Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Encyclopedia
"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.
, that his father Hugh Martin 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
.
The sentimental setting of the tune in the finished scene features understated orchestration by Conrad Salinger
and musical direction of Georgie Stoll
.
However, when presented with the original draft lyric, Garland, her co-star Tom Drake
and director Vincente Minnelli
criticized the song as 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 yore,
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.
Though he initially resisted, songwriter Hugh 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". 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.
recorded the song for his 1956 album Merry Christmas.
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?" Martin's new line, "Hang a shining star upon the highest bough," has since become more widely recognized and sung than the original phrase. 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 to her children Joey and Lorna Luft with Sinatra's alternate lyric.
Although the 1957 rewrite is the most familiar to listeners today, the Judy Garland lyrics have been recorded 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
), and James Taylor
(in October Road). Connie Francis
recorded the song for her 1959 album Christmas in My Heart
.
The Partridge Family
released a version of the song on their 1971 album, A Partridge Family Christmas Card.
The Muppets
recorded this song on several occasions including Bert and Ernie
for the TV special Christmas Eve on Sesame Street
(1978), John Denver
and Rowlf the Dog
for John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together
(1979), and Kermit the Frog
for the album The Muppets: A Green and Red Christmas
(2006).
Chicago
recorded the song for their first Christmas album, Chicago XXV (1998).
LeAnn Rimes
recorded the song on her first Christmas album, What a Wonderful World
(2004).
The Cheetah Girls recorded the song on the Disney Channel Holiday
(2007) compilation album.
Neil Sedaka
recorded the song for his 2008 first-ever holiday album, The Miracle of Christmas.
Filipino pop crooner Richard Poon
recorded the song from his 2011 Christmas Album, Christmas With Richard Poon.
, "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.
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." In addition to NewSong, Rachael Lampa
, Twila Paris
, Kathy Troccoli
, Phil Wickham
, and BarlowGirl
have recorded the song with the original lyrics.
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
introduced by Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
in the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me in St. Louis
Meet Me in St. Louis
Meet Me in St. Louis is a 1944 musical film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer which tells the story of an American family living in St. Louis at the time of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair in 1904...
. Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
later recorded a version with modified lyrics, which has become more common than the original. The song was written by Hugh Martin
Hugh Martin
Hugh Martin was an American musical theater and film composer, arranger, vocal coach, and playwright. He is best known for his score for the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me In St...
and Ralph Blane
Ralph Blane
Ralph Blane was an American composer, lyricist, and performer.-Life and career:Born Ralph Uriah Hunsecker in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Blane was the son of grocery store owners. He attended Tulsa Central High School...
. 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.
Meet Me in St. Louis
The song was written while Martin was vacationing in a house in Birmingham, AlabamaBirmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, that his father Hugh Martin 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
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
just before the long-anticipated Louisiana Purchase Exposition
Louisiana Purchase Exposition
The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the Saint Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States in 1904.- Background :...
begins. In a scene set on Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
, Judy Garland's character, Esther, sings the song to cheer up her despondent five-year-old sister, Tootie, played by Margaret O'Brien
Margaret O'Brien
Margaret O'Brien is an American film and stage actress. Although her film career as a leading character was brief, she was one of the most popular child actors in cinema history...
.
The sentimental setting of the tune in the finished scene features understated orchestration by Conrad Salinger
Conrad Salinger
Conrad Salinger was an American arranger, orchestrator and composer, who studied classical composition at the Paris Conservatoire. He is credited with orchestrating nine productions on Broadway from 1931 to 1938, and over seventy-five motion pictures from 1931 to 1962...
and musical direction of Georgie Stoll
Georgie Stoll
Georgie Stoll was a musical director, conductor, composer and jazz violinist, associated with the Golden Age of MGM musicals and performers from the 1940s to 1960s. Born George Martin Stoll, he was also later credited as George E...
.
However, when presented with the original draft lyric, Garland, her co-star Tom Drake
Tom Drake
Tom Drake , born Alfred Sinclair Alderdice in Brooklyn, New York, was an American actor. Drake made films starting in 1940 and continuing until the mid-1970s, and also made TV acting appearances....
and director Vincente Minnelli
Vincente Minnelli
Vincente Minnelli was an American stage director and film director, famous for directing such classic movie musicals as Meet Me in St. Louis, The Band Wagon, and An American in Paris. In addition to having directed some of the most famous and well-remembered musicals of his time, Minnelli made...
criticized the song as 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 yore,
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.
Though he initially resisted, songwriter Hugh 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". 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
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
; her performance at the Hollywood Canteen brought many soldiers to tears.
Subsequent recorded versions
Jackie GleasonJackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The...
recorded the song for his 1956 album Merry Christmas.
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
A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra
A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra is a Christmas album by American singer Frank Sinatra, originally released by Capitol Records in 1957.This was Sinatra's first full-length Christmas album...
. Do you think you could jolly up that line for me?" Martin's new line, "Hang a shining star upon the highest bough," has since become more widely recognized and sung than the original phrase. 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 to her children Joey and Lorna Luft with Sinatra's alternate lyric.
Although the 1957 rewrite is the most familiar to listeners today, the Judy Garland lyrics have been recorded by a number of artists, including Sinatra himself (in 1950 and 1963 single recordings), Doris Day
Doris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
(in The Doris Day Christmas Album
The Doris Day Christmas Album
The Doris Day Christmas Album was an album of Christmas songs performed by Doris Day, released by Columbia Records on September 14, 1964 as a monophonic LP album and a stereophonic LP album .-Track listing:...
), Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
(in Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas
Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas
Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas is a 1960 album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, recorded in the summer of 1960, with a studio orchestra arranged and conducted by Frank DeVol....
), and James Taylor
James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000....
(in October Road). Connie Francis
Connie Francis
Connie Francis is an American pop singer of Italian heritage and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1950s and 1960s. Although her chart success waned in the second half of the 1960s, Francis remained a top concert draw...
recorded the song for her 1959 album Christmas in My Heart
Christmas in My Heart (Connie Francis album)
Christmas In My Heart is a studio album of Christmas music recorded by U. S. Entertainer Connie Francis. The album features popular songs of the season on the A-side and the sacred music of Christmas on the B-side....
.
The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family is an American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children who embark on a music career. The series originally ran from September 25, 1970 until August 31, 1974, the last new episode airing on March 23, 1974, on the ABC network, as part of a Friday-night lineup...
released a version of the song on their 1971 album, A Partridge Family Christmas Card.
The Muppets
The Muppets
The Muppets are a group of puppet characters created by Jim Henson starting in 1954–55. Although the term is often used to refer to any puppet that resembles the distinctive style of The Muppet Show, the term is both an informal name and legal trademark owned by the Walt Disney Company in reference...
recorded this song on several occasions including Bert and Ernie
Bert and Ernie
Bert and Ernie are two muppets on the popular U.S. children's television show Sesame Street. The two appear together in numerous skits, forming a comic duo that is one of the centerpieces of the program. Originated by Frank Oz and Jim Henson, the characters are currently performed by Muppeteers...
for the TV special Christmas Eve on Sesame Street
Christmas Eve on Sesame Street
Christmas Eve on Sesame Street is a Sesame Street Christmas special first broadcast on PBS on December 3, 1978.-Plot:The opening features the inhabitants of Sesame Street enjoying an ice skating party. Big Bird has trouble skating, but a child gives him a hand, and he ends up skating very well...
(1978), John Denver
John Denver
Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...
and Rowlf the Dog
Rowlf the Dog
Rowlf the Dog is a Muppet character, a scruffy brown dog of indeterminate breed with a rounded black nose and long floppy ears. He was created by Jim Henson....
for John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together
John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together
John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together is a 1979 Christmas television special starring Jim Henson's Muppets and singer/songwriter John Denver.-Home media releases:...
(1979), and Kermit the Frog
Kermit the Frog
Kermit the Frog is puppeteer Jim Henson's most famous Muppet creation, first introduced in 1955. He is the protagonist of many Muppet projects, most notably as the host of The Muppet Show, and has appeared in various sketches on Sesame Street, in commercials and in public service announcements over...
for the album The Muppets: A Green and Red Christmas
The Muppets: A Green and Red Christmas
-See also:*Kermit Unpigged*Muppets: The Green Album*The Muppets-External links:*...
(2006).
Chicago
Chicago (band)
Chicago is an American rock band formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois. The self-described "rock and roll band with horns" began as a politically charged, sometimes experimental, rock band and later moved to a predominantly softer sound, becoming famous for producing a number of hit ballads. They had...
recorded the song for their first Christmas album, Chicago XXV (1998).
LeAnn Rimes
LeAnn Rimes
LeAnn Rimes is an American country/pop singer. She is known for her rich vocals and her rise to fame as an eight-year-old champion on the original Ed McMahon version of Star Search, followed by the release of the Patsy Cline-intended single "Blue" when Rimes was only age 13, resulting in her...
recorded the song on her first Christmas album, What a Wonderful World
What a Wonderful World (LeAnn Rimes album)
What a Wonderful World is a Holiday/Christmas album by LeAnn Rimes. This is a jazz inspired holiday album. Rimes released four singles from this album: "O Holy Night", "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree", "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, and "A Different Kind Of Christmas." LeAnn also...
(2004).
The Cheetah Girls recorded the song on the Disney Channel Holiday
Disney Channel Holiday
Disney Channel Holiday is a 2007 holiday album released on October 16, 2007. The album features musical artists associated or popularized by Disney Channel singing their own versions of holiday songs...
(2007) compilation album.
Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka is an American pop/rock singer, pianist, and composer. His career has spanned nearly 55 years, during which time he has sold millions of records as an artist and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard...
recorded the song for his 2008 first-ever holiday album, The Miracle of Christmas.
Filipino pop crooner Richard Poon
Richard Poon
Richard Poon is a Chinese singer-songwriter and TV personality in the Philippines. He is a former member of U-Turn. He has gone on a successful solo career, and is a well-known jazz singer in the Philippines.-Early life:...
recorded the song from his 2011 Christmas Album, Christmas With Richard Poon.
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 FrickeJohn Fricke
John Fricke is a historian/author on The Wizard of Oz and Judy Garland. He has been a major figure in the Oz community for many years. He recently served as consultant for every aspect of the new 2005 deluxe DVD set of M-G-M's The Wizard of Oz, released by Warner Home Video. This includes his...
, "Have Yourself a Blessed Little Christmas", a religious version of the secular Christmas standard. The song was recorded by gospel female vocalist Del Delker
Del Delker
Del Delker is an American contralto sacred music female vocalist who has sung on the Voice of Prophecy radio ministry since 1947.Delker has recorded over forty albums for Chapel Records since the early 1950s. Among the songs she is best known for are "The Love of God", "Ten Thousand Angels", and...
with Martin accompanying her on piano.
In 2002, NewSong
NewSong
NewSong is a Contemporary Christian Music group that was founded in 1981, at Morningside Baptist Church in Valdosta, Georgia. They have had eight GMA Dove Award nominations. They are the founders of the Winter Jam Tour Spectacular, the United States' largest annual Christian music tour. It began in...
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." In addition to NewSong, Rachael Lampa
Rachael Lampa
Rachael Maureen Lampa is a Dove award winning American Christian singer-songwriter, record producer, and occasional actress. She rose to fame in 2000 with her debut album Live For You, winning a Dove Award as well as achieving four number one singles including "Blessed", "Shaken", "God Loves You",...
, Twila Paris
Twila Paris
Twila Paris Wright is a Contemporary Christian Music songwriter, author, vocalist and pianist.-Musical career:Since 1980, Twila Paris has released 22 albums, amassed 33 number one Christian Radio singles, and was named the Gospel Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year three years in a row...
, Kathy Troccoli
Kathy Troccoli
Kathleen Colleen "Kathy" Troccoli is a contemporary Christian singer, author, and speaker.-Personal:Born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 24, 1958, Troccoli moved at age three and was raised in Islip Terrace, Long Island, New York, graduating from East Islip High School. At 15, she lost her father...
, Phil Wickham
Phil Wickham
Phil Wickham is a Contemporary Christian vocalist/songwriter and guitarist from San Diego, California. Wickham has released five CDs, Give You My World in 2003, a self-titled album in 2006, Cannons in 2007, singalong in 2008, and Heaven & Earth in 2009. His upcoming album "Response" is slated to...
, and BarlowGirl
BarlowGirl
BarlowGirl is an American Christian rock–CCM all-female band from Chicago, Illinois. The band is composed of sisters Alyssa , Rebecca , and Lauren Barlow . The band has won several awards in their genre; their song "Never Alone" was the longest running No...
have recorded the song with the original lyrics.
In other languages
- Monica ForsbergMonica ForsbergMonica Yvonne Forsberg is a Swedish singer, songwriter and actress. She was a member in the group Ritz, which competed in Melodifestivalen in 1983 and 1985...
has written lyrics in SwedishSwedish languageSwedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
, "Det är dags att tända alla ljusen" ("It is time to light all the candles"), which has been recorded by Lasse BerghagenLasse BerghagenLars "Lasse" Nils Berghagen is a Swedish singer, songwriter, composer and actor.Berghagen is a well known singer-songwriter in Sweden. He released his first record in 1965, aged just 19. Four years later, in 1969, he released the single Teddybjörnen Fredriksson , which has become a classic...
.
In popular culture
- A Frank Sinatra recording of the song accompanies a scene in the 1963 war film The VictorsThe Victors (film)-Overview:The film follows a group of U.S. soldiers through Europe during World War II, from Britain in 1942, through the fierce fighting in Italy and France, to the uneasy peace of Berlin. It is adapted from a collection of short stories called The Human Kind by British author Alexander Baron,...
, in which a military deserter is executed by firing squad. - The song is also used in The GodfatherThe GodfatherThe Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
during the Christmas scenes. - A recording by Jerry ValeJerry ValeJerry Vale is an American singer.-Career:In high school, in order to make some money, he took a job shining shoes in a barbershop in New York City. He sang while he shined shoes, and his boss liked the sound so well that he paid for music lessons for the boy...
is featured in the film Donnie BrascoDonnie Brasco (film)Donnie Brasco is a 1997 crime drama film directed by Mike Newell, starring Al Pacino, Johnny Depp and Michael Madsen. It is loosely based on the real-life events of Joseph D. Pistone, an FBI agent who infiltrated the Bonanno crime family, one of the Mafia's Five Families based in New York City...
. - Mel TorméMel TorméMelvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
's version is featured prominently in Home AloneHome AloneHome Alone is a 1990 American Christmas comedy film written and produced by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus. The film stars Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, an eight-year-old boy, who is mistakenly left behind when his family flies to Paris for their Christmas vacation...
. - The version by saxophonist Kenny GKenny GKenneth Bruce Gorelick , better known by his stage name Kenny G, is an American, adult contemporary and smooth jazz saxophonist. His fourth album, Duotones, brought him breakthrough success in 1986...
is featured in the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th StreetMiracle on 34th Street (1994 film)Miracle on 34th Street is a 1994 American fantasy film directed by Les Mayfield. It is the fourth remake of the original 1947 film. Like the original, this film was released by 20th Century Fox...
. - Ska-punk group Big D and the Kids TableBig D and the Kids TableBig D and the Kids Table is a ska punk band formed in October 1995 in Allston, Massachusetts when its members converged in college. Their first release was on their own Fork In Hand Records label, but have since teamed with Springman Records and SideOneDummy...
released a BostonBostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
-themed parody titled "A Wicked Hardcore Christmas" in 2008.
External links
- Entertainment Weekly article - with the history of the song's lyrics, including three different versions