<P> In 1957, Frank Sinatra asked Martin to revise the line "Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow ." He told Martin, "The name of my album is A Jolly Christmas . Do you think you could jolly up that line for me?" Martin's new line was "Hang a shining star upon the highest bough ." Martin made several other alterations, changing the song's focus to a celebration of present happiness, rather than anticipation of a better future . On The Judy Garland Show Christmas Special, Garland sings the song to her children Joey and Lorna Luft with Sinatra's alternate lyrics . </P> <P> The lyrics Garland sang in Meet Me in St. Louis have been recorded with only slight variations by a number of artists, including Sinatra (in 1950 and 1963 single recordings), Bing Crosby (in I Wish You a Merry Christmas), Doris Day (in The Doris Day Christmas Album), Ella Fitzgerald (in Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas), The Pretenders (in the first A Very Special Christmas compilation), James Taylor (in October Road), and Luther Vandross (in This Is Christmas). </P> <P> In 2001, Martin, occasionally active as a pianist with religious ministries since the 1980s, wrote an entirely new set of lyrics to the song with John Fricke, "Have Yourself a Blessed Little Christmas," a religious version of the secular Christmas standard . The song was recorded by gospel female vocalist Del Delker with Martin accompanying her on piano . </P> <P> In 2002, NewSong lead singer Michael O'Brien noted the line "through the years, we all will be together if the Lord allows," which was part of the original song, was purged and replaced with "if the fates allow" to remove religious reference when the song was released, though ironically the Fates themselves were goddesses of ancient European religions . He noted while a pastor in a California church in 1990 that he had met Martin, who played piano at the church where O'Brien was serving for an evening, and the pastor was told, "That's the original way I wrote it, so I want you to sing it this way ." </P>

Judy garland have yourself a merry little christmas