Today in Music (1944): “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” charted

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas Judy Garland

Writer(s): Hugh Martin (music), Ralph Blane (lyrics) (see lyrics here) First Charted: December 30, 1944 Peak: 27 PM, 2 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 5.6 video, 160.0 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The 1944 MGM musical Meet Me in St. Louis is set in 1903 leading up to the World’s Fair in St. Louis the following year. The movie featured some songs from the period as well as new material by composer Hugh Martin and lyricist Ralph Blane. Among the songs was “The Trolley Song,” which nominated for an Oscar for Best Song, and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” a now holiday classic named to the American Film Institute’s list of top 100 movie songs. In the film, Judy Garland’s family is moving to New York, against the wishes of everyone except the father. Her sister is worried Santa won’t find her in their new home. Garland sings “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” to her. She refused to perform the song as it was originally written because it was “too somber, too full of pain” TY1 with original lyrics “Have yourself a merry little Christmas / It will be your last / Next year we will be living in the past.” TY1 The director Vincente Minnelli and her co-star Tom Drake agreed and the lines were changed to “Let your heart be light / Next year all our troubles will be out of sight.” WK The suggestion that things would be better the next year resonated with United States troops during World War II. When she performed the song at the Hollywood Canteen, it brought many soldiers to tears. WK Although Blane and Martin were credited with the songs in Meet Me in St. Louis, Martin has claimed that he wrote the music and lyrics to most of the songs. He said he allowed Blane credit because of “my naïve and atrocious lack of business acumen.” WK Despite becoming such a Christmas favorite, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” went nearly fifty years from Garland initially charting with the song in 1944 before it charted again. Vince Gill hit #52 on the country chart with it in 1993. Others to chart with it include Kenny G (1994, #26 AC), Martina McBride (1999, #53 CW), James Taylor (2001, #4 AC), Ruben Studdard & Tamyra Gray (2003, #25 AC), Clay Aiken (2005, #32 AC), Joe Nichols (2005, #57 CW), LeAnn Rimes (2005, #60 CW), Sarah McLachlan (2006, #6 AC), Barry Manilow (2007, #11 AC), Colbie Caillat (2009, #12 AC), David Archuleta (2009, #22 AC), Katharine McPhee (2010, #16 AC), Michael Bublé (2011, #47 BB, 99 UK, 9 AU), Rod Stewart (2012, #28 AC, 51 UK), Little Big Town (2012, #49 CW), Susan Boyle (2013, #17 AC), Sam Smith (2014, #90 BB, 50 RR, 6 AC), Dan + Shay (2014, #17 AC), Train (2015, #5 AC), Josh Groban (2016, #1 AC), John Legend with Esperanza Spalding (2018, #1 AC), and the Rua (2018, #25 AC). Resources: TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Page 278. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 12/21/2023.

 

50 years ago: Bing Crosby “Don’t Fence Me In” hit #1

Don’t Fence Me In Bing Crosby with the Andrews Sisters

Writer(s): Cole Porter, Robert Fletcher (see lyrics here) First Charted: November 25, 1944 Peak: 18 US, 14 GA, 18 HP, 9 RB, 112 AU (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: This song about “a footloose and fancy-free kind of person who refuses to settle down” TY1 was considered uncharacteristic for songwriter Cole Porter. Not only does it lack the “sophistication of most of his lyrics” TY1 but it does not “seem especially clever or debonair.” TY1 Porter even called it his least favorite of his compositions. WK Then again, the song wasn’t entirely his. Robert Fletcher, a Montana engineer with the Department of Highways, wrote a poem, which would seem to be “Open Range” from his 1934 book Coral Dust, and Porter bought the rights for $250. WK Porter used some of the phrases to fashion “Don’t Fence Me In”. TY1 The song was written in 1934 for the never-released film Adios Argentina. The song resurfaced when Roy Rogers and the Andrews Sisters performed it in the film Hollywood Canteen. TY1 Rogers performed the song again in the 1945 film Don’t Fence Me In and it was also featured in 1946’s Night and Day, a tribute to Cole Porter’s life and his music. TY1 Kate Smith introduced the song to many new listeners on her October 8, 1944, radio broadcast. WK Meanwhile, Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters recorded a version of the song in a mere thirty minutes on July 25, 1944. WK They released the song as a single. All told, the pairing made for 23 chart appearances, hitting #2 on five occasions. This was the bigger of their two songs which hit #1. The other, “A Hot Time in the Town of Berlin”, had charted only a couple of months earlier and topped the charts for six weeks. PM “Fence” and 1943’s “Pistol Packin’ Mama” were also million sellers. PM Resources: AMG All Music Guide DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 49. TY1 Don Tyler (1985). Hit Parade 1920-1955. New York, NY: Quill. Pages 122-23. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Page 113. WK Wikipedia.org Related Links: First posted 11/25/2011; last updated 3/31/2023.

Pearl Jam “Better Man” charted

Better Man Pearl Jam

Writer(s): Eddie Vedder (see lyrics here) Released: December 6, 1994 (album cut) First Charted: December 3, 1994 Peak: 13 BA, 24 RR, 18 AR, 2 MR, 9 CN, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 36.6 video, 159.90 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Eddie Vedder, the frontman for Pearl Jam, wrote “Better Man” when he was a teenager. Her performed the song with Bad Radio, a funk group in the vein of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. PF The earliest version was based on the fast tempo “Save It for Later” by the English Beat. FO It changed significantly between then and the time it surfaced as a Pearl Jam ballad. Pearl Jam didn’t take a stab at recording it until sessions for sophomore album Vs.. Producer Brendan O’Brien declared the song a hit. Vedder wasn’t enthusiastic about that prospect because it was such a personal song and he wanted to give the song away. The plan was for Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders to sing the song for a Greenpeace charity record. His bandmates were relieved when she didn’t show up for a recording session because they thought it should be a Pearl Jam song. SF They took another shot at recording it during sessions for their third album, Vitalogy. FO Lyrically, the song tells a story about an abusive relationship. She waits for him to get home, practicing how she’ll break up with him. However, she loses the courage when it comes time to confront him in person. She convinces herself she’s really in love with him and can’t find anyone better. During a performance on April 3, 1994, he said, “it’s dedicated to the bastard that married my momma.” It was a reference to Peter Mueller, his stepfather who he’d been led to believe was his biological father. WK While the song wasn’t released as a single and the band weren’t making videos at the time, “Better Man” still triumphed at radio, landing at #1 for eight weeks at album rock and reaching the top 20 of the Billboard pop airplay chart. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) named it one of the most-performed songs of 1995. WK Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Pearl Jam FO Far Out magazine (6/1/2022). “The hidden inspiration behind the Pearl Jam song ‘Better Man’” by Tyler Golsen PF Pearl-jam.fandom.com “Better Man” SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 12/15/2023.

Pearl Jam Vitalogy released

Vitalogy Pearl Jam

Released: November 22, 1994 Peak: 11 US, 4 UK, 11 CN, 11 AU Sales (in millions): 5.0 US, 0.1 UK, 10.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: grunge

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. Last Exit Spin the Black Circle (11/19/94, 58 BB, 16 AR, 11 MR, 10 UK) Not for You (2/25/95, 12 AR, 38 MR, 34 UK) Tremor Christ (11/19/94, 18 BB, 16 AR, 16 MR) Nothingman Whipping Pry, To Curduroy (12/10/94, 53 BA, 22 AR, 13 MR) Bugs Satan’s Bed Better Man (12/3/94, 13 BA, 1 AR, 2 MR) Aye Davanita Immortality (7/8/95, 10 AR, 31 MR) Hey Foxymophandlemama, That’s Me Total Running Time: 55:30 The Players: Eddie Vedder (vocals, guitar) Stone Gossard (guitar) Mike McCready (guitar) Jeff Ament (bass) Dave Abbruzzese (drums)

Rating: 3.968 out of 5.00 (average of 22 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: Released on vinyl two weeks before its CD release, Pearl Jam created a definite demand for their third album. The vinyl version alone sold 35,000 copies in its debut week. When it hit the shelves in CD format, it became the second-fasted selling album in U.S. history – second only to the group’s previous effort, Vs.. WK It wasn’t just a big seller. “Thanks to its stripped-down, lean production, Vitalogy stands as Pearl Jam’s most original and uncompromising album.” STE That can be good or bad – Jon Pareles said, the album incorporates “fast but brutal punk, fuzz-toned psychedelia, and judicious folk-rock, all of it sounding more spontaneous than before” WK while Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times said “this isn’t just the best Pearl Jam album but a better album than the band once even seemed capable of making.” WK Edna Gundersen of USA Today confirmed the latter point, saying this is “the band’s most compelling, inventive and confident music to date.” WK The New York Times’ Entertainment Weekly’s David Browne said that “Vitalogy marks the first time it’s possible to respect the band’s music as much as its stance” WK but also said that it “leaves an odd, unsettling aftertaste.” WK More to the latter point, Rolling Stone’s Al Weisel called it “a wildly uneven and difficult record, sometimes maddening, sometimes ridiculous, often powerful.” WK It is definitely “more diverse than previous releases” WK with “aggressive rock songs, ballads, and several experimental tracks.” WK The band’s guitarist, Mike McCready, concurs, saying “there is some weird stuff on there.” WK Weisel said some of those come across as “throwaways and strange experiments that don’t always work.” WK Time’s Christopher John Farley specifically signaled out Bugs, with its “sub-Tom Waits accordion romp,” STE as one of the album’s stinkers, but also said “that’s one admirably experimental failure on a largely successful album.” WK Other more experimental numbers included “the mantrafunk of Aye Davanita” STE “and the chilling sonic collage Hey Foxymophandlemama, That’s Me,” STE which was reportedly created with “looped recordings of real patients from a psychiatric hospital.” WK The album sports a noticeable lack of guitar solos compared to the group’s first two studio efforts. As McCready said, “I don’t think the songs demanded solos; it was more of a rhythmic album.” WK “While it isn’t a concept album, Vitalogy sounds like one. Death and despair shroud the album, rendering even the explosive celebration of vinyl Spin the Black Circle somewhat muted.” STE As Pareles said, the bulk of the songs are “tortured first-person proclamations” WK and that “Vedder sounds more alone than ever.” WK As Jim DeRogatis said in the Chicago Sun-Times, the album can leave you “wishing that they’d just lighten up.” WK “But that black cloud works to Pearl Jam’s advantage, injecting a nervous tension to brittle rockers like Last Exit and Not for You, and especially introspective ballads like Corduroy and Better Man.” STE The latter was written by Vedder when he was in high school and he performed it with in his pre-Pearl Jam days with the group Bad Radio. Pearl Jam initially rejected it for Vs. because it was too accessible – or, as producer Brendan O’Brien said, a “blatantly great pop song.” WK Thematically, many of the songs also address “the pressures of fame and dealing with the resulting loss of privacy.” WK In addition to the previously mentioned “Not for You” and “Curduroy,” Pry, To, ‘Bugs,’ Satan’s Bed, and Immortality all address these issues. WK “Not for You” deals vents against the “bureaucracy of the music industry and, as Vedder says, “how youth is being exploited.” WK He explains that “Curduroy” is about “one person’s relationship with a million people” WK and that “Immortality” is about “the pressures on someone who is on a parallel train.” WK “Pearl Jam are at their best when they’re fighting, whether it’s Ticketmaster, fame, or their own personal demons.” STE To that point, things were tense with the band during the recording process. Drummer Dave Abbruzzese says that communication problems spiked as a result of guitarist Stone Gossard refraining from his usual role as mediator. WK Gossard, who has said he considered quitting the band, says this was the first album where final decisions were pretty much in the hands of lead singer Eddie Vedder. WK He also said that “eighty percent of the songs were written 20 minutes before they were recorded.” WK On top of it all, McCready sought rehab for alcohol and cocaine abuse. WK As for the album’s title, it was originally intended to be called Life, something confirmed by the statement on the first single “Spin the Black Circle.” However, Vedder found a medical book, Vitalogy, which means “the study of life” which became not just the album title but the source of the cover art and liner notes. Notes: In 2011, an expanded version of the album was released with a guitar and organ-only mix of “Better Man,” an alternate version of “Curduroy,” and a demo of “Nothingman.”

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Pearl Jam STE Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide WK Wikipedia Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/30/2011; last updated 11/17/2023.