Done for the Scrap Song Lyrics Challenge found here: https://oscraps.com/community/threads/day-6-scrap-song-lyrics-challenge.36606/
Journaling reads: I did not know that the lyrics we sing to “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” now were different originally. According to Classicfm dot com, “Judy Garland sang it first for a scene in Meet Me in St Louis (1944) in which her character comforts her younger sister, Margaret.

The song “began with the melody,” says songwriter Hugh Martin. “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.”

But his collaborator, Ralph Blane, heard it and reckoned Martin was mad to throw it out. “We dug around the wastebasket and found it,” Blane recalled. “Thank the Lord we found it.”

But, the lyrics weren’t quite right. So, producers requested a rewrite. The song’s original lyrics, as dreamed up by Martin and Blane, evoked a very different Christmas feeling. Garland objected to the lyrics, apparently, saying they were too depressing and if she were to sing them, “Margaret will cry, and they’ll think I’m a monster”.

Eager to please their leading lady, Hollywood executives requested a rewrite. “They said, ‘No, no – it’s a sad scene, but we want sort of an upbeat song, which will make it even sadder if she’s smiling through her tears,” Martin said.

But Martin, who has since claimed the whole soundtrack was his work alone with no contribution from Blane, wasn’t keen for a rewrite. He had to be firmly nudged by a friend, actor Tom Drake, to write a new verse.

And eventually, he did.”

I actually like the original lyrics more. They remind me that I should “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Matthew 6:34 (KJV) And Proverbs 27:1 (KJV) says, “Boast not thyself of tomorrow; For thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” Only God knows the “number of our days” that I will live in this life. And the lyrics remind me that I should not procrastinate; that there is no time like the present! Spend time with your family and friends and tell them you love them. Live, laugh, and share God’s love!

Original Lyrics:
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.