Holiday Song History: ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’

• Song - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
• Year - 1944
• Written By - Hugh Martin (composer), Ralph Blane (lyricist)

Other Random Facts

• The song was introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me In St. Louis.
• Frank Sinatra ended up recording his own version of the song with slightly modified lyrics.
• While the song is popular around Christmas time, it hasn't charted very well.
  • Judy Garland's version reached number 27 on the Billboard charts.
  • Michael Buble's version that was released in 2011 reached number 98.
  • In 2014, Sam Smith recorded his own version of the song, and that one reached number 90 on the charts.
• Frank Sinatra's third recording of the song in 1963 ended up in the middle of a controversy, as it was used in the soundtrack Carl Foreman's anti-war movie The Victors.
• In 2001, Martin wrote a new version of the song with revised lyrics called Have Yourself a Blessed Little Christmas, a religious version of the secular song.