{"version":"1.0.0","segments":[{"startTime":5.025,"endTime":10.809,"body":"It is exactly 80 years this week since Judy Garland stepped into a recording studio"},{"startTime":10.809,"endTime":11.195,"body":"at MGM to record this song, have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas for the very"},{"startTime":11.195,"endTime":17.365,"body":"first time."},{"startTime":17.365,"endTime":22.543,"body":"And apart from the writers and the immediate production team, the orchestra were the first"},{"startTime":22.543,"endTime":23.925,"body":"people to hear it."},{"startTime":23.945,"endTime":27.98,"body":"And so it's amazing to think that 80 years on it has all this history"},{"startTime":27.98,"endTime":29.325,"body":"that we're looking at tonight."},{"startTime":29.325,"endTime":34.445,"body":"And as you can see from this studio document, it cost just over a thousand"},{"startTime":34.445,"endTime":39.565,"body":"dollars to record the song because of a three hour recording session for 32 musicians."},{"startTime":40.395,"endTime":44.272,"body":"Over the course of the talk, I'm going to be thinking about the context in"},{"startTime":44.272,"endTime":45.565,"body":"which the song was written."},{"startTime":46.105,"endTime":50.592,"body":"I'm gonna look at the sketches for the song, which I've managed to obtain scans"},{"startTime":50.592,"endTime":53.285,"body":"of from the Library of Congress in Washington dc."},{"startTime":53.735,"endTime":55.725,"body":"We'll think a bit about Meet me in St."},{"startTime":55.725,"endTime":60.053,"body":"Louis, the film from which it's taken, and then look at some of the later"},{"startTime":60.053,"endTime":60.342,"body":"recordings of the song and examine how it's gone on a very strange reception journey"},{"startTime":60.342,"endTime":67.845,"body":"so that the meaning of the song has decidedly changed over time."},{"startTime":68.025,"endTime":74.285,"body":"And part of that was, um, achieved kind of mechanically because the words were changed."},{"startTime":74.535,"endTime":78.978,"body":"Frank Sinatra commissioned the original songwriter 13 years after it had been written to change"},{"startTime":78.978,"endTime":81.645,"body":"the words so that it had a different flavor."},{"startTime":81.785,"endTime":83.285,"body":"But we'll get onto that later."},{"startTime":83.505,"endTime":84.685,"body":"So we start with context."},{"startTime":85.755,"endTime":91.084,"body":"There's another rather sad anniversary this week, which is that 82 years ago, tomorrow was"},{"startTime":91.084,"endTime":91.44,"body":"the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the following day, America was plunged into the Second"},{"startTime":91.44,"endTime":97.125,"body":"World War."},{"startTime":97.505,"endTime":101.525,"body":"You can see the front page of the New York Times here on that day."},{"startTime":101.665,"endTime":106.582,"body":"And immediately you can see the shock and the gravity of the situation which matters"},{"startTime":106.582,"endTime":110.845,"body":"because this song and this film were created under the shadow of war."},{"startTime":111.185,"endTime":115.904,"body":"And I guess my argument is going to be that the reason why this song"},{"startTime":115.904,"endTime":116.219,"body":"has endured and also gone on this interesting journey is because it was created in"},{"startTime":116.219,"endTime":124.085,"body":"this very poignant context that continues to speak to us today."},{"startTime":124.085,"endTime":128.945,"body":"Because there are things in the song that I think are more about wartime than"},{"startTime":128.945,"endTime":130.565,"body":"about Meet Me in St."},{"startTime":130.565,"endTime":130.805,"body":"Louis."},{"startTime":131.425,"endTime":137.307,"body":"Um, considering the impact of the war over the course of the Second World War,"},{"startTime":137.307,"endTime":140.445,"body":"about 16 million Americans joined the Armed Forces."},{"startTime":141.225,"endTime":146.54,"body":"And in addition to that, there was a big campaign called the Rosy the Riveter"},{"startTime":146.54,"endTime":146.895,"body":"Campaign, which encouraged women to go out into professions that had been traditionally, um, barred"},{"startTime":146.895,"endTime":152.565,"body":"from them."},{"startTime":152.745,"endTime":154.965,"body":"So replacing men temporarily."},{"startTime":155.665,"endTime":160.75,"body":"And the result of all of this was a lot of displacement, that people weren't"},{"startTime":160.75,"endTime":162.445,"body":"where they had been before."},{"startTime":162.945,"endTime":167.903,"body":"So most American families were affected by all of these changes in one way or"},{"startTime":167.903,"endTime":168.565,"body":"the other."},{"startTime":168.625,"endTime":171.685,"body":"And popular music, uh, responded in a number of ways."},{"startTime":171.825,"endTime":177.009,"body":"One of them was in a series of songs that were sort of jolly songs"},{"startTime":177.009,"endTime":177.355,"body":"about fighting, where they were trying to persuade, um, people that it wasn't gonna be"},{"startTime":177.355,"endTime":182.885,"body":"so bad."},{"startTime":182.985,"endTime":186.885,"body":"So I've been particularly fond of this song, praise The Lord, and Pass The Ammunition,"},{"startTime":186.885,"endTime":187.145,"body":"which was written by Frank Lesser a few years before he went on to write"},{"startTime":187.145,"endTime":187.405,"body":"Guys and Dolls, which is a masterpiece, um, on, in the West End at the"},{"startTime":187.405,"endTime":197.285,"body":"moment in, I dunno how many revivals it's had now."},{"startTime":197.745,"endTime":202.192,"body":"And this rather cute song is about, um, a kind of a group of soldiers"},{"startTime":202.192,"endTime":202.489,"body":"who are being attacked and there is a, a clergyman amongst them and they turn"},{"startTime":202.489,"endTime":209.605,"body":"to him and sort of say, what should we do?"},{"startTime":209.715,"endTime":211.965,"body":"Expecting him to say, well, let's pray."},{"startTime":212.025,"endTime":215.908,"body":"And instead he says, praise the Lord and pass the ammunition and get stuck in"},{"startTime":215.908,"endTime":216.685,"body":"with the fighting."},{"startTime":216.985,"endTime":221.399,"body":"So there's a sort of tenor to all of this that's, uh, not really aligned"},{"startTime":221.399,"endTime":223.165,"body":"with what was actually going on."},{"startTime":223.665,"endTime":230.075,"body":"And in a similarly, quite often, jolly way, there was a major, major musical stage"},{"startTime":230.075,"endTime":236.485,"body":"musical called, this is the Army written by Irving Berlin, one of America's great songwriters."},{"startTime":236.485,"endTime":238.205,"body":"And it was written in response to the war."},{"startTime":238.205,"endTime":239.045,"body":"He was a great patriot."},{"startTime":239.665,"endTime":243.508,"body":"He loved to get stuck in with, um, what needed to be done for the"},{"startTime":243.508,"endTime":243.765,"body":"nation."},{"startTime":243.765,"endTime":246.005,"body":"And he did this on a number of occasions in different ways."},{"startTime":246.425,"endTime":251.368,"body":"And one of the things he did was to write this show, um, for the"},{"startTime":251.368,"endTime":254.005,"body":"us um, army to produce and perform themselves."},{"startTime":254.665,"endTime":259.111,"body":"And it was done in, in, uh, aid of the war effort in, in aid"},{"startTime":259.111,"endTime":262.965,"body":"of this specific charity, the us, the, sorry, the Army Emergency Relief Fund."},{"startTime":263.085,"endTime":264.725,"body":"I can never remember it off the top of my head."},{"startTime":265.105,"endTime":266.805,"body":"And they went around the world with this."},{"startTime":266.865,"endTime":272.07,"body":"So it opened on Broadway in 1942, went across the states and then came over"},{"startTime":272.07,"endTime":273.805,"body":"here and even played Glasgow."},{"startTime":273.905,"endTime":275.845,"body":"So it was quite a major effort."},{"startTime":275.845,"endTime":279.52,"body":"And as you can see from this photograph of the three Koreans, everybody in the"},{"startTime":279.52,"endTime":281.725,"body":"show was a soldier and they were all men."},{"startTime":281.825,"endTime":284.285,"body":"So the whole thing again, was rather comical."},{"startTime":284.285,"endTime":286.565,"body":"And it had songs like, oh, how I hate to Get Up in the Morning."},{"startTime":286.705,"endTime":293.565,"body":"So again, this is not particularly drawing attention to what's, um, unhappy about war."},{"startTime":294.585,"endTime":299.903,"body":"And I think if we think about these themes of loss, absence, um, displacement that"},{"startTime":299.903,"endTime":300.258,"body":"actually characterized the feeling of being at home in America in this period, we have"},{"startTime":300.258,"endTime":300.612,"body":"to look to Christmas songs, in my opinion, to find proper expressions of what it"},{"startTime":300.612,"endTime":311.605,"body":"all felt like."},{"startTime":311.705,"endTime":315.657,"body":"And so I've drawn out these three, um, the first two of which sort of"},{"startTime":315.657,"endTime":317.765,"body":"lead to the topic of our talk tonight."},{"startTime":317.775,"endTime":323.567,"body":"First of all, white Christmas, which first appeared in 1942 in the movie Holiday Inn"},{"startTime":323.567,"endTime":325.885,"body":"with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire."},{"startTime":326.225,"endTime":331.981,"body":"Second came a year later, 1943, I'll be home for Christmas, also recorded by Bing"},{"startTime":331.981,"endTime":332.365,"body":"Crosby."},{"startTime":332.705,"endTime":337.49,"body":"And finally, have yourself a merry little Christmas recorded of course, by Judy Garland for"},{"startTime":337.49,"endTime":339.405,"body":"the film Meet Me in St."},{"startTime":339.405,"endTime":339.605,"body":"Louis."},{"startTime":339.905,"endTime":344.388,"body":"So if we look first of all at White Christmas, very briefly, it really will"},{"startTime":344.388,"endTime":345.285,"body":"be very brief."},{"startTime":345.985,"endTime":351.891,"body":"Um, Berlin actually wrote this song in the late 1930s, probably just before the war"},{"startTime":351.891,"endTime":352.285,"body":"started."},{"startTime":352.545,"endTime":356.245,"body":"So it wasn't actually created, um, in wartime."},{"startTime":356.785,"endTime":361.542,"body":"And because of this, what the song is actually about is revealed in the verse,"},{"startTime":361.542,"endTime":363.445,"body":"which we don't hear that often."},{"startTime":363.635,"endTime":368.052,"body":"Some popular artists have recorded the verse, but we can see the words of the"},{"startTime":368.052,"endTime":368.347,"body":"verse are the sun is shining, the grass is green, the orange and palm trees"},{"startTime":368.347,"endTime":372.765,"body":"sway."},{"startTime":373.075,"endTime":377.438,"body":"There's never been such a day in Beverly Hills LA but it's December the 24th"},{"startTime":377.438,"endTime":379.765,"body":"and I am longing to be up north."},{"startTime":379.785,"endTime":382.749,"body":"And then the refrain starts, and I have a copy of the sheet music of"},{"startTime":382.749,"endTime":384.725,"body":"this song that has a deck chair on the front."},{"startTime":385.105,"endTime":389.22,"body":"So you'd never know it was a Christmas song, and it's because it's about someone"},{"startTime":389.22,"endTime":389.495,"body":"sitting in the sunshine of California thinking about some kind of vague white Christmas in"},{"startTime":389.495,"endTime":393.885,"body":"the north."},{"startTime":394.265,"endTime":398.857,"body":"Um, Berlin always in, uh, atten intended to go back and added second refrain, but"},{"startTime":398.857,"endTime":399.164,"body":"he wrote the song for a musical that was abandoned in about 19 38, 39,"},{"startTime":399.164,"endTime":407.125,"body":"and then took it outta the draw to stick into the film."},{"startTime":407.315,"endTime":410.005,"body":"Holiday Inn played it for binging Crosby who loved it."},{"startTime":410.005,"endTime":411.925,"body":"And then it became a big hit."},{"startTime":412.505,"endTime":416.676,"body":"And um, if we look at the first couple of lines, it seems to me"},{"startTime":416.676,"endTime":416.955,"body":"that this phrase, I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used"},{"startTime":416.955,"endTime":421.405,"body":"to know."},{"startTime":421.825,"endTime":426.186,"body":"And it's that phrase, just like the ones I used to know, that seems to"},{"startTime":426.186,"endTime":426.477,"body":"draw on this feeling of absence and kind of poignancy that taps into a wartime"},{"startTime":426.477,"endTime":433.165,"body":"feeling, even if it wasn't written during the war."},{"startTime":433.465,"endTime":438.19,"body":"You can see why it was working and, um, the sense of loss of the"},{"startTime":438.19,"endTime":442.285,"body":"past of something that's no longer here, of something that we had before."},{"startTime":442.785,"endTime":446.901,"body":"That's actually emphasized by getting rid of the verse because this is all the information"},{"startTime":446.901,"endTime":447.725,"body":"we have now."},{"startTime":447.725,"endTime":451.805,"body":"It goes straight in on this dream of something no longer achieved."},{"startTime":452.195,"endTime":455.205,"body":"This was the perfect message for wartime America."},{"startTime":455.305,"endTime":456.605,"body":"And I found this lovely quote."},{"startTime":457.145,"endTime":461.725,"body":"Um, it's actually quoted in, um, the complete lyrics of Irving Berlin book."},{"startTime":461.725,"endTime":466.994,"body":"So I don't want to take credit for researching it, but I was really struck"},{"startTime":466.994,"endTime":467.345,"body":"by this quote from the Chicago Times from December, 1942, where a major writer, Karl"},{"startTime":467.345,"endTime":467.697,"body":"Sandberg, who's um, who won the Pulitz surprise for writing a major biography of Abraham"},{"startTime":467.697,"endTime":477.885,"body":"Lincoln."},{"startTime":477.945,"endTime":481.725,"body":"And he said this about the impact of the song in this moment."},{"startTime":481.985,"endTime":483.725,"body":"So this is December, 1942."},{"startTime":484.385,"endTime":488.99,"body":"We have learned to be a little sad and a little lonesome without being sickly"},{"startTime":488.99,"endTime":489.605,"body":"about it."},{"startTime":490.395,"endTime":495.862,"body":"This feeling is caught in the song of a thousand Duke boxes and the tune"},{"startTime":495.862,"endTime":497.685,"body":"whistled in Streets and homes."},{"startTime":497.905,"endTime":502.396,"body":"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas when we sing that we don't hate anybody and"},{"startTime":502.396,"endTime":502.696,"body":"there are things we love, that we're going to have some time if the breaks"},{"startTime":502.696,"endTime":508.685,"body":"are not too bad against us."},{"startTime":509.505,"endTime":514.81,"body":"Way down under this latest hit of his Irving Berlin catches us where we love"},{"startTime":514.81,"endTime":515.164,"body":"peace."},{"startTime":515.664,"endTime":521.933,"body":"And so it seems to me that this moment solidifies the relationship between Christmas songs"},{"startTime":521.933,"endTime":523.605,"body":"being poignant and wartime."},{"startTime":524.025,"endTime":525.885,"body":"And so we move on to the second example."},{"startTime":526.035,"endTime":529.605,"body":"I'll be home for Christmas, different writers, but again for binging Crosby."},{"startTime":529.945,"endTime":534.79,"body":"And this is more explicitly about the war because the words are, um, framed in"},{"startTime":534.79,"endTime":536.405,"body":"the form of a letter."},{"startTime":536.745,"endTime":541.629,"body":"So it's about a soldier writing home to his family while he's away from home"},{"startTime":541.629,"endTime":544.885,"body":"during Christmas time or during the run up to Christmas."},{"startTime":545.465,"endTime":549.422,"body":"And the whole thing is a kind of almost like a con because he says,"},{"startTime":549.422,"endTime":551.005,"body":"oh, we'll be home for Christmas."},{"startTime":551.505,"endTime":552.605,"body":"You can count on me."},{"startTime":552.615,"endTime":554.925,"body":"We'll have snow missile toe and presents."},{"startTime":555.475,"endTime":557.085,"body":"I'll be there on Christmas Eve."},{"startTime":557.505,"endTime":562.252,"body":"And then the final line kills the whole thing because it says it only in"},{"startTime":562.252,"endTime":562.885,"body":"my dreams."},{"startTime":562.985,"endTime":566.717,"body":"So effectively, if we bring the first line and the last line together, we have,"},{"startTime":566.717,"endTime":569.205,"body":"I'll be home for Christmas if only in my dreams."},{"startTime":569.305,"endTime":574.045,"body":"And this really tugs on the heartstrings being released at the height of the war."},{"startTime":574.045,"endTime":578.185,"body":"And in fact, it was deemed to be so emotional that the BBC banned it"},{"startTime":578.185,"endTime":582.325,"body":"from being broadcast because they thought it was bad for national morale in this country."},{"startTime":582.745,"endTime":584.045,"body":"But it was a big hit in America."},{"startTime":585.425,"endTime":590.108,"body":"And that takes us to the subject of tonight's talk, which is have yourself a"},{"startTime":590.108,"endTime":591.045,"body":"merry Little Christmas."},{"startTime":591.225,"endTime":594.125,"body":"And I'm very pleased to say that it's music time."},{"startTime":594.125,"endTime":595.325,"body":"We're going to hear the song now."},{"startTime":595.325,"endTime":599.303,"body":"And I'm also very pleased to say that I will not be singing it instead,"},{"startTime":599.303,"endTime":599.569,"body":"as you've already heard, one of the great figures of the West end of television"},{"startTime":599.569,"endTime":599.834,"body":"and of film is here with us tonight to do as the honor to sing"},{"startTime":599.834,"endTime":610.445,"body":"it for us, as well as a few more bits and pieces."},{"startTime":610.585,"endTime":619.165,"body":"So please welcome the great David Ella s"},{"startTime":647.305,"endTime":649.155,"body":"Have yourself."},{"startTime":650.215,"endTime":652.835,"body":"Oh, merry little Christmas."},{"startTime":654.655,"endTime":666.675,"body":"Let your heart be like next year all troubles will be out of sight."},{"startTime":672.465,"endTime":677.355,"body":"Have yourself Merry Christmas."},{"startTime":679.065,"endTime":684.875,"body":"Make the next year."},{"startTime":685.335,"endTime":764.925,"body":"All our troubles will be miles away, as in days happy golden days of Faithful"},{"startTime":764.925,"endTime":817.985,"body":"Who until have to muddle through a soon we all"},{"startTime":867.715,"endTime":868.065,"body":"Hello?"},{"startTime":876.885,"endTime":877.515,"body":"Hello again."},{"startTime":878.085,"endTime":878.435,"body":"Super."},{"startTime":878.495,"endTime":879.715,"body":"You're you are Switch on."},{"startTime":880.075,"endTime":882.915,"body":"I was gonna ask you actually, so you grew up in America?"},{"startTime":883.315,"endTime":883.875,"body":"I did, yes."},{"startTime":884.065,"endTime":884.555,"body":"Chicago."},{"startTime":884.975,"endTime":890.356,"body":"And I was wondering, can you tell us about the status of Judy Garland in"},{"startTime":890.356,"endTime":890.715,"body":"America?"},{"startTime":890.715,"endTime":896.547,"body":"Because I think over here, obviously she's very known and she did some late career"},{"startTime":896.547,"endTime":897.325,"body":"work here."},{"startTime":897.345,"endTime":898.125,"body":"She did the film."},{"startTime":898.305,"endTime":898.525,"body":"Yes."},{"startTime":898.605,"endTime":901.125,"body":"I could go on singing and she did various gigs here."},{"startTime":901.225,"endTime":905.241,"body":"But it seems to me, would it be fair to say her cultural status in"},{"startTime":905.241,"endTime":906.045,"body":"America is \u003claugh\u003e?"},{"startTime":906.265,"endTime":906.605,"body":"It is."},{"startTime":906.605,"endTime":906.765,"body":"Great."},{"startTime":906.945,"endTime":907.285,"body":"Can you"},{"startTime":907.285,"endTime":907.685,"body":"Talk about it?"},{"startTime":908.075,"endTime":908.605,"body":"Yeah, yeah."},{"startTime":908.665,"endTime":912.692,"body":"Um, she had a career that, that not only, you know, a lot of people"},{"startTime":912.692,"endTime":912.96,"body":"know her starting with, uh, uh, the Wizard of Oz and sort of ending with"},{"startTime":912.96,"endTime":917.525,"body":"a Stars Born."},{"startTime":917.525,"endTime":917.805,"body":"Mm-Hmm."},{"startTime":917.845,"endTime":920.005,"body":"\u003caffirmative\u003e, uh, it's, which is a very short span of her career."},{"startTime":920.505,"endTime":924.333,"body":"Um, when I was a kid, uh, one of the things that was on on"},{"startTime":924.333,"endTime":926.885,"body":"Saturday mornings were, were the, um, the Andy Hardy films."},{"startTime":927.345,"endTime":929.765,"body":"She did a whole series of films with, uh, Mickey Rooney."},{"startTime":929.765,"endTime":933.015,"body":"And they were young teenagers who were, um, they were, uh, they, they thought they"},{"startTime":933.015,"endTime":933.231,"body":"could fix everything by singing a song, you know, and, uh, and we'll get my"},{"startTime":933.231,"endTime":933.448,"body":"dad's barn and, and we'll get someone to write the music and we'll, we'll put"},{"startTime":933.448,"endTime":940.165,"body":"on a show."},{"startTime":940.225,"endTime":942.605,"body":"And that would sort of heal all of the woes of the world."},{"startTime":943.065,"endTime":945.725,"body":"So that's how I first got introduced to Judy Garland."},{"startTime":945.725,"endTime":948.765,"body":"And, and, uh, my, my parents and I used to watch these films all the"},{"startTime":948.765,"endTime":948.845,"body":"Time."},{"startTime":948.985,"endTime":949.605,"body":"Are you a fan?"},{"startTime":949.825,"endTime":950.045,"body":"Uh,"},{"startTime":950.315,"endTime":951.045,"body":"Love her very much."},{"startTime":951.075,"endTime":951.365,"body":"Yeah."},{"startTime":951.365,"endTime":951.925,"body":"Oh, very, very good."},{"startTime":951.925,"endTime":954.245,"body":"Well, she doesn't mind me taking her songs tonight."},{"startTime":954.265,"endTime":954.485,"body":"No,"},{"startTime":954.485,"endTime":955.405,"body":"Not, not at all."},{"startTime":955.465,"endTime":955.685,"body":"No."},{"startTime":955.785,"endTime":956.685,"body":"I'm absolutely thrilled."},{"startTime":956.685,"endTime":958.085,"body":"Should we chat more later?"},{"startTime":958.525,"endTime":958.685,"body":"Absolutely."},{"startTime":958.735,"endTime":959.645,"body":"About absolutely."},{"startTime":959.665,"endTime":960.125,"body":"Our next one."},{"startTime":960.245,"endTime":961.605,"body":"'cause we have a fun surprise coming up."},{"startTime":961.785,"endTime":962.645,"body":"Oh, am I singing again now?"},{"startTime":962.945,"endTime":963.165,"body":"No."},{"startTime":963.165,"endTime":963.365,"body":"No."},{"startTime":963.675,"endTime":963.965,"body":"Okay."},{"startTime":964.385,"endTime":964.805,"body":"Bye for now."},{"startTime":965.385,"endTime":965.885,"body":"Bye for now."},{"startTime":966.265,"endTime":969.045,"body":"No, we have to keep the anticipation going for that time."},{"startTime":974.545,"endTime":975.155,"body":"Wonderful."},{"startTime":975.215,"endTime":979.259,"body":"So you can see from the slide that I've put a slightly strange attribution to"},{"startTime":979.259,"endTime":981.955,"body":"this song, which says Music and Lyrics by Hugh Martin."},{"startTime":982.415,"endTime":985.195,"body":"And then I've put also attributed to Ralph Blaine."},{"startTime":985.195,"endTime":989.645,"body":"And so the official Sheep music and the royalty situation with this song is that"},{"startTime":989.645,"endTime":992.315,"body":"it's divided between these two guys, Blaine and Martin."},{"startTime":992.895,"endTime":996.88,"body":"But in actual fact, um, it's been revealed quite a long time ago that Ralph"},{"startTime":996.88,"endTime":997.146,"body":"Blaine didn't really have anything to do with very much with any of the songs"},{"startTime":997.146,"endTime":1002.195,"body":"from Meet Me and St."},{"startTime":1002.195,"endTime":1002.355,"body":"Louis."},{"startTime":1002.655,"endTime":1007.717,"body":"And they had a kind of a strange relationship whereby they worked together on films"},{"startTime":1007.717,"endTime":1010.755,"body":"or they worked on the same films, but separately."},{"startTime":1011.175,"endTime":1014.73,"body":"So by which I mean they would each go off in a corner and write"},{"startTime":1014.73,"endTime":1014.967,"body":"music and lyrics to a song, present them to the producer or whoever, and then"},{"startTime":1014.967,"endTime":1019.235,"body":"songs would be chosen."},{"startTime":1019.815,"endTime":1021.475,"body":"And in the case of Meet Me in St."},{"startTime":1021.475,"endTime":1024.555,"body":"Louis, none of Ralph Blaine's songs were chosen."},{"startTime":1024.733,"endTime":1027.93,"body":"So all three of the main songs in this film are actually by Hugh Martin,"},{"startTime":1027.93,"endTime":1029.635,"body":"who you can see on the screen here."},{"startTime":1029.694,"endTime":1034.209,"body":"And Martin is such an incredible figure that he's almost better known apart from his"},{"startTime":1034.209,"endTime":1035.714,"body":"songs from me in St."},{"startTime":1035.714,"endTime":1039.993,"body":"Louis as a vocal arranger who was an absolutely amazing vocal arranger."},{"startTime":1039.993,"endTime":1045.214,"body":"If you hear, um, recordings of the original version of Gentleman Preferred Blondes, not the"},{"startTime":1045.214,"endTime":1046.954,"body":"movie, but the stage show."},{"startTime":1047.223,"endTime":1052.515,"body":"They have these spectacular eight and 12 part vocal arrangements where he's doing amazing things."},{"startTime":1052.515,"endTime":1056.467,"body":"And that's all him rather than Julie Stein, who is the great composer of the"},{"startTime":1056.467,"endTime":1056.995,"body":"great songs."},{"startTime":1057.015,"endTime":1060.075,"body":"But it's very much, um, a collaboration in that direction."},{"startTime":1060.295,"endTime":1065.423,"body":"And so I became curious to learn more about how it worked with Hugh Martin"},{"startTime":1065.423,"endTime":1067.475,"body":"writing these songs on his own."},{"startTime":1067.535,"endTime":1071.499,"body":"And a friend of mine, Paul Christman, has written a very good article on, um,"},{"startTime":1071.499,"endTime":1073.085,"body":"Hugh Martin songs and knew him."},{"startTime":1073.145,"endTime":1076.925,"body":"And he told me that Martin's sketchbooks were in the Library of Congress."},{"startTime":1076.925,"endTime":1081.461,"body":"So I wrote to the Library of Congress a month ago, actually quite recently, and"},{"startTime":1081.461,"endTime":1084.485,"body":"they very kindly scanned some of the sketches for me."},{"startTime":1084.485,"endTime":1089.635,"body":"And here is the front page of Volume six of the Hugh Martin, MGM sketchbooks,"},{"startTime":1089.635,"endTime":1092.725,"body":"which I'm sure you've all always wanted to see."},{"startTime":1093.125,"endTime":1093.205,"body":"\u003claugh\u003e."},{"startTime":1093.365,"endTime":1098.145,"body":"I, it sounds like a very academic thing, but I actually think even the front"},{"startTime":1098.145,"endTime":1098.464,"body":"page of this document is just full of, um, the atmosphere of Hollywood in the"},{"startTime":1098.464,"endTime":1103.245,"body":"1940s."},{"startTime":1103.245,"endTime":1108.92,"body":"Because not only does it have Martin's address on it, but it has the address"},{"startTime":1108.92,"endTime":1112.325,"body":"of the music department at MGM at Culver City."},{"startTime":1112.785,"endTime":1118.295,"body":"And at the bottom, he's written this very cute little note saying, please return if"},{"startTime":1118.295,"endTime":1119.765,"body":"lost, important to owner."},{"startTime":1120.185,"endTime":1124.328,"body":"And if we start looking inside, then we can see why it's important to the"},{"startTime":1124.328,"endTime":1124.605,"body":"owner."},{"startTime":1124.675,"endTime":1128.565,"body":"It's because it has the sketches for have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas in it."},{"startTime":1129.345,"endTime":1130.765,"body":"And this is the first page."},{"startTime":1131.345,"endTime":1135.351,"body":"And when one starts, and there are two sketches on this page I should say,"},{"startTime":1135.351,"endTime":1135.618,"body":"and when one starts looking at the top one, it appears initially that it really"},{"startTime":1135.618,"endTime":1135.885,"body":"didn't take very much effort to, um, play this cheat or to write this tune,"},{"startTime":1135.885,"endTime":1144.165,"body":"I should say."},{"startTime":1144.785,"endTime":1145.885,"body":"Let me read it off here."},{"startTime":1146.085,"endTime":1147.645,"body":"'cause the, the screen is miles away."},{"startTime":1148.145,"endTime":1150.085,"body":"So, um, in fact, this is the wrong one."},{"startTime":1150.085,"endTime":1159.049,"body":"Oh, well I'm gonna have to read it off there, but it goes, okay, all"},{"startTime":1159.049,"endTime":1160.245,"body":"very good."},{"startTime":1160.245,"endTime":1165.745,"body":"And then we've got as far as there, and then, and then he has written"},{"startTime":1165.745,"endTime":1166.845,"body":"the correct tune."},{"startTime":1171.625,"endTime":1174.525,"body":"But in actual fact underneath that you can see that originally it went."},{"startTime":1178.105,"endTime":1182.323,"body":"So even there, there's something about the workings outta this song that was a bit"},{"startTime":1182.323,"endTime":1182.605,"body":"complicated."},{"startTime":1182.945,"endTime":1186.975,"body":"And it's kind of weird because if you just look at the final version of"},{"startTime":1186.975,"endTime":1191.005,"body":"the song, it's so recorded and well known now, it almost seems kind of innocuous."},{"startTime":1191.105,"endTime":1196.805,"body":"It seems so obvious because the tune is just like the most basic chord in"},{"startTime":1196.805,"endTime":1201.365,"body":"music split into a melody and then a, um, a simple scale."},{"startTime":1201.465,"endTime":1204.045,"body":"But in actual fact it was quite complicated to get there."},{"startTime":1204.395,"endTime":1207.605,"body":"Okay, so we carry on, I'm gonna have to check what this says now."},{"startTime":1207.785,"endTime":1218.168,"body":"Uh, so it then carries on and then he does something and that's how it"},{"startTime":1218.168,"endTime":1220.245,"body":"was gonna be."},{"startTime":1220.425,"endTime":1223.365,"body":"And so he's kind of lost his way and can't work out what to do."},{"startTime":1223.425,"endTime":1226.925,"body":"So then we see the second sketch at the bottom, which goes,"},{"startTime":1233.385,"endTime":1234.605,"body":"And so we've still lost our way."},{"startTime":1234.605,"endTime":1238.139,"body":"So he is kind of got some stuff in there, which is quite good, and"},{"startTime":1238.139,"endTime":1238.375,"body":"he's sort of finding the tune and he sort of made his way to the"},{"startTime":1238.375,"endTime":1238.611,"body":"middle of the song kind of, but he can't work out where to go from"},{"startTime":1238.611,"endTime":1245.445,"body":"here."},{"startTime":1245.825,"endTime":1250.405,"body":"So he then starts exploring the words logically enough."},{"startTime":1250.785,"endTime":1254.205,"body":"And there's all these kind of fragments on the first page of lyrics."},{"startTime":1254.545,"endTime":1258.048,"body":"So at the top we have, while the time is ripe, I guess that would"},{"startTime":1258.048,"endTime":1261.085,"body":"be have your South of Mer Little Christmas while the time is ripe."},{"startTime":1261.675,"endTime":1264.725,"body":"Then we have, it may be your last \u003claugh\u003e,"},{"startTime":1267.475,"endTime":1271.215,"body":"And then we have Trim the Tree with Glee, that one's not so inspired."},{"startTime":1271.315,"endTime":1276.403,"body":"And then we have this weird kind of tune in the middle, which I guess"},{"startTime":1276.403,"endTime":1280.135,"body":"that I don't think that this was supposed to be melody."},{"startTime":1280.255,"endTime":1283.135,"body":"I think it's supposed to be sort of filler between the phrases."},{"startTime":1283.135,"endTime":1286.055,"body":"And it's very odd that he's just written that in the middle of things."},{"startTime":1286.055,"endTime":1292.439,"body":"And then he carries on Next year we'll be far away from home, but if"},{"startTime":1292.439,"endTime":1296.695,"body":"the fates allow something, something, something, something rhymes with somehow."},{"startTime":1299.115,"endTime":1302.945,"body":"And then he's sort of found his way to the end of the song without"},{"startTime":1302.945,"endTime":1306.775,"body":"having written the middle yet, which is So Have Yourself a Merry, Merry Christmas Now."},{"startTime":1306.775,"endTime":1308.135,"body":"And he repeats the word merry."},{"startTime":1308.355,"endTime":1311.832,"body":"So this is kind of a fun document in that it shows in real time"},{"startTime":1311.832,"endTime":1313.455,"body":"kind of the creation of the song."},{"startTime":1313.475,"endTime":1318.94,"body":"So we carry on and we see that already he has tapped into this focus"},{"startTime":1318.94,"endTime":1321.855,"body":"on time, which we saw in white Christmas."},{"startTime":1322.315,"endTime":1326.495,"body":"And I'll Be Home for Christmas, IE the past the future where we are now."},{"startTime":1326.595,"endTime":1333.695,"body":"So we have, for example, um, maybe your last, next year, Merry Christmas now."},{"startTime":1334.155,"endTime":1337.808,"body":"So he's getting into what's gonna make this song kind of magical, which is as"},{"startTime":1337.808,"endTime":1340.975,"body":"much the words as the music, although I think the music is great."},{"startTime":1341.555,"endTime":1346.21,"body":"So the next page, he's kind of found the structure of the song, not quite"},{"startTime":1346.21,"endTime":1349.935,"body":"the right words yet, but he's finding out how it's gonna look."},{"startTime":1350.325,"endTime":1352.055,"body":"Have yourself a merry little Christmas."},{"startTime":1352.315,"endTime":1354.535,"body":"It may be your last, next year."},{"startTime":1354.555,"endTime":1355.695,"body":"We will all be living in the past."},{"startTime":1356.045,"endTime":1360.175,"body":"Okay, second phrase, have yourself a merry little Christmas pop."},{"startTime":1360.175,"endTime":1361.375,"body":"That champagne cork."},{"startTime":1362.565,"endTime":1364.415,"body":"Next year we will all be living in New York."},{"startTime":1364.515,"endTime":1368.565,"body":"And this is a, to be fair to him, this is a reference to the"},{"startTime":1368.565,"endTime":1370.455,"body":"the plot of Meet Me and St."},{"startTime":1370.455,"endTime":1374.655,"body":"Louis, in which the Smith family, which is all about, are threatened with moving from"},{"startTime":1374.655,"endTime":1374.935,"body":"St."},{"startTime":1374.935,"endTime":1378.575,"body":"Louis to New York because the father gets a job in New York."},{"startTime":1378.595,"endTime":1382.352,"body":"So it's not as desperate a lyric as it sounds, but it would not have"},{"startTime":1382.352,"endTime":1383.855,"body":"been a hit for Frank Sinatra."},{"startTime":1384.435,"endTime":1389.14,"body":"So then we get to the most difficult part of the song to write because"},{"startTime":1389.14,"endTime":1389.454,"body":"it's the the bit that gets kind of complex, the middle bits of songs, of"},{"startTime":1389.454,"endTime":1395.415,"body":"popular songs of this kind."},{"startTime":1395.595,"endTime":1399.848,"body":"The third phrase, the middle eight, the bridge, it's given different kinds of names is"},{"startTime":1399.848,"endTime":1403.535,"body":"typically the bit that most resembles kind of Schubert or European art music."},{"startTime":1403.605,"endTime":1407.773,"body":"It's where the songwriter, if they're a decent composer, tries to do something a bit"},{"startTime":1407.773,"endTime":1408.051,"body":"sexy and kind of show off how they can transition through keys or do something"},{"startTime":1408.051,"endTime":1412.775,"body":"a bit imaginative."},{"startTime":1412.835,"endTime":1418.455,"body":"And so we're back to fragmenting, um, lyric ideas."},{"startTime":1418.515,"endTime":1421.175,"body":"So we have no good times like we used to have."},{"startTime":1421.755,"endTime":1427.402,"body":"We will choose to be aloof, which rhymes at the bottom with under some far"},{"startTime":1427.402,"endTime":1429.285,"body":"distant roof, not so great."},{"startTime":1429.335,"endTime":1430.965,"body":"We've got no old comrades."},{"startTime":1431.345,"endTime":1433.645,"body":"But once we're there they will wonder where."},{"startTime":1434.105,"endTime":1436.285,"body":"So it is all getting a bit messy again."},{"startTime":1436.625,"endTime":1440.245,"body":"And indeed there's page after page trying to develop this part of the song."},{"startTime":1441.025,"endTime":1442.325,"body":"So here we have another one."},{"startTime":1442.865,"endTime":1443.765,"body":"No good times."},{"startTime":1443.835,"endTime":1448.553,"body":"Like there used to be those happy golden days gone by and he changes that"},{"startTime":1448.553,"endTime":1448.868,"body":"to of your, which begins to sound a bit more familiar then we have no"},{"startTime":1448.868,"endTime":1454.845,"body":"good friends crosses that out."},{"startTime":1455.345,"endTime":1459.987,"body":"No time of abandons that those good friends who were true to us, we'll say"},{"startTime":1459.987,"endTime":1461.845,"body":"a due to us no more."},{"startTime":1462.395,"endTime":1463.325,"body":"That one's quite fun."},{"startTime":1464.345,"endTime":1468.787,"body":"No good times like the olden days, happy golden days of your faithful friends who"},{"startTime":1468.787,"endTime":1472.045,"body":"were dear to us will be near to us no more."},{"startTime":1472.145,"endTime":1474.565,"body":"So we can begin to see where this is going now."},{"startTime":1474.865,"endTime":1478.296,"body":"So he is kind of happy with where we're up to moves onto the final"},{"startTime":1478.296,"endTime":1478.525,"body":"phrase."},{"startTime":1478.585,"endTime":1482.624,"body":"And this strangely, even though it has the most emotional part of the song, this"},{"startTime":1482.624,"endTime":1486.125,"body":"strangely, is the bit that seems to have come to him the easiest."},{"startTime":1487.305,"endTime":1492.378,"body":"And he says, though we know we'll always be together if the fates allow from"},{"startTime":1492.378,"endTime":1495.085,"body":"now on, we'll try to model through somehow."},{"startTime":1495.665,"endTime":1498.325,"body":"So have yourself a merry, merry Christmas now."},{"startTime":1498.545,"endTime":1502.045,"body":"So you can see we're almost there with how the song is going to be."},{"startTime":1502.105,"endTime":1506.965,"body":"And we have the first complete draft, nevermind that it's a bit reasonable."},{"startTime":1507.505,"endTime":1510.325,"body":"So I wonder whether we could persuade Mr."},{"startTime":1510.605,"endTime":1515.334,"body":"Ella to suffer his way through this slightly awkward lyric to show us how this"},{"startTime":1515.334,"endTime":1515.965,"body":"might've worked."},{"startTime":1517.995,"endTime":1518.285,"body":"Okay,"},{"startTime":1518.955,"endTime":1519.665,"body":"Would you mind?"},{"startTime":1520.275,"endTime":1520.745,"body":"Let's give"},{"startTime":1520.745,"endTime":1521.025,"body":"It a go."},{"startTime":1521.035,"endTime":1521.785,"body":"Let's give it a go."},{"startTime":1524.335,"endTime":1524.625,"body":"Yeah."},{"startTime":1527.685,"endTime":1545.425,"body":"To make, have yourself merry little Christmas."},{"startTime":1547.005,"endTime":1551.745,"body":"It may be your last next year."},{"startTime":1552.955,"endTime":1556.785,"body":"We'll all be living in the past."},{"startTime":1561.255,"endTime":1568.065,"body":"Have yourself on merry little Christmas, pop the champagne."},{"startTime":1570.855,"endTime":1576.065,"body":"Next year we'll all be living in New York."},{"startTime":1579.185,"endTime":1579.305,"body":"Terrible."},{"startTime":1580.965,"endTime":1591.002,"body":"No good times like the olden days, happy golden days of your faithful friends who"},{"startTime":1591.002,"endTime":1597.025,"body":"are dear to us will be near to us."},{"startTime":1598.525,"endTime":1601.305,"body":"No more \u003claugh\u003e."},{"startTime":1601.405,"endTime":1601.625,"body":"Oh,"},{"startTime":1603.345,"endTime":1603.765,"body":"Somber."},{"startTime":1604.065,"endTime":1605.005,"body":"Not so much with this."},{"startTime":1605.265,"endTime":1610.569,"body":"So this not somber the story goes then that Judy Garland heard this and went,"},{"startTime":1610.569,"endTime":1613.045,"body":"there is no way on earth \u003claugh\u003e."},{"startTime":1613.585,"endTime":1614.885,"body":"How did you feel about doing that?"},{"startTime":1615.045,"endTime":1616.485,"body":"I mean, is it hard work to put that across?"},{"startTime":1616.585,"endTime":1616.885,"body":"It is."},{"startTime":1617.145,"endTime":1621.205,"body":"You feel kind of silly singing such bleak words to the public."},{"startTime":1621.555,"endTime":1622.405,"body":"Yeah, it's not nice."},{"startTime":1622.675,"endTime":1625.245,"body":"Okay, so we'll carry on and \u003claugh\u003e."},{"startTime":1626.225,"endTime":1630.743,"body":"So Judy Garland says, therefore, you know, there's no way I can deal with this,"},{"startTime":1630.743,"endTime":1631.045,"body":"right?"},{"startTime":1631.045,"endTime":1631.525,"body":"So power."},{"startTime":1631.665,"endTime":1632.605,"body":"So what do you think happens?"},{"startTime":1632.995,"endTime":1633.285,"body":"What"},{"startTime":1633.285,"endTime":1633.485,"body":"Happens?"},{"startTime":1633.755,"endTime":1636.645,"body":"Judy Garland says, go back to the drawing board, Hugh Martin."},{"startTime":1638.065,"endTime":1639.645,"body":"And that's the end of that, the power"},{"startTime":1639.805,"endTime":1640.365,"body":"Of the artist"},{"startTime":1641.045,"endTime":1646.045,"body":"\u003claugh\u003e."},{"startTime":1641.585,"endTime":1643.045,"body":"So thank you very much."},{"startTime":1643.275,"endTime":1643.725,"body":"Okay, thank"},{"startTime":1643.745,"endTime":1643.965,"body":"You"},{"startTime":1643.985,"endTime":1645.285,"body":"For all that special."},{"startTime":1650.155,"endTime":1652.685,"body":"It's probably the last time you ever want to hear that song."},{"startTime":1652.705,"endTime":1654.325,"body":"And I'm sure it's the last time Mr."},{"startTime":1654.565,"endTime":1655.725,"body":"Ella ever wants to do it like that."},{"startTime":1655.985,"endTime":1659.005,"body":"Anyway, you can see that there's all these problems with it."},{"startTime":1659.065,"endTime":1662.445,"body":"And so Garland says, okay, go back to the drawing board."},{"startTime":1662.445,"endTime":1666.72,"body":"And we're now in sketchbook nine, \u003claugh\u003e three sketchbooks on, and he starts to find"},{"startTime":1666.72,"endTime":1669.285,"body":"some more fun ideas like make the IDE gay."},{"startTime":1669.795,"endTime":1671.845,"body":"Next year all our troubles will be far away."},{"startTime":1672.025,"endTime":1676.698,"body":"And suddenly the song becomes actually more poignant to meaningful, despite being less negative, which"},{"startTime":1676.698,"endTime":1680.125,"body":"is kind of the key to why the whole thing works."},{"startTime":1680.545,"endTime":1684.547,"body":"And so if we start to compare that draft that we've just heard with the"},{"startTime":1684.547,"endTime":1684.813,"body":"familiar version from the film that we heard earlier, we can see that we got"},{"startTime":1684.813,"endTime":1685.08,"body":"rid of things like it may be your last and we get Let your heart"},{"startTime":1685.08,"endTime":1693.085,"body":"be light."},{"startTime":1693.435,"endTime":1698.216,"body":"Judy Garland's character is trying to, um, comfort her younger sister who is upset about"},{"startTime":1698.216,"endTime":1701.085,"body":"the fact that they're going to leave New York."},{"startTime":1701.085,"endTime":1705.21,"body":"They're looking out the window, there's snow on the ground, the snow people are in"},{"startTime":1705.21,"endTime":1707.685,"body":"the garden, not just the snowman, but snow people."},{"startTime":1708.385,"endTime":1713.125,"body":"And it's all kind of overwhelming because Garland is trying to say positive things."},{"startTime":1713.795,"endTime":1717.005,"body":"Next year all our troubles will be miles away."},{"startTime":1717.265,"endTime":1721.206,"body":"And I think the most spectacular part of the song personally is the bit that"},{"startTime":1721.206,"endTime":1724.885,"body":"I put in green, which is until then we'll have to muddle through somehow."},{"startTime":1725.995,"endTime":1727.005,"body":"This is such drama."},{"startTime":1727.265,"endTime":1731.57,"body":"And one of the hardest things to do in writing popular songs is using, using"},{"startTime":1731.57,"endTime":1731.857,"body":"a kind of colloquial phrase in a way that actually works and making it po"},{"startTime":1731.857,"endTime":1737.885,"body":"part of the poetry of the thing."},{"startTime":1738.155,"endTime":1739.045,"body":"It's very difficult."},{"startTime":1739.105,"endTime":1743.398,"body":"So I, I think that this is the, the line that really, um, makes this"},{"startTime":1743.398,"endTime":1743.685,"body":"song."},{"startTime":1744.025,"endTime":1748.533,"body":"And this is also the line that makes it about the Second World War because"},{"startTime":1748.533,"endTime":1748.833,"body":"it expresses that feeling of simmering emotion of we're gonna have to model through until"},{"startTime":1748.833,"endTime":1754.845,"body":"all of this thing is over."},{"startTime":1755.225,"endTime":1760.611,"body":"So it's very much about 1943 when it was written, and yet where it appears"},{"startTime":1760.611,"endTime":1763.125,"body":"is in this film that's about 1903."},{"startTime":1763.235,"endTime":1764.565,"body":"It's set in 1903."},{"startTime":1764.865,"endTime":1768.445,"body":"And the film itself is oddly, um, kind of about nothing."},{"startTime":1769.185,"endTime":1770.725,"body":"The film is kind of about nothing."},{"startTime":1770.835,"endTime":1775.869,"body":"It's about family life, uh, a family, the Smith family who lived through the Four"},{"startTime":1775.869,"endTime":1776.205,"body":"Seasons."},{"startTime":1776.205,"endTime":1780.878,"body":"What we're seeing on the screen, there are four postcards, each of which introduces a"},{"startTime":1780.878,"endTime":1782.125,"body":"segment of the film."},{"startTime":1782.225,"endTime":1788.102,"body":"So we start in the summer of 1903 and we go through wi uh, autumn"},{"startTime":1788.102,"endTime":1790.845,"body":"winter and then the spring of 1904."},{"startTime":1791.505,"endTime":1796.062,"body":"And obviously the Christmas song appears in the winter sequence and appears in this kind"},{"startTime":1796.062,"endTime":1797.885,"body":"of 11th hour of the film."},{"startTime":1797.955,"endTime":1799.365,"body":"It's very near the end."},{"startTime":1799.785,"endTime":1801.285,"body":"The heartstrings are being pulled."},{"startTime":1801.535,"endTime":1806.093,"body":"We've sat there for an hour and a half watching this family living their happy"},{"startTime":1806.093,"endTime":1808.525,"body":"idyllic life in this pic picture postcard house."},{"startTime":1808.865,"endTime":1811.575,"body":"And then the father walks in one day and says, good news, I've got a"},{"startTime":1811.575,"endTime":1814.285,"body":"new job in New York and we're all going to move to the big city."},{"startTime":1814.785,"endTime":1817.165,"body":"And so we get the Christmas song."},{"startTime":1817.545,"endTime":1822.896,"body":"And the funny thing about the scene, uh, or the funny thing is that the"},{"startTime":1822.896,"endTime":1823.253,"body":"studio put out this advice to cinema owners about how best to promote the film"},{"startTime":1823.253,"endTime":1828.605,"body":"locally."},{"startTime":1829.185,"endTime":1833.141,"body":"And they created that this little thing that says a theater snowman or for a"},{"startTime":1833.141,"endTime":1833.405,"body":"contest."},{"startTime":1833.505,"endTime":1838.241,"body":"And they suggested that in snowy states that the cinema owners should build a snowman"},{"startTime":1838.241,"endTime":1838.557,"body":"on the sidewalk every day or top it up every day as a way of"},{"startTime":1838.557,"endTime":1843.925,"body":"advertising the film."},{"startTime":1843.925,"endTime":1847.891,"body":"And you can see there's this little photograph of Garland and Margaret O'Brien who plays"},{"startTime":1847.891,"endTime":1848.685,"body":"her little sister."},{"startTime":1848.985,"endTime":1852.095,"body":"But in the film at that moment, the little sister actually attacks the snowman and"},{"startTime":1852.095,"endTime":1852.925,"body":"knocks them all down."},{"startTime":1852.985,"endTime":1855.325,"body":"So there's a kind of irony in this."},{"startTime":1856.035,"endTime":1856.845,"body":"Meet Me in St."},{"startTime":1856.845,"endTime":1861.12,"body":"Louis, um, is based on a novel of the same name by a remarkable woman,"},{"startTime":1861.12,"endTime":1863.685,"body":"Sally Benson, who is a very, very great writer."},{"startTime":1864.305,"endTime":1868.67,"body":"And in turn it's taken from a series of short stories, um, called 5 1"},{"startTime":1868.67,"endTime":1868.961,"body":"3 5 Kensington, which is the address of the house that the Smith family lives"},{"startTime":1868.961,"endTime":1869.252,"body":"at, um, that were published in the New Yorker starting a few months before the"},{"startTime":1869.252,"endTime":1881.765,"body":"start of the war and ending a few months after the start of the war."},{"startTime":1881.785,"endTime":1886.042,"body":"So you can see that this too has this proximity to the Second World War"},{"startTime":1886.042,"endTime":1889.165,"body":"in terms of what it's about versus when it was written."},{"startTime":1889.585,"endTime":1894.885,"body":"And it was purchased very quickly by NGM and turned into a film rapidly directed"},{"startTime":1894.885,"endTime":1897.005,"body":"by Vincent Anelli starring Judy Garland."},{"startTime":1897.225,"endTime":1899.965,"body":"The two of them got married in 1945."},{"startTime":1901.105,"endTime":1905.976,"body":"And it really does, as I said, it really does just focus on the exploits,"},{"startTime":1905.976,"endTime":1907.925,"body":"the everyday exploits of this family."},{"startTime":1908.115,"endTime":1913.645,"body":"Four daughters, one son, the father, the mother, and the grandfather."},{"startTime":1914.145,"endTime":1915.005,"body":"Not very much happens."},{"startTime":1915.075,"endTime":1918.485,"body":"They make ketchup, you know, they have pumpkins."},{"startTime":1919.025,"endTime":1922.302,"body":"And when I show this film to my students, sometimes they think I'm having a"},{"startTime":1922.302,"endTime":1924.925,"body":"great time, but I don't really know what this is all about."},{"startTime":1925.225,"endTime":1930.672,"body":"And the answer is that this was the right film for wartime because it's about"},{"startTime":1930.672,"endTime":1932.125,"body":"the trivial everyday things."},{"startTime":1932.585,"endTime":1935.205,"body":"And that's very much a part of the Benson original stories."},{"startTime":1935.345,"endTime":1940.373,"body":"But it, it completely translates into the film itself too, that it's not particularly the"},{"startTime":1940.373,"endTime":1943.725,"body":"big things that you miss at these moments of displacement."},{"startTime":1943.725,"endTime":1946.005,"body":"It's the everyday suddenly seems blissful."},{"startTime":1946.345,"endTime":1949.685,"body":"And this is what the song and the film tap into."},{"startTime":1949.705,"endTime":1950.365,"body":"It seems to me."},{"startTime":1950.945,"endTime":1956.445,"body":"The other great moment in the film, which we're going to celebrate now, is the"},{"startTime":1956.445,"endTime":1958.645,"body":"Depiction of Desire by Judy Garland."},{"startTime":1958.655,"endTime":1962.285,"body":"Again, this sort of conventional everyday desire."},{"startTime":1962.665,"endTime":1965.725,"body":"She sings a song called The Boy Next Door."},{"startTime":1965.825,"endTime":1969.165,"body":"And it is a deliberately a series of cliches."},{"startTime":1969.925,"endTime":1975.325,"body":"'cause again, it's tapping into this not very specialness, this everyday thing where it's special"},{"startTime":1975.325,"endTime":1976.405,"body":"to the person."},{"startTime":1976.595,"endTime":1979.565,"body":"It's very personal, but it's not extraordinary."},{"startTime":1980.105,"endTime":1983.245,"body":"And so this is one of the two great ballads in the film."},{"startTime":1983.245,"endTime":1988.613,"body":"We've already heard the first one, but I wonder whether we can possibly demonstrate the"},{"startTime":1988.613,"endTime":1990.045,"body":"boy next door now."},{"startTime":1991.435,"endTime":1992.645,"body":"Okay, let's do it."},{"startTime":1992.975,"endTime":1993.605,"body":"Let's do it."},{"startTime":1998.555,"endTime":1999.845,"body":"Suspend your disbelief."},{"startTime":2000.525,"endTime":2005.525,"body":"\u003claugh\u003e."},{"startTime":2015.785,"endTime":2025.405,"body":"The moment I saw his smile, I knew he was just my style."},{"startTime":2027.185,"endTime":2038.919,"body":"My only regret is we never met though I dream of him all the while,"},{"startTime":2038.919,"endTime":2047.525,"body":"but he doesn't know I exist no matter how I may."},{"startTime":2050.065,"endTime":2053.324,"body":"So it's clear to see."},{"startTime":2054.795,"endTime":2058.485,"body":"There's no hope for me though."},{"startTime":2059.245,"endTime":2068.485,"body":"I live at 51 35 Kensington Avenue and he lives at 51 33."},{"startTime":2072.665,"endTime":2078.165,"body":"How can I ignore the boy next door?"},{"startTime":2079.485,"endTime":2083.045,"body":"I love him more than I can say."},{"startTime":2085.195,"endTime":2089.885,"body":"Doesn't try to please me, doesn't even tease me."},{"startTime":2090.864,"endTime":2095.165,"body":"And he never sees me glance his way."},{"startTime":2096.745,"endTime":2098.805,"body":"And though I'm heart."},{"startTime":2099.185,"endTime":2106.885,"body":"So the boy next door affection for me won't display."},{"startTime":2109.645,"endTime":2112.565,"body":"I just adore him."},{"startTime":2113.865,"endTime":2139.405,"body":"So I adore him."},{"startTime":2141.145,"endTime":2141.365,"body":"So,"},{"startTime":2169.995,"endTime":2171.725,"body":"Okay, back to the Christmas song."},{"startTime":2171.745,"endTime":2175.245,"body":"So the performance history of this song is quite complicated."},{"startTime":2175.965,"endTime":2179.355,"body":"I had the misfortune when I set out on this lecture to think that this"},{"startTime":2179.355,"endTime":2180.485,"body":"wasn't gonna be so bad."},{"startTime":2180.485,"endTime":2186.285,"body":"And then I found a very good but distressing website called secondhand songs.com, which lists"},{"startTime":2186.285,"endTime":2188.605,"body":"over 2000 versions of this song."},{"startTime":2188.605,"endTime":2191.845,"body":"And I thought, how on earth am I gonna make sense of all of this?"},{"startTime":2191.845,"endTime":2195.325,"body":"And it ranges from the Muppets to Dame Curry to Cana \u003claugh\u003e."},{"startTime":2196.385,"endTime":2201.507,"body":"But there is something in the fact that artists from so many areas of popular"},{"startTime":2201.507,"endTime":2205.605,"body":"music or indeed beyond popular music have wanted to cover this song."},{"startTime":2205.825,"endTime":2212.067,"body":"And I think the key to it is the fact that Frank Siner in 1957"},{"startTime":2212.067,"endTime":2214.565,"body":"asked to change the song officially."},{"startTime":2215.105,"endTime":2220.332,"body":"So he made his first recording of the song in 1948, recorded the Judy Garland"},{"startTime":2220.332,"endTime":2220.681,"body":"version, and then in 1957, by which point he'd become a major recording artist, um,"},{"startTime":2220.681,"endTime":2229.045,"body":"partly due to the advent of the long playing record."},{"startTime":2229.305,"endTime":2233.325,"body":"So Sinatra is at the peak of his pop music powers."},{"startTime":2233.465,"endTime":2239.341,"body":"And he decides to make a Christmas album in 1957 called A Jolly Christmas from"},{"startTime":2239.341,"endTime":2240.125,"body":"Frank Sinatra."},{"startTime":2240.945,"endTime":2243.085,"body":"And he said, well, I can't sing this sad song on it."},{"startTime":2243.425,"endTime":2248.36,"body":"So dear Hugh Martin, 13 years on, please can you change the words so that"},{"startTime":2248.36,"endTime":2250.005,"body":"it's kind of happy now."},{"startTime":2250.465,"endTime":2252.485,"body":"And remarkably he agreed to do it."},{"startTime":2253.025,"endTime":2259.015,"body":"And so the second Sinatra version replaces various words and also phrases to erase some"},{"startTime":2259.015,"endTime":2259.415,"body":"of this uncertainty and poignancy from it and make it kind of about a merry"},{"startTime":2259.415,"endTime":2265.805,"body":"little Christmas."},{"startTime":2266.225,"endTime":2268.125,"body":"So there are some subtle changes."},{"startTime":2268.385,"endTime":2273.662,"body":"He changes Next year, all our troubles will be outta sight and puts from now"},{"startTime":2273.662,"endTime":2276.125,"body":"on our troubles will be outta sight."},{"startTime":2276.225,"endTime":2278.645,"body":"So we don't have to wait for the end of trouble."},{"startTime":2278.755,"endTime":2279.525,"body":"It's here now."},{"startTime":2280.145,"endTime":2284.461,"body":"And then further down the end of the song, instead of someday soon, we all"},{"startTime":2284.461,"endTime":2285.325,"body":"will be together."},{"startTime":2285.505,"endTime":2288.205,"body":"He says, through the years, we all will be together."},{"startTime":2288.665,"endTime":2290.925,"body":"So there isn't this sense of having to wait for that either."},{"startTime":2291.075,"endTime":2294.205,"body":"It's just from now to the end of time, we all will be together."},{"startTime":2294.585,"endTime":2299.898,"body":"And the biggest change was that he removed the best line of the song, which"},{"startTime":2299.898,"endTime":2300.252,"body":"is until then we'll have to model through some how and replaces it with a"},{"startTime":2300.252,"endTime":2300.606,"body":"shining sour upon the highest bow, which I think is such a disappointing line about"},{"startTime":2300.606,"endTime":2313.005,"body":"decorating Christmas trees now, not managing sorrow."},{"startTime":2313.425,"endTime":2317.805,"body":"And so the song starts to take a completely different character officially."},{"startTime":2319.025,"endTime":2322.755,"body":"And from there other people say, oh, well this is okay now because this is"},{"startTime":2322.755,"endTime":2326.485,"body":"actually a different kind of song from the one that we thought it was before."},{"startTime":2326.785,"endTime":2332.725,"body":"And starting particularly with Ella Fitzgerald in 1960, we suddenly get catchy song,"},{"startTime":2342.755,"endTime":2351.725,"body":"Have yourself of merry little Christmas, let your Heart Be Light Next year."},{"startTime":2352.065,"endTime":2355.645,"body":"All our troubles will be outta sight."},{"startTime":2359.305,"endTime":2364.242,"body":"The problem with it is that that rhythm and all of those little, um, arrangement"},{"startTime":2364.242,"endTime":2367.205,"body":"effects starts to overwhelm what the lyric is about."},{"startTime":2367.205,"endTime":2370.125,"body":"And she kind of sounds happy about this whole thing."},{"startTime":2370.625,"endTime":2373.764,"body":"And then there's the Jackson five version, which when I played it for my mother"},{"startTime":2373.764,"endTime":2376.485,"body":"earlier in the week, she thought I was playing a James Bond theme."},{"startTime":2401.765,"endTime":2405.329,"body":"I mean, I actually quite like it, but it's certainly taking the song in a"},{"startTime":2405.329,"endTime":2405.805,"body":"new direction."},{"startTime":2406.355,"endTime":2411.53,"body":"Then we have the Carpenters 1978, and they have this way over the top arrangement"},{"startTime":2411.53,"endTime":2412.565,"body":"by Billy May."},{"startTime":2412.565,"endTime":2416.685,"body":"Listen to what's happening in the orchestra between the first and second phrases."},{"startTime":2416.685,"endTime":2418.205,"body":"We're just gonna hear a very short clip."},{"startTime":2440.565,"endTime":2441.165,"body":"I mean, it's clever."},{"startTime":2441.365,"endTime":2444.285,"body":"I really like it and I'm really not denigrating any of these artists."},{"startTime":2444.425,"endTime":2448.917,"body":"But it's a very, very curious decision to sort of flip the significance from of"},{"startTime":2448.917,"endTime":2449.217,"body":"the song, from this intimacy of the lyrics into all the things that are being"},{"startTime":2449.217,"endTime":2456.405,"body":"thrown at the music by the arranger, if you like."},{"startTime":2456.745,"endTime":2459.525,"body":"And this continues in other popular arrangements."},{"startTime":2459.585,"endTime":2462.965,"body":"Here's one that has no sense of intimacy about it at all."},{"startTime":2463.515,"endTime":2464.445,"body":"It's very catchy."},{"startTime":2464.995,"endTime":2467.525,"body":"Dear Near"},{"startTime":2481.595,"endTime":2482.085,"body":"Shining."},{"startTime":2500.745,"endTime":2502.045,"body":"I'm finally The Overtones."},{"startTime":2502.045,"endTime":2503.365,"body":"Another really fun version."},{"startTime":2525.435,"endTime":2530.605,"body":"Have yourself Christmas, let Your Be"},{"startTime":2542.155,"endTime":2542.725,"body":"Very cute."},{"startTime":2543.585,"endTime":2546.405,"body":"So it seems to me by this point that we have two songs."},{"startTime":2547.225,"endTime":2550.84,"body":"We now have the kind of the merry little Christmas song and we have the"},{"startTime":2550.84,"endTime":2551.805,"body":"Muddle through Somehow song."},{"startTime":2552.225,"endTime":2555.005,"body":"And although they're kind of the same, they're completely different."},{"startTime":2555.425,"endTime":2560.289,"body":"And one curious trend that I did find while trying to wade through 2000 versions"},{"startTime":2560.289,"endTime":2560.613,"body":"of the song is that in the 21st century, several artists have tried to go"},{"startTime":2560.613,"endTime":2569.045,"body":"back to what was being aimed at in the early two thousands."},{"startTime":2569.045,"endTime":2572.845,"body":"And oddly, uh, earlier in the afternoon, I was trying to decompress in the cafe"},{"startTime":2572.845,"endTime":2576.645,"body":"next door and the first one of these came on while I was sitting there."},{"startTime":2577.065,"endTime":2578.765,"body":"So we definitely have to hear this."},{"startTime":2578.765,"endTime":2583.085,"body":"This is, um, Chris Martin of Coldplay, and it's just singer and piano."},{"startTime":2586.355,"endTime":2588.005,"body":"Here we're"},{"startTime":2589.345,"endTime":2596.685,"body":"As golden of your"},{"startTime":2599.425,"endTime":2601.325,"body":"And Faithful Friends."},{"startTime":2603.155,"endTime":2609.805,"body":"Dear once"},{"startTime":2609.995,"endTime":2610.285,"body":"More."},{"startTime":2612.305,"endTime":2616.485,"body":"The Sam Smith version starts with 20 seconds of unaccompanied singing."},{"startTime":2617.675,"endTime":2627.725,"body":"Have I'm Little Christmas, let Your Heart"},{"startTime":2629.255,"endTime":2629.605,"body":"Light"},{"startTime":2632.395,"endTime":2638.085,"body":"From I."},{"startTime":2641.265,"endTime":2643.805,"body":"And there are a number of these kinds of recordings going on."},{"startTime":2643.805,"endTime":2648.487,"body":"So I guess my conclusion is that one of the reasons why this song is"},{"startTime":2648.487,"endTime":2648.799,"body":"so brilliant and unusual is that the spectrum of ways in which it can be"},{"startTime":2648.799,"endTime":2649.111,"body":"reinterpreted is much wider than your average Christmas song, which is weighed down with seasons"},{"startTime":2649.111,"endTime":2658.165,"body":"greetings."},{"startTime":2658.165,"endTime":2663.304,"body":"Because this one is both a dramatic monologue and comforting all at the same time,"},{"startTime":2663.304,"endTime":2666.045,"body":"depending on where you want to take it."},{"startTime":2666.585,"endTime":2672.223,"body":"Now, there is a coder to this story, which is that, as you know, songs"},{"startTime":2672.223,"endTime":2672.599,"body":"from films can get, um, academy Awards for Best Song, but Have Yourself A Merry"},{"startTime":2672.599,"endTime":2681.245,"body":"Little Christmas wasn't even nominated for the best song."},{"startTime":2681.665,"endTime":2684.925,"body":"It was another song that was nominated called The Trolley Song."},{"startTime":2684.925,"endTime":2689.425,"body":"And if we look at early reviews of the movie when it came out, we"},{"startTime":2689.425,"endTime":2689.725,"body":"can see why that all the reviewers are latching on to the trolley song rather"},{"startTime":2689.725,"endTime":2696.925,"body":"than have yourself a mer little Christmas in the reviews."},{"startTime":2697.025,"endTime":2701.507,"body":"In fact, the Los Angeles examiner says that Garland does a great job of the"},{"startTime":2701.507,"endTime":2701.806,"body":"two Ballas, but she's really a baby lark when she goes to work on the"},{"startTime":2701.806,"endTime":2707.485,"body":"top tune the trolley song."},{"startTime":2707.545,"endTime":2710.445,"body":"And this also became a major marketing opportunity"},{"startTime":2711.825,"endTime":2712.405,"body":"For the film."},{"startTime":2712.405,"endTime":2716.89,"body":"And so again, the studio was encouraging people to use the trolley scene as the"},{"startTime":2716.89,"endTime":2718.685,"body":"thing to advertise the film with"},{"startTime":2721.265,"endTime":2722.605,"body":"The inspiration from the song."},{"startTime":2722.605,"endTime":2726.568,"body":"Despite what I was saying about Martin and Blaine before actually came from Ralph Blaine,"},{"startTime":2726.568,"endTime":2726.832,"body":"the studio was not happy with the songs that they, the two of them had"},{"startTime":2726.832,"endTime":2727.096,"body":"tried to write for the moment in the film when Judy Garland and a whole"},{"startTime":2727.096,"endTime":2727.361,"body":"of her friends get on the trolley to go and visit the site of the"},{"startTime":2727.361,"endTime":2741.365,"body":"World's Fair, which is being built kind of up the road."},{"startTime":2741.945,"endTime":2745.77,"body":"And so they said, we really need a song that's gonna be about the trolley"},{"startTime":2745.77,"endTime":2747.045,"body":"rather than where you're going."},{"startTime":2747.505,"endTime":2752.642,"body":"And so Ralph Blaine the story goes, went to the library and found a clipping"},{"startTime":2752.642,"endTime":2755.725,"body":"of a trolley car from 1904 in the library."},{"startTime":2756.385,"endTime":2760.925,"body":"And underneath the photograph it said Clang clang, clang goes."},{"startTime":2761.025,"endTime":2765.983,"body":"The jolly little trolley handed it to Hugh Martin and this is what he did"},{"startTime":2765.983,"endTime":2766.645,"body":"with it."},{"startTime":2766.825,"endTime":2769.005,"body":"Please welcome back David Ella."},{"startTime":2771.305,"endTime":2771.725,"body":"Go on."},{"startTime":2771.725,"endTime":2772.645,"body":"Final performance."},{"startTime":2775.575,"endTime":2776.475,"body":"Now you're in for it."},{"startTime":2777.075,"endTime":2782.075,"body":"\u003claugh\u003e."},{"startTime":2777.715,"endTime":2781.635,"body":"I thought about coming my fringe forward but decided against it."},{"startTime":2782.185,"endTime":2783.675,"body":"This is gonna spin a little bit, isn't it?"},{"startTime":2786.445,"endTime":2787.115,"body":"Let's go for it."},{"startTime":2788.465,"endTime":2792.315,"body":"Okay, you got your page Turner."},{"startTime":2793.265,"endTime":2794.875,"body":"Page Turner, our distinguished page."},{"startTime":2794.875,"endTime":2795.115,"body":"Turner Sophie,"},{"startTime":2795.135,"endTime":2795.595,"body":"The page turner."},{"startTime":2799.105,"endTime":2800.795,"body":"This really could not happen without her."},{"startTime":2801.175,"endTime":2804.515,"body":"And you're about to see why are we good Uhhuh"},{"startTime":2804.555,"endTime":2818.765,"body":"\u003caffirmative\u003e with my high starched collar and my high top shoes and my hair popped"},{"startTime":2818.765,"endTime":2822.555,"body":"high upon my head."},{"startTime":2823.595,"endTime":2828.075,"body":"I went to lose a jolly hour on the trolley and lost my heart."},{"startTime":2828.465,"endTime":2834.206,"body":"Instead, with his light brown derby and his bright green tie, he was quite the"},{"startTime":2834.206,"endTime":2835.355,"body":"handsomest of men."},{"startTime":2835.955,"endTime":2841.475,"body":"I started to yen, so I counted to 10, then I counted to 10 again."},{"startTime":2844.205,"endTime":2848.675,"body":"Clang, clang, clang went the trolley, ding, ding, ding went."},{"startTime":2848.675,"endTime":2852.765,"body":"The bell ing ing sing went my heartstrings."},{"startTime":2853.075,"endTime":2855.525,"body":"From the moment I saw him, I fell."},{"startTime":2858.155,"endTime":2863.165,"body":"Chug, chug, Chuck went the motor went the break."},{"startTime":2864.165,"endTime":2866.485,"body":"T thump, thump went my heartstrings."},{"startTime":2866.715,"endTime":2869.245,"body":"When he smiled, I could feel the car shake."},{"startTime":2871.145,"endTime":2873.525,"body":"He tipped his hat and took a seat."},{"startTime":2874.105,"endTime":2876.525,"body":"He said he hoped he hadn't stepped upon my feet."},{"startTime":2877.145,"endTime":2878.205,"body":"He asked my name."},{"startTime":2878.805,"endTime":2879.845,"body":"I held my breath."},{"startTime":2880.365,"endTime":2882.645,"body":"I couldn't speak because he scared me half to death."},{"startTime":2883.835,"endTime":2885.085,"body":"Buzz buzz, buzz went."},{"startTime":2885.405,"endTime":2888.885,"body":"The buzzer, the wheel."},{"startTime":2889.875,"endTime":2891.685,"body":"Stop, stop, stop heart."},{"startTime":2892.505,"endTime":2908.789,"body":"As he started to go, then I started to know when the cue buzz, buzz"},{"startTime":2908.789,"endTime":2919.645,"body":"buzz went, the buzzer, plop, plop, plop, went the wheel."},{"startTime":2920.875,"endTime":2921.925,"body":"Stop, stop."},{"startTime":2921.955,"endTime":2923.285,"body":"When my heart heartstrings."},{"startTime":2923.705,"endTime":2927.885,"body":"As he started to leave, I took hold of his sleep with my hand."},{"startTime":2928.945,"endTime":2933.045,"body":"And as planned, he stayed on with me."},{"startTime":2933.145,"endTime":2938.365,"body":"And it was to stand with his hand to the end of"},{"startTime":2952.855,"endTime":2953.485,"body":"Thank you guys."},{"startTime":2954.285,"endTime":2959.285,"body":"\u003claugh\u003e."},{"startTime":2955.145,"endTime":2955.895,"body":"Thank you very much."},{"startTime":2956.765,"endTime":2957.055,"body":"Here."},{"startTime":2957.395,"endTime":2957.895,"body":"The questions"},{"startTime":2958.325,"endTime":2958.615,"body":"Okay."},{"startTime":2959.285,"endTime":2959.575,"body":"Okay."},{"startTime":2959.755,"endTime":2960.135,"body":"I'm here."},{"startTime":2961.325,"endTime":2964.255,"body":"Well, Dominic and David, absolutely fantastic."},{"startTime":2964.575,"endTime":2966.055,"body":"\u003claugh\u003e, thank you for taking us through that song."},{"startTime":2966.085,"endTime":2970.21,"body":"I've got, um, one question just with an open mug for questions to the floor,"},{"startTime":2970.21,"endTime":2974.335,"body":"which after the, the concert like that seems quite hard, but I, we're all on"},{"startTime":2974.335,"endTime":2974.815,"body":"The floor now."},{"startTime":2974.815,"endTime":2975.055,"body":"Yeah."},{"startTime":2975.055,"endTime":2975.295,"body":"Okay."},{"startTime":2975.395,"endTime":2976.975,"body":"The trolley is gone and so have we."},{"startTime":2977.195,"endTime":2979.935,"body":"So when you, let's start with you David."},{"startTime":2980.005,"endTime":2985.548,"body":"When you start to work on a song, how much of the history of it"},{"startTime":2985.548,"endTime":2988.135,"body":"enters into your working out the interpretation?"},{"startTime":2988.335,"endTime":2991.655,"body":"'cause we've seen a, a long story here leading us up to."},{"startTime":2994.595,"endTime":2994.815,"body":"Um,"},{"startTime":2995.395,"endTime":3000.673,"body":"So, uh, I would say quite a lot because I think with, with certain songs"},{"startTime":3000.673,"endTime":3001.025,"body":"they've been in our hearing for so many years that, well, I should just speak"},{"startTime":3001.025,"endTime":3006.655,"body":"for myself."},{"startTime":3007.215,"endTime":3011.081,"body":"I don't really, I'm not really thrilled about hearing somebody do their own spin and"},{"startTime":3011.081,"endTime":3011.855,"body":"their own interpretation."},{"startTime":3011.855,"endTime":3012.535,"body":"That's all great."},{"startTime":3012.795,"endTime":3016.038,"body":"But really I want to hear what I fell in love with in the first"},{"startTime":3016.038,"endTime":3016.255,"body":"place."},{"startTime":3016.315,"endTime":3020.215,"body":"So I tried to be as true to the original versions, the original arrangements."},{"startTime":3020.215,"endTime":3021.335,"body":"Mm-Hmm \u003caffirmative\u003e, the original phrasing."},{"startTime":3021.855,"endTime":3024.335,"body":"I tried to take on board as much of that as I could."},{"startTime":3024.515,"endTime":3027.552,"body":"And then of course it's gonna be you 'cause it's coming out a whole different"},{"startTime":3027.552,"endTime":3028.565,"body":"machine than the original person."},{"startTime":3028.945,"endTime":3031.565,"body":"So that to me is enough of a spin to put on it."},{"startTime":3031.625,"endTime":3033.445,"body":"But I try to stay true and traditional."},{"startTime":3033.645,"endTime":3034.205,"body":"I guess that's it."},{"startTime":3034.205,"endTime":3035.285,"body":"I'm a bit of a traditionalist."},{"startTime":3036.265,"endTime":3038.165,"body":"And Dominic, you're coming at it as an academic,"},{"startTime":3039.065,"endTime":3041.365,"body":"God forbid, \u003claugh\u003e Gresham College."},{"startTime":3041.665,"endTime":3041.885,"body":"Yes."},{"startTime":3042.155,"endTime":3042.645,"body":"Working"},{"startTime":3042.645,"endTime":3043.285,"body":"Your way through."},{"startTime":3043.465,"endTime":3043.885,"body":"Mm-Hmm."},{"startTime":3043.925,"endTime":3047.885,"body":"\u003caffirmative\u003e well, two, 2000 or so recordings of this thing."},{"startTime":3048.545,"endTime":3052.445,"body":"How do you pick your way through that to find that thread that takes you"},{"startTime":3052.445,"endTime":3053.485,"body":"back to the origin?"},{"startTime":3054.105,"endTime":3055.605,"body":"How do you start doing the homework?"},{"startTime":3056.555,"endTime":3061.643,"body":"Well, I deliberately didn't play the Judy Garland version and I deliberately really wanted David"},{"startTime":3061.643,"endTime":3061.982,"body":"to come and sing the song because I wanted someone who was gonna be an"},{"startTime":3061.982,"endTime":3069.445,"body":"actor as well as have a lovely voice."},{"startTime":3070.125,"endTime":3072.205,"body":"I wanted to hear what the words are about."},{"startTime":3072.465,"endTime":3076.55,"body":"You know, one of the things that we hear backstage in the profession is sing"},{"startTime":3076.55,"endTime":3076.822,"body":"the damn song that is so irritating, as you say, when people come in and"},{"startTime":3076.822,"endTime":3081.725,"body":"try to sing everything."},{"startTime":3081.725,"endTime":3086.425,"body":"But the song that all the notes change, the words start changing and you sort"},{"startTime":3086.425,"endTime":3089.245,"body":"of lose the kernel of what's great about it."},{"startTime":3089.385,"endTime":3093.353,"body":"So I think for me, it was about starting with Judy Garland and looking at"},{"startTime":3093.353,"endTime":3095.205,"body":"this sketchbook and then thinking about wartime."},{"startTime":3095.205,"endTime":3100.105,"body":"And I suddenly realized that most songs of the 1940s are kind of, they're not"},{"startTime":3100.105,"endTime":3101.085,"body":"dead to us."},{"startTime":3101.425,"endTime":3103.765,"body":"And I, it's, it's the period of song that I love."},{"startTime":3103.865,"endTime":3107.245,"body":"So I'm not being negative, but they do seem about them."},{"startTime":3107.595,"endTime":3113.67,"body":"Whereas these Christmas songs seem to live through time, they actually have commercial viability, which"},{"startTime":3113.67,"endTime":3114.885,"body":"is very strange."},{"startTime":3114.905,"endTime":3117.605,"body":"So then I was trying to get into what's all of that about?"},{"startTime":3117.605,"endTime":3122.341,"body":"And I think it's because this sense of loss and poignancy and absence speaks to"},{"startTime":3122.341,"endTime":3123.605,"body":"us wherever we are."},{"startTime":3123.965,"endTime":3125.885,"body":"'cause most people feel it."},{"startTime":3125.945,"endTime":3127.125,"body":"Is this answering the question?"},{"startTime":3127.885,"endTime":3128.205,"body":"Probably not."},{"startTime":3128.845,"endTime":3131.125,"body":"\u003claugh\u003e, I specialize in not answering the question."},{"startTime":3131.735,"endTime":3132.245,"body":"It'll do."},{"startTime":3133.085,"endTime":3137.512,"body":"I wonder if, if you have ever seen the film, the Victors, which was made"},{"startTime":3137.512,"endTime":3137.807,"body":"in 1963 in which the song have yourself and Merry Little Christmas is used to"},{"startTime":3137.807,"endTime":3144.005,"body":"devastating effect are, do you know this?"},{"startTime":3144.305,"endTime":3144.525,"body":"No."},{"startTime":3144.635,"endTime":3145.045,"body":"Tell us"},{"startTime":3145.105,"endTime":3145.565,"body":"All about"},{"startTime":3145.565,"endTime":3145.685,"body":"It."},{"startTime":3145.915,"endTime":3150.356,"body":"Well, the, uh, the Vic, I managed to see it in 1963, luckily because it"},{"startTime":3150.356,"endTime":3152.725,"body":"was withdrawn and cut to pieces soon afterwards."},{"startTime":3153.205,"endTime":3155.925,"body":"A devastating war film, anti-war film."},{"startTime":3157.025,"endTime":3162.084,"body":"And there is a scene in which a deserter is being taken out on Christmas"},{"startTime":3162.084,"endTime":3164.445,"body":"Eve in the snow to be shot."},{"startTime":3165.465,"endTime":3168.965,"body":"And over the soundtrack is Frank Sinatra singing?"},{"startTime":3169.235,"endTime":3172.525,"body":"Have Yourself Mary, little Devastating."},{"startTime":3172.665,"endTime":3173.205,"body":"Um, mm-Hmm."},{"startTime":3173.245,"endTime":3174.565,"body":"\u003caffirmative\u003e try to see it somehow."},{"startTime":3174.685,"endTime":3177.805,"body":"I don't know if uh, if it's available anywhere, but do try"},{"startTime":3178.285,"endTime":3183.285,"body":"\u003claugh\u003e."},{"startTime":3178.525,"endTime":3179.165,"body":"I will, I will."},{"startTime":3179.375,"endTime":3179.845,"body":"Thank you."},{"startTime":3180.135,"endTime":3180.485,"body":"Could"},{"startTime":3180.485,"endTime":3181.765,"body":"You tell us the title once again?"},{"startTime":3182.185,"endTime":3182.845,"body":"The victors."},{"startTime":3183.065,"endTime":3183.765,"body":"The victors."},{"startTime":3183.985,"endTime":3184.605,"body":"The Victors."},{"startTime":3184.665,"endTime":3185.245,"body":"The Victors."},{"startTime":3185.245,"endTime":3185.445,"body":"Okay."},{"startTime":3185.475,"endTime":3185.765,"body":"Okay."},{"startTime":3185.915,"endTime":3186.205,"body":"Next"},{"startTime":3186.365,"endTime":3186.565,"body":"Questions."},{"startTime":3187.105,"endTime":3187.525,"body":"Cheery."},{"startTime":3187.525,"endTime":3187.685,"body":"Yeah."},{"startTime":3187.965,"endTime":3190.085,"body":"\u003claugh\u003e, what's your favorite Christmas song?"},{"startTime":3191.305,"endTime":3195.205,"body":"The one I go straight to is I'll Be Home for Christmas."},{"startTime":3195.425,"endTime":3197.405,"body":"It has a quite a poignancy for me."},{"startTime":3197.505,"endTime":3202.283,"body":"Um, I've spent most of my life away from my family, um, uh, because, um,"},{"startTime":3202.283,"endTime":3202.601,"body":"I'm, I, I, from a very early age, I was doing shows, which have you"},{"startTime":3202.601,"endTime":3210.565,"body":"in the theater when everyone else is at home celebrating Christmas."},{"startTime":3210.865,"endTime":3215.155,"body":"Um, and then I moved to England and I've been here for 23 years and"},{"startTime":3215.155,"endTime":3219.445,"body":"oftentimes wish I was home back in Chicago with my family and I'm not there."},{"startTime":3219.505,"endTime":3221.645,"body":"So that song has a particular resonance for me."},{"startTime":3222.065,"endTime":3226.178,"body":"Um, my mother also used to share that it was her favorite because of the"},{"startTime":3226.178,"endTime":3226.452,"body":"wartime, because, um, when she first knew the song, uh, she had brothers who were"},{"startTime":3226.452,"endTime":3226.726,"body":"away fighting and she didn't know whether or not they'd be back for Christmas or"},{"startTime":3226.726,"endTime":3236.325,"body":"not, whether they'd be back at all."},{"startTime":3236.745,"endTime":3239.165,"body":"So, um, it just has a lot of weight to me and I love it."},{"startTime":3240.415,"endTime":3240.765,"body":"Great."},{"startTime":3241.435,"endTime":3245.476,"body":"Well, I have to say this is my favorite Christmas song, but I think, yeah,"},{"startTime":3245.476,"endTime":3246.285,"body":"I think so."},{"startTime":3246.345,"endTime":3249.27,"body":"But, but it may be that I've just spent so much time with it in"},{"startTime":3249.27,"endTime":3251.805,"body":"the last few weeks that \u003claugh\u003e, I'm not acknowledging any of the song."},{"startTime":3252.165,"endTime":3256.217,"body":"I think having looked at, um, how much it meant to people in the 1940s"},{"startTime":3256.217,"endTime":3256.487,"body":"during the war and how much it meant to people who remembered that time, as"},{"startTime":3256.487,"endTime":3256.757,"body":"you are alluding to that, some of the later ones, even by very good people"},{"startTime":3256.757,"endTime":3257.027,"body":"that are very good songs are beginning to seem to me a bit, um, like"},{"startTime":3257.027,"endTime":3271.885,"body":"they're lacking in substance or lacking in something which I'll be home for."},{"startTime":3272.005,"endTime":3273.045,"body":"Christmas does not lack anything."},{"startTime":3273.185,"endTime":3274.965,"body":"No, I think it goes over the top for me."},{"startTime":3275.005,"endTime":3276.365,"body":"I can't cope with how sad it is."},{"startTime":3276.475,"endTime":3276.765,"body":"Yeah."},{"startTime":3277.515,"endTime":3281.165,"body":"Whereas this one is this sort of simmering Does it mean,"},{"startTime":3282.445,"endTime":3289.476,"body":"I was just wondering is generally societies become less religious in many ways, whether Christmas"},{"startTime":3289.476,"endTime":3289.945,"body":"songs particularly become more popular, tug at the heartstrings more so as a result of"},{"startTime":3289.945,"endTime":3297.445,"body":"that perhaps?"},{"startTime":3298.125,"endTime":3300.445,"body":"I I do think it's, it's, sorry, I just jumped in."},{"startTime":3300.545,"endTime":3300.925,"body":"No, no."},{"startTime":3301.045,"endTime":3301.845,"body":"I wanted you to jump."},{"startTime":3302.045,"endTime":3307.045,"body":"\u003claugh\u003e."},{"startTime":3302.085,"endTime":3302.445,"body":"Please jump."},{"startTime":3302.685,"endTime":3307.11,"body":"I, I do think there's been a, a significant change in what Christmas means to"},{"startTime":3307.11,"endTime":3307.405,"body":"society."},{"startTime":3307.945,"endTime":3313.187,"body":"And, um, we, uh, Christians now know that this time of year is not just"},{"startTime":3313.187,"endTime":3315.285,"body":"about our beliefs and our religion."},{"startTime":3315.745,"endTime":3320.685,"body":"Uh, and so we have to, I I think songwriting has become more ecumenical."},{"startTime":3320.715,"endTime":3326.723,"body":"It's become open to, um, songs about good feelings and family rather than about Christ"},{"startTime":3326.723,"endTime":3327.525,"body":"our Lord."},{"startTime":3327.985,"endTime":3331.965,"body":"Um, and a lot of people, you know, myself included, we struggle with the significance."},{"startTime":3332.105,"endTime":3332.725,"body":"Do we want it?"},{"startTime":3332.725,"endTime":3337.97,"body":"Do we, uh, enforce our beliefs by singing these songs or put those aside and,"},{"startTime":3337.97,"endTime":3338.319,"body":"and, and do something that more people can relate to without being disrespectful to other"},{"startTime":3338.319,"endTime":3343.565,"body":"religions?"},{"startTime":3343.785,"endTime":3347.021,"body":"So it's a bit of a struggle to know, um, where to go with the"},{"startTime":3347.021,"endTime":3347.885,"body":"Christmas song these days."},{"startTime":3348.035,"endTime":3351.548,"body":"Even to call it a Christmas song, you know, uh, separates it from, from a"},{"startTime":3351.548,"endTime":3352.485,"body":"whole sect of people."},{"startTime":3353.305,"endTime":3354.685,"body":"So yeah, it's, it's a struggle."},{"startTime":3356.035,"endTime":3360.966,"body":"Hugh Martin was a, a Christian, and, um, and he actually wrote a religious version"},{"startTime":3360.966,"endTime":3363.925,"body":"of The Lyric, have Yourself a Blessed Little Christmas."},{"startTime":3364.025,"endTime":3367.245,"body":"Uh, I, I drew the line at also performing that one."},{"startTime":3367.405,"endTime":3371.033,"body":"'cause I think we've heard this tune a lot of times this evening, but that"},{"startTime":3371.033,"endTime":3372.485,"body":"clearly meant a lot to him."},{"startTime":3372.645,"endTime":3376.386,"body":"I think it was in the 1990s that he, he, um, tried to give it"},{"startTime":3376.386,"endTime":3376.885,"body":"that spin."},{"startTime":3377.105,"endTime":3380.463,"body":"And the other thing that we didn't get into in the talk, which I should"},{"startTime":3380.463,"endTime":3380.687,"body":"mention, is that there is a verse to this song, which is not in the"},{"startTime":3380.687,"endTime":3385.165,"body":"movie, Christmas Future is Far Away."},{"startTime":3385.445,"endTime":3389.327,"body":"Christmas Past is Past, which actually explicitly addresses one of some of the things I"},{"startTime":3389.327,"endTime":3389.586,"body":"was talking about, but that was just added to the published sheet music as far"},{"startTime":3389.586,"endTime":3394.245,"body":"as I can tell."},{"startTime":3394.585,"endTime":3398.144,"body":"And so rather than getting into all of that, I decided to leave it out"},{"startTime":3398.144,"endTime":3399.805,"body":"because something had to not be there."},{"startTime":3399.865,"endTime":3403.165,"body":"But I thought I'd mention it now so that we don't get a hundred comments"},{"startTime":3403.165,"endTime":3404.925,"body":"on YouTube saying that I didn't know \u003claugh\u003e."},{"startTime":3405.975,"endTime":3406.325,"body":"Right."},{"startTime":3406.535,"endTime":3407.005,"body":"Thank you."},{"startTime":3407.065,"endTime":3411.793,"body":"So, well, um, you'll be able to watch this lecture again in about seven, two"},{"startTime":3411.793,"endTime":3413.685,"body":"hours or so on our website."},{"startTime":3414.185,"endTime":3419.15,"body":"And we, we'll probably be able to learn the lyrics ready for next year and,"},{"startTime":3419.15,"endTime":3420.805,"body":"um, whichever version you choose."},{"startTime":3421.545,"endTime":3424.815,"body":"Um, in a few minutes when you get to the back, you'll be able to"},{"startTime":3424.815,"endTime":3428.085,"body":"have a glass of mo wine and a mint pie, a good start to Christmas."},{"startTime":3428.105,"endTime":3433.245,"body":"But in the meantime, please would you thank Dominic and David for a fantastic evening."},{"startTime":3436.775,"endTime":3437.125,"body":"Thank."}]}