Audiences who filed into movie theaters in late 1944 to see the musical “Meet Me in St. Louis” were treated to soon-to-be standards sung by Judy Garland, including “The Trolley Song” and “The Boy Next Door.”
Late in the film, Garland’s character, the 17-year-old Esther Smith, delivered a different, intimate number to cheer up her younger sister Tootie, who was distraught over the family’s plans to relocate from St. Louis to New York.
“Have yourself a merry little Christmas; let your heart be light,” Garland sang, as she played with the hair of her trembling, teary-eyed co-star, and as toy monkeys spun nearby. “Next year, all our troubles will be out of sight.”
The song was far from the movie’s biggest hit.
But 80 years later, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” has perhaps eclipsed its source material, becoming an enduring Christmas classic, covered by generations of musicians who have reimagined it.
Frank Sinatra, who recorded the song three times and gave it a cheerier postwar sheen in 1957, played a key role in popularizing it. And with time, the song’s legend grew, its encouraging refrain providing a bittersweet balm through times of national strife and pandemic isolation.
“It really is a consolation song,” said James Taylor, who moved up the release of his recording in time for Christmas after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. “Christmas itself is a sort of consolation — for the darkest time of the year, the coldest time.”
With hopeful lyrics that are sentimental but not saccharine, and a midcentury musical style with long, drawn-out vowel sounds, the song has struck a chord with millions of listeners. Year after year, it is among the most-played Christmas songs.
This holiday season, it has been the 11th-most-played holiday song, according to an analysis of radio data by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. In some years, it cracks the Top 5.
The song has taken many forms. Decades ago, it was brought to life by the smooth voices and dulcet tones of greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Andy Williams, Bing Crosby and Johnny Mathis.
In recent years, it has been reinterpreted by a string of chart-topping singers: John Legend, Billie Eilish, Sam Smith, Sabrina Carpenter, Carrie Underwood, Tinashe and more. Billy Joel, no typical Christmas crooner, has recorded it and performed it onstage with his daughter.
Everyone, it seems, wants to take a crack at “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” (Today, no recording of the song is streamed more on Apple Music than Michael Bublé’s, released in 2011, according to Apple. Smith’s is the leader on Spotify, the company said.)
“I just love a sad Christmas song,” said Kate Hudson, who released a soulful recording this year. She described the song’s energy as wistful and nostalgic, and its lyrics as bracingly honest. “It’s always been my No. 1.”
The jazz singer Catherine Russell, who has performed the song with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, described the lyrics as a vocalist’s dream.
“It’s just fun to sing — it’s rangy,” she said. “It’s a very physical experience.”
There was no guarantee that “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” would make it into the holiday canon, or even into “Meet Me in St. Louis.”
During filming for “Meet Me in St. Louis” in 1943, Garland did not want to sing what she saw as an overly melancholic song.
An early version, written by Hugh Martin (Ralph Blane shared writing credits), had harsher lyrics than the ones we know today: “Have yourself a merry little Christmas; it may be your last,” went the draft. “Next year, we may all be living in the past.”
“I cannot sing that,” Garland told Martin, according to John Fricke, a Judy Garland biographer and friend of Martin. “The audiences will think I’m a monster singing that lyric to that little girl,” Garland said.
Martin stewed about this and then vowed to completely rewrite the song. But Tom Drake, who played Garland’s neighbor and paramour in the film, sought to preserve the melody, taking Martin out for coffee and pushing him not to scrap it.
Martin was a stubborn artist, but he ultimately relented and changed some lyrics to the same tune.
Even with the changes, the lyrics in the movie were later deemed too dark by Sinatra, who asked Martin to alter some of the lines for his 1957 album “A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra.”
Martin obliged: “Next year, all our troubles will be out of sight” became “From now on, our troubles will be out of sight.” Another line, “Until then, we’ll have to muddle through somehow,” became “Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.”
The second change, recycled in popular covers, has been derided by some fans of the song. Taylor, for example, called the original line a “much better lyric.”
But Sinatra was not wedded to the jollier take, and he later returned to the original lyric while performing and in a 1963 recording.
Linda Ronstadt mixed the cheerier lyric used by Sinatra and the original used by Garland, interspersing them in her recording.
On occasion, the original, dreary lyrics that Garland rejected have been dusted off: They’ve been used in concert by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and in lesser-known covers that have surfaced on Spotify and YouTube.
Hudson said she had recorded the downbeat version, but decided not to release it. “I was thinking of doing it,” she said, “but it’s just so sad.”
The song has had other alterations through the years. When Tony Bennett, the Carpenters and others put their stamps on the song, they used a short opening verse that evoked Christmas past, present and future. (Martin likely wrote the verse, according to Fricke.)
And eight decades on, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” continues to evolve.
In a recording released last year, the star jazz vocalist Samara Joy slowed down the tempo into a wispy waltz. She used Garland’s lyrics.
But Joy said that all versions of the song, including Martin’s rejected original, carried a poignant message, underscoring the value of time with loved ones.
“It’s a reminder,” she said, “to prioritize what’s really important in life.”
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