"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Judy Garland

This September I had the opportunity to see one of my all time favourite movies, Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), on the big screen. Not only was this a special event for me because it was the first time I had ever seen it in the theatre, but because there was a question and answer session between Ben Mankiewicz and Margaret O'Brien (who played Tootie in the film). While I have never thought of Meet Me in St. Louis as a Christmas movie, there can be no doubt that it has one of the most Christmasy scenes in a movie and that it produced one of the greatest Christmas songs of all time, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." It was sung by Judy Garland in the movie and, while the song has been covered many times, in my humble opinion no one has ever sung it better.

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" was written specifically for Meet Me in St. Louis by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, who wrote all of the original songs for the movie. Judy Garland, her co-star Tom Drake (who played her love interest, John Truitt), and director Vincent Minelli were all of the opinion that the original lyrics for "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" were too depressing. Hugh Martin was initially resistant to the idea of changing the lyrics, but eventually re-wrote them to be more upbeat. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" recorded as a single by Judy Garland and released on Decca Records. It proved to be a big hit and it would become a Christmas standard.

Since then "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" has been recorded by many artists. It has also been revised since its initial appearance in Meet Me in St. Louis. When Frank Sinatra recorded the song in 1957 for his album A Jolly Little Christmas, he asked Hugh Martin to revise the line "Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow" to something happier. The line was changed to "Hang a shining star upon the highest bough." Many artists have since followed Frank Sinatra is using the new line in the song. Personally, I have always preferred the original line.

Without further ado, here is the original scene from Meet Me in St. Louis featuring Judy Garland.