Have you ever listened to this delightful Christmas song and smiled. Chances are that you have lately because “Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is listed by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers as the third most performed Christmas song in the last 5 years.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
let your heart be light,
From now on our troubles will be out of sight

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the Yule-tide gay,
From now on our troubles will be miles away.

Here we are as in olden days,
Happy golden days of yore.
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more.

Through the years we all will be together
If the Fates allow
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.
And have yourself A merry little Christmas now.

Well, the next time you hear this song, in addition to smiling, whisper a silent “thank you” to Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra”. This uplifting song was written by Hugh Martin (and perhaps with help from Ralph Blane – the two apparently have some sort of disagreement about how much Blane helped) for Judy Garland to sing in the MGM Musical “Meet Me in St. Louis”. But as hard as it is to believe, the song was originally written as a depressing lament that went like this:

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 will 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 Fates allow
From now on we'll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now

What was Martin thinking? Well, that’s more or less what Judy Garland said as well when she was first presented with the lyrics. Garland insisted that Martin change two lines. Then, in 1957, Frank Sinatra asked Martin to revise the song even more by changing the line “Until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow. Sinatra apparently told Martin, "The name of my album is A Jolly Christmas. Do you think you could jolly up that line for me?" Martin's new line, "Hang a shining star upon the highest bough," has since become more widely recognized and sung than the original phrase.

Martin made several other alterations for Sinatra, changing the song's focus to a celebration of present happiness, rather than anticipation of a better future. To reflect his Christian faith Martin also eventualy changed the line "if the fates allow" to "if the Lord allows." As a result, this once dreary tune became the uplifting song that was cherrished by U.S. Troops during World War II and that has been recorded by many popular artists over the decades.

This song has been recorded so many times in so many versions that if you hop on the internet you can listen to it performed by hundreds of performers, including the likes of Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Christina Aguilera, Tony Bennett, Garth Brooks, Bing Crosby, Neal Diamond, Bob Dylan (can you imagine?), Ella Fitzgerald, Kenny G, Jackie Gleason (hard to believe), Whitney Houston, Johnny Mathis, Carly Simon, James Taylor and more.

So, this year, you all turn up the volume on the Christmas songs, “hang a shining star upon the highest bough”, and definitely make sure to “have yourself a merry little Christmas now”.