The Original Version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

The song was written for the show "Meet Me in St. Louis," a play about a St. Louis family being uprooted at the turn of the century by the father who wanted to move the family. Judy played one of the eldest daughters. Garland's signature songs "Clang, Clang, Clang Went the Trolley" and "Boy Next Door" both come from the movie version of the musical adaptation.

Garland felt the original version of the lryics for "Have Yourself" were too dark. They were:

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.

At her urging it was written to the version we know today -- although there is still some variation in the last stanza. Sometime it is sung "Through the years we all will be together, if the fates allow. Hang a shining star across the highest bough." The original rewrite -- and the lines used by Garland in the movie -- are : "Through the years we all will be together, it the fates allow. Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow."

I much prefer the latter. Families muddling through the years together. It's kinda the boiled down truth of life.

incidentally, Bette uses the "highest bough" version. Another reason I'm disappointed.