Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, Or, How The Dude Abides

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 in the 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

Kudos go to cool cat, Frank Sinatra for settin this holiday bummer on the right path. Ol' Blue Eyes loved the melody but not the melancholy feel of Hugh Martin's original lyrics. So much so that Martin was asked to come up with something more uplifting, less a-bummer-ish (mine) so that the song could be included on Frank's album, A Jolly Christmas, which is now the version best remembered.

The original, made famous by Judy Garland, was taken from the 1944 MGM musical, Meet Me In St. Louis. About a St. Louis father who upsets his family by taking a better paying position in New York. I believe the song's original point of view is that of an older sister to a younger sister that while yes, it is rather shitty that our father is leaving us, but that down the road, when he settles in, we will rejoin him. Sheesh, melancholy is right, and it goes something 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

Thanks for comin to the rescue on that one Frank, and merry Christmas!

Credits:
-carols.org.uk
-wikipedia ( where else was I gonna look at 3 o'oclock in the morning)
-art work of Santa by the chimney from Haddon Sundblom for Coca-Cola
-words and music to Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Hugh Martin
and Ralph Blane