Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" was written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane for the 1944 MGM film "Meet Me in St. Louis." In the film, Judy Garland's character sings it to her young sister to comfort her about the family's impending move away from their beloved hometown. The original lyrics, however, were devastatingly bleak: "Have yourself a merry little Christmas / It may be your last / Next year we may all be living in the past."

Judy Garland refused to sing it, telling Martin: "If I sing that to little Margaret O'Brien, they'll think I'm a monster." Martin rewrote the lyrics to be melancholy but hopeful rather than despairing. The line "Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow" replaced the bleaker original, and the song became a quiet triumph of wartime optimism.

Years later, Frank Sinatra asked Martin to revise it once more for his 1957 album, changing "Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow" to the more upbeat "Hang a shining star upon the highest bough." Martin later said he preferred the Garland version's bittersweet honesty but acknowledged Sinatra's change made the song more universally singable. Both versions coexist in the repertoire, and the song remains one of the most emotionally complex carols ever written.