around the Sun,” was not written for Hillary Rodham Clinton, because of her close ties to Athens it seemed especially appropriate to present its premiere to her since her fiftieth birthday fell on October 26th, the same weekend as the celebration of Athens Ohio’s Bicentennial in1997.
Between 1992 and 1999, Hillary Clinton made four visits to Athens. In 1997, she delivered the commencement address at Ohio University.
The recording of the song and the live performance for her in DC was very much a town/gown effort. It was a modest way of saying “Thank you” to Ms. Rodham Clinton for sharing herself with Athens and with Ohio University during her 4 visits to our small college town. More than 70 local people were directly involved in making the Washington DC performance a reality.
he Local Girls and The Ohio University String Quartet, under the direction of arranger C. Scott Smith, were invited to perform the new birthday song In Washington DC at a private reception for the First Lady hosted by Tipper Gore.
Reading from printed lyric sheets, about 200 prominent guests joined in with The Local Girls to sing the new song to Ms. Rodham Clinton. Guests included a large number of well-known members of the Women’s Leadership Forum of the Democratic National Committee, including feminist Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine Mystique.
For this occasion, the Ohio University String Quartet agreed to stand-in for the Lark Quartet who were unable to attend because they were performing in Europe.
The Ohio University String Quartet consisted of Howard Beebe, Violin; Richard Linn, Violin; Kimo Furumoto, Viola; and Mark Schroeder, Cello.
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C. Scott Smith, arranger for the song, with |
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The Lark Quartet rehearses before |
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The Ohio University Chamber Singers |
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Member of ASCAP
