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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 25-Dec-2008
Have yourself a merry little Christmas.

Web Log - December, 2008

Have yourself a merry little Christmas.

Some music from World War II.

The 1942 movie Holiday Inn was fairly typical escapist fare -- a musical romantic comedy for people still suffering from the Great Depression. America had hoped that the war after the attack on Pearl Harbor would end in quick victory, but the Bataan Death March, as well as other setbacks in the Pacific and Europe, taught them otherwise.

And so, the song "White Christmas" from the movie, sung by Bing Crosby, became a surprise hit among soldiers, evoking nostalgia for their families back home.

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas, just like the ones I used to know. Where the treetops glisten, and children listen To hear sleigh bells in the snow.

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas, with every Christmas card I write. May your days be happy and bright, and may all your Christmases be white.

The following year, in 1943, loneliness was a way of life. Bing Crosby scored another big hit, "I'll be home for Christmas." Germans and Japanese used to torture American soldiers by playing this song all the time.

Bing Crosby -- autographed picture sent to Bob Hope

Bing Crosby -- autographed picture sent to Bob Hope


    I'll be home for Christmas.  You can plan on me.
    Please have snow and mistletoe and presents 'round the tree.
    Christmas eve will find me where the love life gleams.
    I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams.

The song, "Have yourself a merry little Christmas," has been changed in the last few decades into a cheerful little ditty. But in the 1944 movie, Meet me in St. Louis, it was a bitter, sad, angry song.

The daughter, played by Judy Garland, had just learned that this was her last Christmas with her lifelong friends in St. Louis. After the New Year, she and her family would be moving to New York. Although the plot of the movie takes place in 1904, this song was definitely in the spirit of 1944, when despair over torn families was at its deepest.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas. Let your heart be light. Next year all our troubles will be out of sight. Have yourself a merry little Christmas. Make the Yule-tide gay. Next year all our troubles will be miles away.
Once again as in olden days happy golden days of yore. Faithful friends who were dear to us will be near to us once more.

Someday soon we all will be together if the Fates allow. Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow. So have yourself a merry little Christmas now.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! (25-Dec-2008) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 25-Dec-2008 Have yourself a merry little Christmas.

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 25-Dec-2008
Have yourself a merry little Christmas.