Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
January 23, 2012
Every year, I am the MC at a Christmas Carol singing party held by my good friend and fellow teacher, Mrs. S. do a little commentary on each carol. Another good friend and teacher (ret.), Kent Peterman, has slipped me the real inside dope on Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.
We went to see Richard Glazier in concert last night and he does a great show about music from the old time eras. (Gershwin, Arlen, etc.)
One of the things he said was that the original lyrics for Have Yourself etc. were much darker and he sang some of them. He said Judy, Judy, Judy said she wouldn't sing it to Margaret O'Brien with those lyrics because people would think her a monster. I thought that you might want to work it in to your background...or not.
Herewith the original lyrics:
ORIGINAL VERSION
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
One can readily see Judy's reluctance. The Glazier show was wonderful. Highly recommend. Especially for people like us who love the back stories. He's been on PBS and will be again soon. He's also at richardglazier.com but it's not a great website.