A few years ago, Terry Gross got songwriting team Hugh Martin and Ralph Blaine to talk about writing their classic “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” and in particular about the various versions of the lyric. They began by sharing the original penultimate lyric, which Judy Garland refused to sing:
Mr. MARTIN: (Singing) Have yourself a merry little Christmas, it may be your last. Next year we may all be living in the past.
Mr. MARTIN: Pretty sad.
GROSS: But you changed that lyric, didn’t you?
Mr. MARTIN: Yeah, I did. The one in the movie was – let’s see. “[Someday soon] we all will be together, if the fates allow. Until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow.” That was the one that was in the movie.
Then I got a phone call from Frank Sinatra, saying: I’m doing an album called “A Jolly Christmas,” and I love your song, but it’s just not very jolly. Do you think you could jolly it up a little bit for me? So then I wrote the line about have your – “hang a shining star upon the highest bough.” And Frank liked that and recorded it, and people – they do – sometimes they do that line, and sometimes they do the muddle-through line – somehow.
From Fresh Air With Terry Gross
I like both “final” versions, and I appreciate the sentiment that made Sinatra want to change it. There are occasions for both. But it sure feels like we’re in a “muddle through” kind of period here at the end of 2021, doesn’t it?