In this episode, Aaron invites you to join him as he examines the story behind the original lyrics of the popular holiday song 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas'.
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Story created & performed by: Aaron Calafato
Senior Audio Engineer: Ken Wendt
Additional vocals: Cori Birce
Art: Pete Whitehead
Original Music: thomas j. duke
S3 Episode 15: The Story Behind 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' - powered by Happy Scribe
When she saw the lyrics, the famous actress and singer Judy Garland refused to sing this song. This refusal happened on the set of the 1944 film titled Meet Me in St. Louis. I say St. Louis, you say St. Louis. I'm from Ohio. What do you know?
Anyways, this all takes place in a scene where Garland's character, Esther, is scripted to perform and sing this song to her younger sister in the movie to help console her because their family is facing impending changes.
Now, you know this song. I know this song. You should know this song. It's the famous Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. But the song's lyrics were originally different. In fact, they were so different and depressing that when Garland saw them, she demands a rewrite.
Now, let's review the opening lyrics to the couple of versions that we know that are famous. I was thinking about singing them for you, but I'm just going to say it, okay? Maybe I'll sing at some point. But it's, "Have yourself a merry little Christmas. Let your heart be light. Next year, all our troubles will be out of sight." Guess why I'm not a singer, baby.
Anyways, you get it. "Have yourself a merry little Christmas. Let your heart be light. Next year, all our troubles will be out of sight." Totally familiar.
But the original lyrics were actually as follows. "Have yourself a merry little Christmas. It may be your last. Next year, we may all be living in the past." That's a dark take. Really dark opening to the song. I can totally see where Judy Garland's perspective came from.
It's funny to think about, with the song as it was originally written, and I'm going to put a link to the original lyrics, all of them, in the podcast notes that you can read, so you can read it, but I'm thinking, "Would this song ever become this famous?" Regardless, Garland's instincts really were probably on point and most likely helped lift this song, and the way she sings it, too, it's unbelievable, to becoming one of the most memorable songs of all time.
What I wanted to do here with the remaining five or so minutes that we had is I wanted to break down the version that we know and love. I mean, really, for me, the Garland version, because there's actually two versions that are famous out there now, and we'll get to the other one at the end of the podcast.
But I really prefer the garland version. I wanted to break it down. There's only four verses or three verses in an intro. I actually wanted to break it down and explore why I think it is one of the most beautiful songs ever written and why it has such a universal impact.
Let's break down the verses together here, and I'll just share why I think this is so poignant. Verse 1, "Have yourself a merry little Christmas. Let your heart be light. Next year, all our troubles will be out of sight." We'll go on the first two. "Have yourself a merry little Christmas. Make the yuletide gay. Next year, all our troubles will be miles away."
Look, it's awesome because it's simple. It also acknowledges in that first verse, they're going through something. "All our troubles," I'm not going to tell you what they are. It's in the movie, right? But it's also universal because it's like we're all going through something. We're all going through troubles. It's a Christmas song.
Right away in the third line, "Hey, have a merry Christmas. Let your heart be light. Next year, all our troubles will be out of sight." She's already making a promise and a call to hope that the troubles they're experiencing, if you just let some time pass and you hang on, they're going to be out of sight, they're going to be miles away.
I promise you that. She's formulating a promise. She's also acknowledging reality and the reality that we all face. It's hard sometimes facing the holidays, especially when we feel like they have to be perfect, when we want to recreate all of the good times we've experienced, because sometimes and many times during the holidays, there are things that happen that aren't good. They're painful or profound, whatever, we're going through something.
Balancing that dichotomy of pain and troubles with something beautiful, this is where this song, I think, is centered in. That's what's so awesome, and that call to action to have yourself a merry little Christmas, but don't worry, next year, things will be out of sight, miles away, all this pain, and we'll be somewhere that you're going to like.
That's where it goes to verse 3. She crystallizes that promise and she paints a picture. She goes, "Once again, as in olden days, happy golden days of your faithful friends who are dear to us will be near to us once more."
When I hear that first, memories just flood in my brain. I'm thinking about all the good times that I've had. It's making me emotional talking about it with the friends and family I love. She's doing the same thing when she's singing the song to her younger sister. Then the lyrics, when you hear it, it's a promise that's crystallized.
Remember those times? Remember when things were good? Those happy golden days, where friends and family who are dear to us, they'll be near to us once more. That connects to the promise. But not right now. Not right now, exactly, because we got troubles, but will be near to us once more.
Now we go into the outro, which is a game changer for me. She starts with, "Someday soon, we all will be together, if the fates allow. Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow. So have yourself a merry little Christmas now." This one to me is the game changer and why this is my favorite version.
In one sentence, everything I just told you, verse 1 through 3, here's the reality. Bottom line, "Someday soon, we all will be together." That's bold. She's telling you; we're going through some stuff now. I'm telling you right now, someday soon we all will be together. That promise, that memory I just crystallized, we will be together, have faith.
But here's the caveat. Next line, "If the fates allow." It almost gives her an out, which I love because she puts it in there. She's singing this, and it's designed to sing to her younger sister. It's almost like I'm making this promise, but I don't want to overpromise and underdeliver because she has to add this line, "If the fates allow."
What that acknowledges is the pain of life in this, that we are bound to fate. No matter what our intentions are, what we hope for, what we pray for, and what we most likely will get, we can't control fate to a certain degree. That's the only variable she's saying is, "If the fates allow." If they allow it, it'll happen. By the off chance that they don't, it may not. But someday soon, we all will be together if the fates allow.
Here's the... Oh, man, this line. "Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow." It isn't that how we have to do it with as much grace as we can, a lot of times, holiday season and anytime during the year, balancing pain and good times, and good times ahead is how do you do it? You got to muddle through it. You have to push forward despite it.
Then the last line, the last instructive line, "Because of all this, I'm asking you to have a merry little Christmas now." It's not in the future that I promised. In the moment, do what you can to have a merry Christmas now.
Damn, it's powerful stuff. It really is. It's beautiful stuff. Now, to end the show here, that line or that verse was changed by another famous singer, Frank Sinatra. Or he requested the change because when he sang his version, he thought that line, going through my notes here, was a little drury, even more drury still. He requested a verse change. You've heard this version, too.
When you're listening to this song, check for little differences if you haven't heard them before, where he goes, "Through the years, we all will be together if the fates allow." He got rid of the muddle through line, which is my favorite, and they put "Hang a star upon the highest bow and have yourself a merry little Christmas now."
Little bit more festive, a little bit more upbeat. I prefer the little darker version there because it's real trying to muddle through somehow. Either way, those are the two versions that we hear all the time. What's crazy is the full circle moment of where this came from, which was this song that was originally presented to Garland, which had even darker lyrics.
Through fate or whatever, I think, and from the lyrics we just broke down, I think this is, to me, not just one of the greatest Christmas songs ever written. I think it's one of the greatest songs ever written and performed by Judy Garland, ever.
Listen, whatever you're going through, like she said, I hope you muddle through it. I hope you have a merry Christmas season right now. Next week, we got a reoccurring special Christmas story I tell every year. You want to tune in next Thursday for that. I hope you enjoy this little special episode, and I'll talk to you soon.
7 Minute Stories is created and performed by Aaron Calafato. Our senior audio engineer is Ken Wendt. Our resident artist is Pete Whitehead. Original music by TJ Duke.
If you or your company needs help starting a podcast, Aaron and Ken's company, Valley View, does just that. Reach out to them at valleyview.fm. Special thanks to our partners at Evergreen Podcasts. I'm Cori Birce. Make sure to tune in next week for another story.
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