Blogocentric Formulations

From now on, your troubles will be miles away

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"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"
by Daniel Jang

                   

I know I've mentioned Daniel Jang on my newsfeed before, but I don't think I've actually blogged about him. Daniel is an immensely talented violinist (and pianist and guitarist) who has become a modest YouTube hit thanks to his composing of covers to popular songs. I highly recommend checking out everything on his YouTube channel  , but if you're looking for specific recommendations, I highly suggest checking out the following covers:

         "Royals" by Lorde  

         "Payphone" by Maroon 5  

And my personal favorite:

         "Find You/Spectrum/Clarity/Stay the Night" mash-up by Zedd  

But since it's Christmas, I figured I'd feature his cover of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" since it's not only one of my favorite holiday songs, but it's also the only holiday song he's done to date.

The song was first performed by Judy Garland in the 1944 musical Meet Me in St. Louis, and later made even more famous when Frank Sinatra recorded a cover with slightly altered lyrics. In 2004 it was voted #76 on AFI's list of the 100 most popular and influential songs in the past 100 years of cinema. The song went through many iterations, mostly at the request of Garland and co-star Tom Drake who felt the original lyrics were too depressing. Some of the original lyrics included:

Have yourself a merry little Christmas; it may be your last
Next year we all may be living in the past

which the songwriters (Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane) conceded to change to:

Have yourself a merry little Christmas; let your heart be light
Next year all our troubles will be out of sight

The song has been recorded by many famous artists aside from Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra, some of whom include Christina Aguilera, Jackie Gleason, Connie Francis, Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Bolton, Neil Diamond, Rosemary Clooney, The Jackson 5, Rod Stewart, Sarah McLachlan, Luther Vandross, Bette Midler, The Carpenters, Twisted Sister, and John Denver accompanied by The Muppets.