How Judy Garland Made 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' Less Depressing Than Its Original Lyrics

The song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is a holiday classic, but its genesis goes back to Judy Garland in Meet Me in St. Louis. It turns out, she helped this melancholy Christmas tune stay on the right side of the Christmas spirit.

In the 1944 film, Garland plays Esther Smith, a spunky girl living with her family in the title city. She also sings “The Trolley Song” in one of the movie’s most memorable scenes. Esther’s father announces just before Christmas that the family will be leaving St. Louis for New York City, and they’re all heartbroken. 

Garland’s Esther tries to comfort her little sister, Margaret O'Brien’s Tootie, and sings “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

But when Garland, who died in 1969, got the lyrics for the first time, she thought they were too sad and didn’t want to sing it. The original version, written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, started with: “Have yourself a merry little Christmas; it may be your last. Next year, we may all be living in the past.” Martin, who died in 2011, told Entertainment Weekly in 2007, "I often wondered what would it have been like if those lyrics had been sung in the movie.”

Garland told Martin, “I cannot sing that,” Judy Garland biographer and friend of Martin John Fricke told The New York Times in an article published Dec. 18. “The audiences will think I’m a monster singing that lyric to that little girl.”

Martin promised to rewrite the song, but Tom Drake — who played Garland’s love interest — convinced him not to scrap it. “He said, 'You stupid son of a bitch! You're gonna foul up your life if you don't write another verse of that song!' " Martin told EW. The lyrics were changed to, “Have yourself a merry little Christmas; let your heart be light. Next year, all our troubles will be out of sight.”

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But the song wasn’t a runaway hit when the film was released. In 1957, Frank Sinatra helped make it a hit when he recorded it, but he thought the lyrics were still too dour. He had Martin rewrite the lyrics, and "Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow” turned into “Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.” The song also became not about the future but about the present. 

Sinatra’s lyrics became the best-known and have been rerecorded by many musical artists, but many fans of the original lyrics remain. Singer James Taylor told the Times the original line was a “much better lyric.”

According to the Times, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is the 11th-most-played holiday song. Covers of the track have been performed by Billie Eilish, Ally Brooke and Dinah Jane, Hannah Waddingham, Lea Michele, Jason Kelce, Kate Hudson, Brett Eldredge and dozens more. 

Martin told NPR in 2010, "The strangest version [I heard] was by a group called Twisted Sister. My all-time favorite versions are from the olden days. Judy Garland, of course, [was] always tops with me. And Mel Torme, who wrote a beautiful new verse for it, was really out of this world. And Frank Sinatra, you can't beat 'Mr. Blue Eyes.' "

Liza Minnelli — daughter of Garland and Meet Me in St. Louis director Vincent Minnelli — told PEOPLE earlier this month that the song remains her favorite Christmas Carol. “It’s a family tradition that makes us all laugh and cry,” she said.