Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, the fifth most performed holiday song of the last one hundred years, was originally written in 1943 for the movie Meet Me in St. Louis by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane. Martin and Blane wrote for both film and Broadway although Martin claimed in his autobiography that he, in fact, wrote almost all of the music and lyrics and Blane was credited as co-writer because of my naive and atrocious lack of business acumen. In the film, Judy Garland sings the song to a young Margaret OBrien to take her mind off of a pending move by their family from St. Louis to New York. The original lyrics were deemed too depressing for the film so the team rewrote them to make them more upbeat. The lyrics were once again changed for a 1957 Frank Sinatra recording after he complained that Until then well have to muddle through somehow was more upbeat. Martin came up with the now standard Hang a shining star upon the highest bough. Sinatra, in fact, recorded the song twice before with the original lyrics in 1950 and 1953. While the cheerier lyrics have been popular now for almost fifty years, there is a trend to go back to the earlier muddle through some how line. James Taylor recorded a version of the song in 2001 after the 9/11 tragedy that used the original version. It has gone on to become a regular on holiday radio. Over the years, the lyrics have been altered a number of times but never as much as a 2001 recording by John Fricke. Hugh Martin once again rewrote the song to give it a more religious perspective as Have Yourself a Blessed Little Christmas. One of the highlights of the 2014 season is this brand new version from Sam Smith. https://youtube/watch?v=nH9RyySpkU8
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 11:46:01 +0000
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