Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Word & Music by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, 1943

 These are the original lyrics...written for Meet Me In St. Louis, released in 1944:

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 in 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.

By accounts, Judy Garland refused to sing these lyrics (calling them "lugubrious") and demanding that they be rewritten! 

But for Robin, here, these original lyrics (reflecting the dread across America...especially before D-Day) are more "in tune" with the solemn music...and more in tune with what we all feel THIS year (2019) in the raging pandemic.  

The "common" lyrics make it just one more treacly Christmas song.