Wikipedia
The Meet Me in St. Louis poster
Reader, I needed to cry.
For weeks, I've been feeling that particular brand of melancholy and nostalgia that hits around the holidays. Like a lot of people, November 1 arrives, and I yearn for the Christmases of my youth, when everyone in my family was, well, alive and healthy. Normally I alleviate this by watching old home movies and having a good cry sesh. But in 2020, with everything going on, it seemed selfish. I'm so lucky. I'm healthy! But my head and heart weren't aligned. I needed to sob.
Suddenly, I knew how I was going to do it.
Cue that one scene from Meet Me in St. Louis in which Judy Garland sings "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," the debut of the now-famous holiday song.
If you haven't seen the 1944 classic, here's the gist: It's set in the city right before the 1904 World's Fair. Garland plays Esther, a woman in love with the boy next door, John. But Esther's father is taking a job in New York City, and the whole family will have to move, gasp, before the World's Fair even begins. Although she's in love, Esther will have to go with them.
In the scene with "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," Garland sings to the actor who plays the family's youngest sister as they both gaze out the window at a group of snowmen in the front yard. They're sad they have to go to New York. I won't spoil the end for you. You should watch it.
But Ugh, you'll think. These people didn't know about hard times. OK, true, but when the movie was released, the United States was in the middle of World War II. Many were separated from family members, who were serving overseas, during the holidays. Garland even performed the song at the Hollywood Canteen, which was a club for servicemen about to ship out overseas.
Consider these lines and think about 2020 (and try not to bawl):
Some day soon we all will be together
If the fates allow
Until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow
In 1957, Frank Sinatra covered the song and changed that last line to the happier: “Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.”
In 2020, though, we need the sadder version. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" should be the official carol of 2020 if only for these lines:
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
YouTube commenters agree with me (so clearly I'm right):
"This version really hits different in 2020," one wrote.
"It's so accurate right now in Corona times," wrote another.
Here's some criticism for the Sinatra version:
"I have always liked this version where [sic] the line 'until then we'll have to muddle through somehow' instead of the stupid verse 'hang a shinning [sic] star upon the highest bough'. The original line is much more serious and heart wrenching [sic]. I like the feeling this line brings. This song has very deep meaning in COVID 2020."
And a commenter who found it poignant to consider how those hearing the song for the first time, in the midst of war, might have felt:
"We don’t have to imagine what this original, more bittersweet version of the song means today. We’re living it in our way. But imagine what it meant to the millions of people who first heard it while watching this film or on the radio in 1944, with loved ones still far away, fighting a war beyond imagining [sic], ever in danger, wondering if they would, indeed, be reunited with family for joyful times again."
You can watch the scene below:
