For something with a lovely sentiment, but not humourous, consider Hubert Parry's lovely setting of Christina Rossetti's poem "My heart is like a singing bird".
Another non-comic possibility is Elizabeth Scheidel-Austin's song cycle for high voice and piano, "A Birthday Bouquet", which includes four birthday-themed songs by different poets (e.e. cummings, Yeats, Christina Rossetti), though musically this might not be "accessible" to everyone.
Some possibilities from among pop "standards":
Warren & Mercer: "You must have been a beautiful baby"
Rodgers & Hammerstein: "From cradle to altar" from ALLEGRO (for a young man's birthday)
Rodgers & Hammerstein: "Now is the time" from SOUTH PACIFIC
Van Heusen & Burke: "Aren't you glad you're you?" from the film THE BELLS OF ST. MARY'S
Now, for the humourous song:
A classic of black humour is Tom Lehrer's "When you are old and grey" which pretty much sets the sentiments of Thomas Moore's "Believe me if all those endearing young charms" on their ear (or, more accurately, their arse). Not for the faint of heart, the easily offended, or the weak of stomach.
Karen Mercedes http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html ______________________________________ I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. 1 Corinthians 14:15
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