Martin (seated) with Judy Garland and Bing Crosby.

After the 1944 premiere of “Meet Me in St. Louis,” The New York Times compared hearing the film’s original songs to finding “favors in a bride’s cake.” These moments, brought to life by Judy Garland, were created by accomplished Broadway composer Hugh Martin – a Birmingham native and former Birmingham-Southern College music student.

“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” one of the most beloved songs from the film, turns 75 this year. From Frank Sinatra’s adaptation for his 1957 Christmas album to the Carpenters’ immensely popular 1978 version to chart-placing Michael Bublé and Sam Smith covers, hundreds of artists have sung this classic.

But “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is not just any holiday song. It poignantly marries feelings of warmth and melancholy that arise during the holidays into a tune that reflects both, thanks to the careful writing of Martin.

The Early Days

Martin could play “The Star Spangled Banner” by ear at age five, showing a natural gift for music. He was classically trained at the Birmingham Conservatory and through his BSC coursework, but the popular music he heard at the Alabama Theatre, like George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” pushed him towards a career in show business.

Martin left his home in Southside for New York City when he was 20 years old and found work as a vocal arranger. By age 27, he wrote his first musical, “Best Foot Forward,” which ran on Broadway for more than nine months.

“He fused a contemporary sensibility to ’30s and ’40s musicals that brought a new energy and audience to the theatre,” wrote Michael Feinstein in the forward to Martin’s autobiography, “Hugh Martin: The Boy Next Door.” Martin was known, even at the very beginning of his career, to have transformed vocal arrangement on Broadway by adding a new “thrill” to the music.

During his time writing and arranging throughout the 1930s, Martin also performed as a singer in “Hooray for What?” on Broadway, where he first worked with Ralph Blane, another young arranger. Blane also joined Martin’s vocal quartet, “The Martins,” and the two were eventually hired together by MGM to write three songs for “Meet Me in St. Louis.” When Martin began writing for the film in Hollywood, he already had nearly a decade of Broadway success.

Lyrical Changes

“The Boy Next Door” and Oscar-nominated “The Trolley Song,” two of Martin and Blane’s songs for the film, were immediate hits. However, both Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra pushed “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” to be the classic it’s become.

“I found a little madrigal-like tune that I liked but couldn’t make work, so I played with it for two or three days and then threw it in the wastebasket,” Martin said about the song in a 1989 NPR interview. Luckily, Blane heard Martin playing from another room and recovered the draft.

The sadness in the lyrics fit the scene as Garland’s character, Esther, reflects on her family leaving their life and loved ones in St. Louis behind for New York. She sings to her younger sister, Tootie, played by Margaret O’Brien, to comfort her during their final Christmas at home.

When Garland first heard Martin’s lyrics, she refused to sing the song because it was too upsetting:

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

Martin, after push from Garland and others involved in the film, adjusted the lyrics to what Garland sings in the scene. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” still captures the characters’ gloom but with a more uplifting tone:

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
Next year all our troubles will be out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the yuletide gay
Next year all our troubles will be miles away
Once again as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who were dear to us
Will be near to us once more
Someday soon we all will be together
If the fates allow
Until then, we’ll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now

More than ten years after the film’s premiere, Sinatra worked with Martin to draft another set of changes, particularly for the line “Until then, we’ll have to muddle through somehow.” Sinatra wanted a cheery, Christmas tune that could stand apart from the film’s somber scene. Along with other small adjustments here and there, Sinatra’s version introduced the line “Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.”

The True Writer

In his 2010 autobiography, published only a few months before his death, Martin revealed that nearly all the songs that give writing credits to both him and Blane were “written entirely by me (solo) without help from Ralph or anybody else.” The composers were credited together on many projects before and after “Meet Me in St. Louis,” but Martin claimed that, at the time, he didn’t mind Blane receiving screen credit and was still young and new to the business.

Martin’s compositions and arrangements, including both his solo work and collaborations with Blane, shaped American musicals and film for more than 50 years. Among many honors, he received four Tony nominations – three for the 1964 musical “High Spirits” and one for the 1990 stage version of “Meet Me in St. Louis.”

He saw American icons like Lucille Ball and Debbie Reynolds capture his songs and stories over his career, but it’s Garland and the bittersweet “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” that lives on, season after season.