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Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

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This article is about the song. For Kurt Nilsen album, see Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (album). For the House episode, see Merry Little Christmas.
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"
Song
LanguageEnglish
Published1943, 1944; alternate lyrics added by Martin 1957; copyright renewed 1971, 1972[1]
Composer(s)Ralph Blane
Lyricist(s)Hugh Martin

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is a song introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me in St. Louis. Frank Sinatra later recorded a version with modified lyrics, which has become more common than the original. The song was written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane. In 2007, ASCAP ranked "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" the third most performed Christmas song during the preceding five years that had been written by ASCAP members.[3]

Meet Me in St. Louis

The song was written while Martin was vacationing in a house in Birmingham, Alabama, that his father Hugh Martin[4] designed for his mother as a honeymoon cottage. The house was located in the Southside section of the city, across the street from Hugh's mother and right beside her aunt. The song first appeared in a scene in Meet Me in St. Louis, in which a family is distraught by the father's plans to move to New York City for a job promotion, leaving behind their beloved home in St. Louis, Missouri, just before the long-anticipated Louisiana Purchase Exposition begins. In a scene set on Christmas Eve, Judy Garland's character, Esther, sings the song to cheer up her despondent five-year-old sister, Tootie, played by Margaret O'Brien.[5]

However, when presented with the original draft lyric, Garland, her co-star Tom Drake and director Vincente Minnelli criticized the song as depressing, and asked Martin to change the lyrics.[1] Though he initially resisted, Martin made several changes to make the song more upbeat. For example, the lines "It may be your last / Next year we may all be living in the past" became "Let your heart be light / Next year all our troubles will be out of sight".[1] Garland's version of the song, which was also released as a single by Decca Records, became popular among United States troops serving in World War II; her performance at the Hollywood Canteen brought many soldiers to tears.[6]

Subsequent version

In 1957, Frank Sinatra asked Martin to revise the line "Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow". He told Martin, "The name of my album is A Jolly Christmas. Do you think you could jolly up that line for me?"[1] Martin's new line was "Hang a shining star upon the highest bough". Martin made several other alterations, changing the song's focus to a celebration of present happiness, rather than anticipation of a better future. On The Judy Garland Show Christmas Special, Judy sings the song to her children Joey and Lorna Luft with Sinatra's alternate lyrics.[7]

The lyrics Judy Garland sang in Meet Me in St. Louis have been recorded with only slight variations by a number of artists, including Sinatra himself (in 1950 and 1963 single recordings), Doris Day (in The Doris Day Christmas Album), Ella Fitzgerald (in Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas), James Taylor (in October Road) and Luther Vandross (in This Is Christmas).[1]

Other notable recordings

Religious lyrics

In 2001 the 86-year-old composer Hugh Martin, occasionally active as a pianist with religious ministries since the 1980s, wrote an entirely new set of lyrics to the song with John Fricke, "Have Yourself a Blessed Little Christmas", a religious version of the secular Christmas standard. The song was recorded by gospel female vocalist Del Delker with Martin accompanying her on piano.[12]

In 2002, NewSong lead singer Michael O'Brien noted the line "through the years, we all will be together if the Lord allows," which was part of the original song, was purged and replaced with "if the fates allow" to remove religious reference when the song was released. He noted while a pastor in a California church in 1990, he had met Martin, who played piano at the church where O'Brien was serving for an evening, and the pastor was told, "That's the original way I wrote it, so I want you to sing it this way." [13] In addition to NewSong, Rachael Lampa, Twila Paris, Kathy Troccoli, Phil Wickham, BarlowGirl, and Don Moen have recorded the song with the original lyrics.[citation needed]

In other languages

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Willman, Chris (2006-12-22). "There's Something About Merry". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
  2. ^ Studwell, William Emmett (1995). "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". The Christmas carol reader. Routledge. p. 136. ISBN 1-56023-872-0.
  3. ^ "ASCAP Announces Top 25 Holiday Songs" (Press release). ASCAP. 2007-11-12. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
  4. ^ Martin Huge Cottage
  5. ^ Dirks, Tim (1996). "Meet Me In St. Louis (1944)". The Greatest Films. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
  6. ^ Collins, Ace (2001). Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan. pp. 78–79. ISBN 0-310-23926-5.
  7. ^ "The Christmas Special". The Judy Garland Show. Season 1. Episode 15. 1963-12-22. 1:54 minutes in. CBS. CBS Television City. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |city= ignored (|location= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ Merry Christmas by Jackie Gleason & His Orchestra from AllMusic
  9. ^ Christmas in My Heart by Connie Francis from AllMusic
  10. ^ Lydia Have Posted a Christmas Tune
  11. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAtQfdL-sdg
  12. ^ "The Carpenter and the King". The Voice of Prophesy. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
  13. ^ CBS.COM - The Christmas Shoes from CBS
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