Original lyrics to 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' had to be changed as they were too dark
A Hollywood mega star is reportedly the reason the lyrics to an iconic Christmas song were changed from the more sinister, original version.
It’s about this time in December when the Christmas tunes are on repeat and Michael Bublé is well and truly defrosted.
However, It’s not uncommon for Christmas songs to have somewhat controversial lyrics, one that was brought to people’s attention a couple of years ago was ‘Baby, It's Cold Outside’.
The lyrics portray a man seemingly encouraging a woman to stay for another drink, while she gives reasons why she wants to leave.
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Now people are looking towards ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’, which was first sung by Hollywood star Judy Garland for the film Meet Me in St Louis, released in 1944.
The song was written by Hugh Martin, who, speaking to Classic FM, said: “I found a little madrigal-like tune that I liked but couldn’t make work, so I played with it for two or three days and then threw it in the wastebasket.”
His musical collaborator, Ralph Blane, stumbled across it and decided to go ahead and develop it.
The original lyrics, however, were pretty dark…
Not exactly in the Christmas spirit, the lyrics read: “Have yourself a merry little Christmas // It may be your last // Next year we may all be living in the past.”
Festive, right?
But it was Garland who apparently made it known to the songwriters that it wasn’t really what people would want from a warm Christmas song.
Eager to please the star, and with some nudging from a friend and actor, Tom Drake, Martin decided to rewrite the verse.
"The [film producers] said, 'No, no - it's a sad scene, but we want sort of an upbeat song, which will make it even sadder if she's smiling through her tears," Martin said. "Then we wrote the one you know in the movie."
There’s two pretty popular versions today, one is the version written for Garland, which goes: “Someday soon we all will be together, if the fates allow.
“Until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow.”
Another version is Frank Sinatra’s, which was released in 1999, and is arguably a lot more Christmassy, replacing the lyrics with: “Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.”
Knowing the context, it’s interesting to look at the full lyrics of the original festive tune:
“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.
"Pop that champagne cork.
"Next year we may all be living in New York.
"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 Lord allows.
"From now on, we’ll have to muddle through somehow.
"So have yourself a merry little Christmas now."
Topics: TV and Film, Christmas, Music
Mia Williams