Having Myself a Merry Little Christmas Riff!
I’m probably treading on some controversial terrain here. At least in certain circles I’m almost sure to. So, please bear with me here.
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas was written for Vincent Minelli’s 1944 MGM classic, Meet Me In St. Louis. At the time of the film’s release, hope was tentatively making its wary way back into a world heavy of heart. The weight of lives lost and loves withering in their wake was evident everywhere. And those citizens who hadn’t experienced loss themselves must have certainly been aware of friends and neighbors who had. Many, I’m sure, carried a constant fear of experiencing it themselves. We’d only just recently begun to emerge from the everyday hardships of the Great Depression. So, it’s hard to conceive that this country—if not the world itself—was feeling stable enough to take anything in its stride. A world at war surely must dictate its own emotional rules. A kind of silent decree to disallow the expression of one’s true feelings for fear of disturbing those who had experienced the gut punch of personal loss. Better to find a quiet corner to celebrate or to mourn rather than disrupt the tenuous way of life back then. In the song—Esther Smith; the film’s teenaged heroine sings this passage sung here by the wonderful Dorothy Collins.
‘Muddle’ is a great verb for Esther. She’s pretty full to bursting with confusing adolescent life. In the film, she’s dealing with a family move from St. Louis to a big city…And not just any big city—New York City! She’s had a pretty rough night out and comes home to find herself having to play adult to her inconsolable youngest sister. But, what we witness are her own adolescent doubts and tensions slowly rising to the surface and creeping inside of her delivery. For all of her transparent stoicism, her sister’s sensitive enough to read Esther’s own concerns about their predicament. You can hear Esther’s growing pains all throughout Judy Garland’s classic rendition. It’s a beautiful character song and an indelibly poignant scene.
And here’s the somewhat controversial point I’m offering.
I contend that this original lyric to the song is best served only within the context of the film itself. Esther is limited to her small town experiences and is at that formative age. She’s yet to have the cumulative emotional life that can only come with an adult wealth of experience. So...
Let’s now move forward a decade to 1957 and Capital Records—
But, no! Let’s wait a week or two...
And have yourself a Merry Little Christmas now. I’ll save what’s left for Little Christmas itself—or what I’ve been brought up to define as Little Christmas.
I’ll see you here again on January 6th for my epiphany an illuminating discovery regarding the song’s revision—and Ralph Blaine’s canny more adult lyric to Hugh Martin’s soaring melody.
Merry Christmas All.
Be Well.
Stay Engaged.
