The song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is a holiday classic, but its genesis goes back to Judy Garland in the Meet in St. Louis. Turns out, it helped this melancholic Christmas tune stay on the right side of the Christmas spirit.
In the 1944 film, Garland plays Esther Smith, a lively girl who lives with her family in the titular town. She also sings “The Trolley Song” in one of the film’s most memorable scenes. Just before Christmas, Esther’s father announces that the family will leave St. Louis in New York and everyone is heartbroken.
Garland’s Esther tries to comfort her little sister, Tootie Margaret O’Brien, and sings “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”
Judy Garland in ‘Meet Me in St. Louis.’
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But when Garland, who died in 1969, first got the lyrics, she thought they were too sad and didn’t want to sing them. The original version, written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, began with: “I wish myself a merry little Christmas; maybe it’s your last. Next year we may all be living in the past.” Martin, who died in 2011, said Entertainment Weekly 2007, “I’ve often wondered what it would be like if those lines were sung in a movie.”
Garland told Martin, “I can’t sing that,” said Judy Garland biographer and Martin friend John Fricke The New York Times in an article published on December 18. “The audience will think I’m a monster singing that song to that little girl.”
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Martin promised to rewrite the song, but Tom Drake — who played Garland’s lover — convinced him not to scrap it. “He said, ‘You stupid son of a bitch! You’ll make a mess of your life if you don’t write another verse of that song!’ said Martin EW. The lyrics were changed to, “Have yourself a happy little Christmas; let your heart be easy. Next year, all our troubles will disappear from sight.”
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But the song was not a big hit when the movie released. In 1957, Frank Sinatra helped make it a hit when he recorded it, but thought the lyrics were still too dark. He had Martin rewrite the lyrics, and “Until then we’ll need to muddle through somehow” turned into “Hang a shining star on the maximum bough.” The song was also not about the future but about the present.
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Margaret O’Brien (left) and Liza Minnelli in ‘Meet Me in St. to Louis.’.
Getty
Sinatra’s lyrics have become the most famous and have been re-recorded by many musicians, but many fans of the original lyrics remain. Singer James Taylor said for time the original line was “much better lyrics”.
According to times“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is the 11th most played holiday song. Billie Eilish, Ally Brooke and Dinah Jane, Hannah Waddingham, Lea Michele, Jason Kelce, Kate Hudson, Brett Eldredge and dozens more have covered songs.
Martin told NPR in 2010, “The weirdest version [I heard] was a group called Twisted Sister. My favorite versions of all time are from the old days. Judy Garland, of course. [was] always on top with me. And Mel Torme, who wrote a beautiful new verse for it, was really out of this world. And Frank Sinatra, you can’t beat ‘Mr. Blue eyes.’ ”
Liza Minnelli — daughter of Garland and Meet in St. Louis directed by Vincent Minnelli — told PEOPLE earlier this month that the song is still her favorite Christmas song. “It’s a family tradition that makes us all laugh and cry,” she said.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education