have yourself a merry little christmas
(let’s not lol too much that it’s the conor oberst + maria taylor version, allright?)
History
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.[2]
When presented with the original draft, Garland, her co-star Tom Drake and director Vincente Minnelli criticized the song as depressing, with lines such as “Have yourself a merry little Christmas / It may be your last / Next year we may all be living in the past” and “Faithful friends who were dear to us / Will be near to us no more”.[3] 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”.[3] 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.[4]
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?”[3] Martin’s new line, “Hang a shining star upon the highest bough,” has since become more widely recognized and sung than the original. Martin made several other alterations, changing the song’s focus to a celebration of present happiness, rather than anticipation of a better future.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
original lyrics are better and the reason i’ve always liked this one so much
