HUGH MARTIN " The Boy Next Door" ( and much more)

Hugh Martin" The Boy Next Door" (and much more)   The name Hugh Martin doesn't echo very loudly in the minds of devotees of the Great American Songbook. But " Have yourself a  merry little Christmas" The Trolley Song" " You'd Better Love Me ( While you May) are some of the songs written with lyricist Ralph Blane . Martin largely wrote for Hollywood Musicals and as a fine pianist, he was the accompanist for Judy Garland when she first played the Palace Theatre. Perhaps, his finest ballad was " The Boy Next Door" also frommthe 1944 MGM musical  " Meet Me In St. Louis." Alec Wilder describes it as "A very intense and personal song, written , it is obvious, with great love and infinite care."
The first version is by Stacy Kent, a fine cabaret stylist who has amassed a major catalogue of songs from The Songbook. She is accompanied just by a piano and bass. I have always made a point of expressing how the contribution of gifted arrangers can make great songs and singers even more welcoming. However, sometimes  just a voice and a sensitive piano acompaniment can expose the very essence of the song just as the composer may have intended. This is especially true if there is a great rapport between singer and musician

LINK http://youtu.be/Zwz3HZmy3TU

For those who have wonderful memories of  Judy Garland singing so wistfully in " Meet me in St. Louis", I have included her version , this time with a full sound track orchestra with an arrangement by Conrad Salinger, the most accomplished of MGM's musical arrangers.

Link http://youtu.be/QQ224PLpY9o

POSTSCRIPT   A great song is capable of a  variety of interpretations  as these two examples prove.