Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Judy Garland is the original artist for one of my favorite American Christmas carols, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. When we listen carefully to the beautiful music and the lyrics, we feel equally melancholy and hope which are not the usual feels for Christmas carols. To understand why this song instantly resonated with the American public, let's look at what was going on at the time of its release.

This song was written for the movie musical Meet Me In St. Louis, which was released in November of 1944. At their first hearing, the American people were approaching the third anniversary of their continued involvement in WWII. The news, while generally upbeat about continuing victories both in Europe and the Pacific, also predicted long struggles ahead. Every family had men in the service. Every family was experiencing food rationing, gas and heat rationing, and were working overtime in factories and other essential jobs

. Worse of all, every family had received, or knew of others who had received the dreaded telegrams from the War Department. This was soon after D-Day, in the midst of continued fighting in France, Italy, the Pacific. The air forces were operating at 100% and suffering unacceptable losses, but powering through was the only strategy anyone had. No one was feeling the mood of boisterous celebration that holiday season, so to escape the world for a couple of hours, they went to the movies and heard Judy Garland sing so beautifully just what they were feeling.

Since then this song has been sung by countless artists and we notice that the words have been changed to create a more celebratory sound. Me, I prefer the original lyrics and the original artist, Judy. When I hear the sublime mix of sorrow and hope, I relate because I consider what she and all of our forebears  were going through then, and as importantly, it makes me hopeful for tomorrow. We haven't heard much good or optimistic about our own world for a long time. We should understand that whatever comes, our people have been through as much and they "muddled through" with hope and resolve. We will too, so let me wish you a Merry Little Christmas.