Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

One of my favorite songs to sing throughout the Christmas season is Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.  When performing, it is one of my first choices to share with an audience.  The title itself invokes a good feeling and brings a smile to my face. There was always one line that disturbed me, “Through the years, we all will be together if the fates allow”, until several years ago when I learned a little bit more about this song.

Judy Garland sang the song in 1944 in the classic MGM movie, “Meet Me in St. Louis”. The song writing credited to  Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane. In an interview with NPR in December of 2006, Martin said that Blane had encouraged him to write the song but did not have anything more to do with its composition.

Martin wrote the song at a house in Birmingham, Alabama that his Father had designed as a Honeymoon Cottage for his Mother. When the original version of the song was presented to MGM, Garland, along with co-star Tom Drake and director Vincente Minnelli thought the song was too depressing.

Have yourself a Merry little Christmas, it may be your last. Next year we may all be living in the past. Have yourself a Merry little Christmas, pop that champagne cork. Next year we will all be living in New York.

No good times like the olden days, happy golden days of your, Faithful friends who were dear to us, will be near to us no more. But at least we all will be together, if the Fates allow, From now on we’ll have to muddle through somehow. So have yourself a Merry little Christmas now.

(**I must admit that in this form it is a little depressing although it fit the theme of the movie that the family would be moving to New York and leaving behind their life and friends from St. Louis.)

Martin reluctantly made some changes to the song and I am so glad that he did. "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".

In 1957, Frank Sinatra decided to record the song for his album “A Jolly Christmas”. He asked Martin if he would come up with a jolly line to replace "Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow". The new line became "Hang a shining star upon the highest bough", now that’s more like it Mr. Martin. The song began to take shape and became a celebration of present happiness rather than focusing solely on a brighter future.

Over the years the song has been recorded hundreds if not thousands of times with combinations of lines from the various versions of the song.  Now you may be thinking, you still haven’t addressed the line that disturbed you. Well in 2002, the Christian group Newsong released a version of the song on their album The Christmas Shoes. The song was sung by lead singer Michael O’Brien. I am happy to say that I know Michael personally and have heard him share this story in person as well as in print.

In 1990, Michael met Hugh Martin who was playing the piano at a California church where Michael was performing.  It seems that the line in question was also changed to remove religious references from the song. The line as he originally penned it read, “Through the years we all will be together, if the Lord allows.” That is how I wrote it and that is how I want you to sing it, said Martin to O’Brien. Ever since then when I perform the song in concert I sing it as originally intended and I hope next time you hear it, that the word Lord will be on your lips too. And remember to Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.  If the Lord allows I will share some other stories behind some your favorite Christmas songs and mine. Till tomorrow.