Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas is a Christmas song written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blaine and made famous by Judy Garland in the 1944 film "Meet Me in St. Louis". The movie chronicles the change in seasons and times of St. Louis including the Christmas season. In the famous scene, Garland sings the tearful tune to child star Margaret O'Brien. The melancholy tune and lyrics were originally even more somber but were adapted by the song writers to the current version at Garlands request.
Lyrics
- Have yourself a merry little Christmas,
- Let your heart be light
- From now on,
- our troubles will be out of sight
- Have yourself a merry little Christmas,
- Make the Yule-tide gay,
- From now on,
- our troubles will be miles away.
- Here we are as in olden days,
- Happy golden days of yore.
- Faithful friends who are dear to us
- Gather near to us once more.
- Through the years
- We all will be together,
- If the Fates allow
- Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.
- And have yourself A merry little Christmas now.
Original lyrics
These lyrics were deemed by Garland and Minelli as inappropriate for the scene in the movie and are rarely heard or used today. The songwriters, Martin and Blaine, felt that the movie was at a sad moment and the music should reflect this. The melancholy tune that remained still retained the emotional quality, without the depressing nature of the earlier lyrics that follow.
- An early draft
- Christmas future is far away
- Christmas past is past
- Christmas present is here today
- Bringing joy that may last
- Have yourself a merry little Christmas
- May your heart be light
- In a year our troubles will be out of sight
- From now on
- Have yourself a merry little Christmas
- Make the yuletide gay
- In a year our troubles will be miles away
- Here we are as in olden days
- Happy golden days of yore
- Precious friends who are dear to us
- Gather near to us once more
- I know that
- In a year we all will be together
- If the Fates allow
- Until then, we'll just have to muddle through somehow
- And have ourselves a merry little Christmas now.
- Another early version
- Have yourself a merry little Christmas
- It may be your last
- Next year we may all be living in the past
- Have yourself a merry little Christmas
- Make the Yuletide gay.
- Next year we may all be many miles away.
- No good times like the olden days,
- Happy golden days of yore,
- Faithful friends who were dear to us
- Will be near to us no more.
- But at least we all will be together
- If the fates allow.
- From now on we'll have to muddle through somehow.
- So have yourself a merry little Christmas now.
