To mark the centenary of composer Hugh Martin, here's the second part of Mark's two-part audio tribute to the man who gave the world "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas". As longtime listeners will recall, he was a guest on The Mark Steyn Christmas Show on a couple of occasions. In this special podcast, Mark draws on those archive interviews to celebrate a talented composer, lyricist, vocal arranger, pianist, singer and actor.
In Part Two, Mark explores Sinatra's relationship with the Hugh Martin songbook, eavesdrops on Martin's reunion on stage with Judy Garland, and rounds up some of Hugh's non-seasonal work from a love song called simply "Love" to "Pass That Peace Pipe". In the course of this two-part program, we hear "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" sung by everyone from Christina Aguillera to Twisted Sister, but we round things out with Hugh Martin's own live performance of his holiday standard from the Steyn archives - followed by Mark and Jessica's very different take on the song. You can listen to Part Two by clicking above. This show was first broadcast when Hugh Martin died in 2011.
To hear Part One, simply click here.