Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas is one of the most fantastic songs Hollywood has ever produced – it brings back charms of the golden era of Hollywood and perhaps even America. Still today it brings back a feeling of want and longing – to be with our loved ones during Christmas time.
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – A Song from Hollywood’s Golden Era
During Hollywood’s Golden Era, the movie studios kept the songwriting team of Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane busy. The men worked together and separately on such classic musicals as Girl Crazy, Broadway Rhythm, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, as well as cores of other successful presentations. The men also wrote tunes for Broadway and radio that were sung by the likes of Lucille Ball, June Allyson, Lena Horne, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, and Ann Miller.
Even though they won many awards and were responsible for millions of record sales, these Hall of Fame writers penned their most beloved hit when MGM asked them to write the music for Meet Me in St. Louis. Yet it would take the insight and help of an entertainment legend to put the finishing touches on what would become a timeless holiday offering.
Filmed toward the end of World War 2, Meet Me In St. Louis starred some of the brightest names at MGM. Mary Astor, Leon Ames, June Lockhart, and Margaret O’Brien were all on the bill and helped make this motion picture one of the finest musicals ever produced. But the movie ultimately belonged to a twenty-two-year-old screen veteran who, five years before, had charmed everyone as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.
While she was one of Hollywood’s top box office draws, Judy Garland needed a strong film to help her overcome the juvenile image created by her role in The Wizard of Oz and a long line of teen musicals that had teamed her with Mickey Rooney. To be recognized as a serious actress, she had to have a part that would allow her to shift from child star to legitimate adult lead. Meet Me in St. Louis provided the vehicle Garland needed to take her career over the rainbow and onto solid ground. It was Judy’s own instincts and sincere voice that made one moment in the film an unforgettable holiday gifts that still touches people today.
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Song Summary
For one of the film’s key scenes, Judy’s character, Esther, was to sing a song to her sad little sister, Tootie. The younger girl was worried that when her family moved to New York from Missouri, Santa would not be able to find her. Esther was concerned as well, but not about Saint Nick. She had just fallen in love and realized the family’s move would end her cherished relationship before it really got started. Though the scene was set on a beautiful Christmas Eve night, both sisters felt they were facing the end of the world.
Looking out over a snow-covered lawn from an upstairs window, Judy’s character wound a music box and began to sing. The songwriters felt that to make the most of the film’s suddenly tender and sad atmosphere, they needed a son that was full of irony and pain. So at the beginning of the song, the men penned, “Have yourself a merry little Christmas; it may be your last; next year we will be living in the past.”
Thinking they had written a perfect song for this touching and tragic moment in the film, Blane and Martin were probably schocked when Garland refused to sing their “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” She sent the song back to the writers demanding that they put a more positive spin on the number. Judy’s desires were backed by the film’s director and her future husband, Vincente Minnelli. Unable to convince either of those powers that their instincts were right, Blan and Martin went back to work.
Even though Blane and Martin had guessed right about the needs of the movie, Garland had a better instinct for what the country needed at that moment in history.
During much of the past three years Judy had spent every spare moment entertaining American troops. She had visited with the young men, sung for them, and read the fan mail they had written to her. She knew that most of them were young men her age who had spent years fighting for their lives, defending a nation. What these men wanted-mor than anything else-was to somehow live through the war and come back home. They wanted, needed to believe that there was a lot of life left in front of them.
As she entertained the GI.s, Garland discovered that her biggest hit, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” had a much deeper meaning for the men than it did for the casual listener. For millions on the battle lines, “over the rainbow” meant coming home. Judy felt the new Christmas song that would be a part of Meet Me in St. Louis needed to bring the same kind of hope as “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” did.
By request, Blane and Martin obligingly wrote a far more upbeat, new opening. There was an obvious encouraging tone in “let your heart be light; from now on our troubles will be out of sight” that presented the kind of message Garland felt America needed. Judy embraced the revised “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” with a passion and emotion that few could understand.
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Judy Garland other Signature Song.
This wasn’t just another song to Garland; it was a prayer for the millions wanting nothing more than to be home for Christmas. In the new version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” listeners in the U.S. and overseas could believe that the war was almost over, that families would be reuniting, and that the promised joy that had been a part of Christmases past would soon be here again.
As moving as Judy’s performance of the song in the film was, the Decca single that was released for Christmas 1944 was just as touching. Garland’s rich voice revealed the full range of emotions found in the song’s lyrics.
In an era when Christmas songs seemed to mean more than they ever had before, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” was one of the best. When Judy sang it to soldiers at the Hollywood Canteen, there wasn’t a dry eye in the place. When battle weary men in Europe and the Pacific heard it, they clung to the song as if their dreams were carried on each word and note.
For the next twenty-five years of her often-troubled life, Judy Garland seemed to always come alive during Christmas. The holidays somehow renewed the star. It was almost as if singing her signature Christmas standard gave her the gift of new vision and hope, just as the song did for millions of others who felt lonely and sad during the holiday season.
They say that timing is everything. If the original version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” would have worked in Meet Me in St. Louis, it probably wouldn’t have jumped off the screen and taken on a life of its own. But thanks to the instincts of Judy Garland, the song became far more than a moment in a film; it became a timeless, emotional statement about what we all want to have each year, a very merry little Christmas and hope for tomorrow.
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas lyrics
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
Next year all our troubles, will be out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the Yuletide gay
Next year all our troubles, will be miles away
Once again, as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Will be near to us once more
Someday soon we all will be together.
If the fates allow
Until then, we’ll have to muddle through somehow.
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Other Great Performances
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas Piano
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas Chords
For more “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” Song Facts, Follow this Link…
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Wikipedia
