The tune is credited to the late composers Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane. Martin reportedly provided the music while Blane supplied the lyrics.
The two met while performing in a Broadway production as singers, according to information from the Songwriters Hall of Fame website. In fact at one time they performed together in a group called The Martins, appearing on Fred Allen’s popular radio show.
The two penned my favorite Christmas tune for the movie “Meet Me in St Louis” staring Judy Garland. Their score for the musical also included other mid-century pop standards such as “The Trolley Song” and “The Boy Next Door.”.
(I find it interesting that all the promotional trailers and posters prominently feature the names of the stars and other principals of the musical, but don’t mention the composers at all.)
While the picture was set in 1904, it was produced in 1944 during WWII and that depressing wartime mentality crept into the original lyrics of the classic Christmas song.
The original first line of the song was “Have yourself a merry little Christmas, it may be your last.” The idea was that a soldier fighting overseas may not live to see another holiday.
Garland objected to the morose sounding line, particularly because she was scripted to sing the song to a little girl. To smooth things over the line was changed to “… let your heart be light.”
That wasn’t the only time Martin had a problem with Garland or that the lyrics of the song were tinkered with.
The composer quit the production of “A Star is Born” over the way Garland planned to sing “The Man That Got Away,” a song written by Ira Gershwin. Martin apparently objected to her plan to “belt out” the number.
Years later, Martin must have felt the song was too secular for his devout Christian values. He made yet another change to his most famous holiday tune when he adapted it for various Gospel singers, including Mahalia Jackson. At that point the song lyric became “Have yourself a blessed little Christmas.”
Personally, I prefer Karen Carpenter’s rendition of Martin and Blane’s “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” anyway.