Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas I want you to sing it this way." Although Ralph Blane is credited with writing the music for many of Martin's songs, Martin claimed in his autobiography that he wrote both music and lyrics to all of the songs in "Meet Me in St. Louis" and that "all of the so-called Martin and Blane songs, (except for Best Foot Forward), were written entirely by me (solo) without help from Ralph or anybody else." His explanation for allowing Blane equal credit for the songs was: "I was reasonably content to let him receive equal screen credit, sheet music credit, ASCAP royalties,
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas "October Road"), and Luther Vandross (in "This Is Christmas"). In 1963, Frank Sinatra's third recording of the song, backed by popular Hollywood arranger Gus Levene and his orchestra, was controversially used by director Carl Foreman in his anti-war film "The Victors" as the soundtrack backdrop (along with the carol "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing") to the execution by firing squad of a G.I. deserter in a bleak, snowy field on Christmas Eve – a scene inspired by the real-life execution of Pvt. Eddie Slovik in 1945. "The New York Times" film reviewer, while recognising the power of the scene, complained