Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Judy Garland Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning | Line by Line Meaning
Let your heart be light
Next year all our troubles will be out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the yuletide gay
Next year all our troubles will be miles away
Once again as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Will be near to us once more
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
Judy Garland's Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas is a song that is both melancholic and hopeful. It is an expression of the holiday's mixed emotions - a time of joy and celebration, but also a time of yearning for the things that we don't have or have lost. The song encourages us to embrace the moment, despite our difficulties, and cherish the people who matter most to us.
The first verse sets the tone for the rest of the song. The singer wishes the listener a merry Christmas and reminds them to lighten their heart. The second line gives a hint about why the heart should be light; all our troubles will be out of sight next year. The next few lines reflect on the festive spirit of the holiday, urging us to make the most of the season and enjoy ourselves. But as the verse ends, the singer reminds us that these joys are fleeting, and our troubles will still be with us next year.
The second verse emphasizes the importance of family and friends during the holidays. The singer longs for the happy days of old, when they were together with their loved ones. The line "faithful friends who are dear to us will be near to us once more" speaks of the comfort and familiarity of those relationships. However, the following line, "Someday soon we all will be together if the fates allow" shows that these relationships can be fragile, and some people may not be with us forever.
The final verse reminds us to appreciate what we have in the present moment. It acknowledges that we may have to "muddle through" our difficulties, but we must still find a way to enjoy life. The song ends with one more wish for a merry little Christmas, an invitation to embrace the spirit of the season, and a reminder that the future is uncertain.
Line by Line Meaning
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Wish yourself a happy Christmas, despite our troubles
Let your heart be light
Try to be optimistic and joyful
Next year all our troubles will be out of sight
Hope for a better future without any problems
Make the yuletide gay
Enjoy the festive season
Next year all our troubles will be miles away
Anticipate a future where our troubles are far behind us
Once again as in olden days
Hark back to the happy memories of the past
Happy golden days of yore
Remember the good times we had before
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Recall the importance of our loyal companions
Will be near to us once more
We will be reunited with those we cherish
Someday soon we all will be together
We look forward to the day that we can all be united once again
If the fates allow
If things work out in our favour
Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow
In the meantime, we'll have to cope as best we can
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now
Still, try to have a happy holiday in the present
Lyrics © DistroKid, BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Tratore, Downtown Music Publishing, Songtrust Ave
Written by: Hugh Martin, Ralph Blane
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
After appearing in Vaudeville theater with her sisters, Judy was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a teenager. There she made more than two dozen films, including nine with Mickey Rooney, and the film with which she would be most identified, "The Wizard of Oz" (1939). After 15 years, Judy was released from the studio but gained renewed success through record-breaking concert appearances, including a critically acclaimed Carnegie Hall concert, a well-regarded but short-lived television series, and a return to film acting beginning with "A Star Is Born" (1954).
Despite her professional triumphs, Judy battled personal problems throughout her life. Insecure about her appearance, her feelings were compounded by film executives who told her she was unattractive and overweight. Plied with drugs to control her weight and increase her productivity, Garland endured a decades-long struggle with addiction. Garland was plagued by financial instability, often owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes, and her first four of five marriages ended in divorce. She attempted suicide on a number of occasions. Garland died of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 47, leaving children Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft, and Joey Luft.
Legacy
Judy Garland's legacy as a performer and a personality has endured long after her death. The American Film Institute named Garland eighth among the "Greatest Female Stars of All Time". She has been the subject of over two dozen biographies since her death, including the well-received "Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir" by her daughter, Lorna Luft. Luft's memoir was later adapted into the multiple award-winning television mini-series, "Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows", which won Emmy Awards for two actresses portraying Garland (Tammy Blanchard and Judy Davis).
Garland was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. Several of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. These include "Over the Rainbow," which was ranked as the number one movie song of all time in the American Film Institute's "100 Years...100 Songs" list. Four more Garland songs are featured on the list: "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (#76), "Get Happy" (#61), "The Trolley Song" (#26), and "The Man That Got Away" (#11).
Judy Garland has twice been honored on U.S. postage stamps, in 1989 (as Dorothy) and again in 2006 (as Vicki Lester from A Star Is Born).
fildude
@jakesworld2180
Do you know that the original lyrics to the song "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" was about the uncertainty of tomorrow as the world was going through war?
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Hugh Martin & Ralph Blane
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.
---
Not all of us are happy, nor festive, some are sad, some are blue, but tomorrow is uncertain, so while we're still alive, try to Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas Now.
John-Paul Simpson
The OG lyrics before Judy asked to change it;
"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."
Rosemary Filth
I hear this and I am transported back some years to the many times I visited with Peter, the elderly war veteran who lived in the flat next-door to me in the Belgian town of Anderlecht. I visited Peter every Christmas Eve to watch Meet Me in St. Louis, starring Judy Garland. It was a wonderful tradition! Always we cried when Judy sang this song, as we followed along with her in our poor English, thinking of those who were dear to us and how we wished they were near to us once more.
On the mantle above Peter’s fireplace was a black and white photo of himself, taken during the Great War. In this photograph, he sits proudly astride a grand percheron war stallion and on his uniform we see many ribbons and medals. He wears a monocle at his eye, and on his head, a fine plumed helmet with a spike. At his side he wears sword with a glorious bejeweled hilt and an elaborately embroidered scabbard. Peter told me the sword was a gift from King Albert I of Belgium, who was Peter’s friend and confidant. Also, there is a yellow-tinged photo of Peter with King Albert on a mountaineering expedition, along with some other people who are important only to professors of history. In 1934 King Albert I of Belgium was killed in a climbing accident and so also on my neighbor’s mantle there is a photograph of himself sitting with the royal family at the king’s funeral. I used to think how this song is like the photographs on Peter’s mantle and I often reflected that the king's dear friend was now my dear neighbor.
Peter often spoke of the Christmas Truce at Ypres, Belgium, when the soldiers from each side stopped fighting and helped one another bury their dead. At the hour of midnight on December 24th, 1914, they sang carols and exchanged treats and some food and small trinkets and played football. Taking momentary respite from mass murder and wanton destruction, for the space of a few hours the men were able to set aside the horror of the trenches and behave as normal men. This group of men who enjoyed that moment named themselves the Football Chums.
Later, when the war became more bitter, the conditions more harsh and the soldiers more callous, Peter was among those who took up cannibalism. During one moment at the Yser Canal in late 1915, after he had stabbed out a bit of flesh from the buttocks of a fallen German soldier, Peter realized was eating was Horst Schumann, the same man with whom he had exchanged a tin of sardines for some chocolates only the previous year, and he mused that perhaps in some roundabout way he was, after all, eating the sardines he had traded away at the Christmas Truce. Every Christmas Eve, after we had watched Meet Me in St. Louis, Peter and I would pour a bit of warm red wine spiced with Christmas cinnamon and drink a toast to his old friend Horst, whom he had eaten so long ago beside the canal.
Peter lived to be more than one hundred years old but now he is gone, and I have been entrusted with his fabulous sword, a gift from King Albert, which Peter in turn gifted to me before he died. Every Christmas Eve I journey to the small memorial at Ypres, where some still gather in the cold to remember the Football Chums of 1914. I bring sardines and chocolates to share with everyone, just as Peter would have liked and I proudly wear his sword and his helmet, with its gold spike. It is a new tradition that expands upon, but does not erase the old one. With others who are gathered there, in battered English we muddle through the verses of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, then through bittersweet tears we raise our glasses and drink a toast to dear Peter, to Horst and to the king.
Kelly Pilon
Still makes me tear up, especially now that my family is gone. We certainly had our share of them so long ago...
wpl
The song was written specifically for this scene in the movie. That's why it has a melancholy tone. But the movie also came out on November 22, 1944. Allied troops were approaching Germany and the Battle of the Bulge would happen 24 days after it came out. No one knew if their loved ones fighting the war would come back. The battles in Europe and the Pacific were long from being over. It really made this song resonate for so many people. It's still a wonderful song because Christmas is a propitious time on the calendar. It comes at the end of the year and no one knows what the next year will hold or who will be around for next Christmas to celebrate with.
Teleia McCabe
The same with Frank Sinatra's version of I'll Be Home For Christmas. My dad was a fighter pilot over the Pacific theater in WWII, & my uncle was in Patton's 3rd Tank division in Europe. This song will always be a part of me.
John Thomson
Well said with a historical point of view. I was born in September of 1944
John-Paul Simpson
The original lyrics mentions about the Christmas being their last but was changed
Matthew Gallant
It was perfect for the time it was released. This is a perfect movie in my opinion. And a few years later It’s A Wonderful Life showed the happy ending to the war that the Greatest Generation won.
Moonbeeps
Thank you for writing this, that was beautiful ❤
Arthur Nakane
Let this singing of Judy Garland be a lesson to those contemporary singers who tend to oversing this song. Judy Garland was famous for her powerful voice, but for this sentimental and self-encouraging song, she sings so tenderly and masterfully, respecting the original intention and the mood of the song. My hat's off and my bravo over the rainbow !
India Lucy
100% agreed! here is a choir arrangement of this song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4klfL_8YIY&t=3s
Ruth S
I could not agree more with you. The entertainers of today are nothing like the magnificence of the entertainers of days gone.