Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Frank Sinatra recorded this for his 1957 album A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra, with Gordon Jenkins conducting an orchestra that never hurries. The song was written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane for Judy Garland in Meet Me in St. Louis, but it was Sinatra who gave it the warm, settled tone that December couples want, singing about faithful friends gathering and troubles being out of sight. It makes a graceful first dance for a couple who want a hold rather than a routine. Sinatra asked Martin to rewrite the original line about muddling through, feeling it was too bleak for a Christmas record, and the cheerier lyric stuck.