Merry Christmas to all y’all in Texas
If you’ve watched television for more than 10 minutes this month, you’ve probably caught the H-E-B commercial featuring Texas towns with yuletide names like Garland, Bells, Holly, Jolly, Blessing, Joy, Rudolph and Frost.
And that irresistibly catchy country song, “Merry Texas Christmas, You All,” sung by the “Singing Cowboy” himself, Gene Autry.
Here’s the story — and more — behind that commercial and the song.
The words to “Merry Texas Christmas, You All” were written in 1952 by Leon A. Harris, an executive with the Dallas department store A. Harris & Co. The music to the most famous Texas Christmas song was composed by a New York (gasp!) songwriter named Bob Miller, who may never have stepped foot in the Lone Star State his whole life (that’s treason!).
Merry Texas Christmas, you all.
Merry Texas Christmas, you all.
May your days be sunny and bright,
May your hearts be happy and light,
Merry Texas Christmas, you all.
Autry had first crack at recording the song, in July 1952, in California. It was the flip side to his single “The Night Before Christmas — in Texas, That Is.”
Ernest Tubbs, the “Texas Troubadour,” also recorded “Merry Texas Christmas, You All,” in September 1952, in NasNashville.ve. Tubbsubbs hadad more oe success with the song, and his version made the country charts. He even ad-libbed a shout-out, “Oh, San Antonio and Houston, from Fort Worth and Dallas, too.”
Autry was born in Tioga, Texas; Tubbs in Crisp, Texas. But when it came time for H-E-B to pick Autry or Tubbs’ version for its Christmas commercial, it was a no-brainer.
“When you get a chance to work with Gene Autry, even posthumously, you take it,” said Chris Smith, creative director for the Richards Group, the Dallas ad agency that does all of H-E-B’s spots.
“We knew there was a city called Garland. We wondered if there were more Texas cities with Christmas-related names. We were pleasantly surprised to find there were many. At that point, we searched for a piece of music that would complement the story,” Richards account director Derek Darst said.
“We found ‘Merry Texas CChristmas,s You All,’ and it was perfect. It was Gene Autry, who did so many Christmas classics, plus he was from Texas. The music gives the commercial a timeless feel. You can see this running every year at Christmastime.”
Translation: Count on this commercial running every year at Christmastime.
Here’s the part of the “Merry Texas Christmas, You All” story I find most interesting. If you watch the commercial on YouTube and read the comments below, you’ll see that a lot of native Texans are restless. They’ve got a big problem with the song. Their objection? Texans don’t say “you all.” We say “y’all.” Don’t you love the comments section on the Internet? Most of the time, the comments are more fiery and interesting than the actual story. In fact, I often head straight to the comments. That’s where the crazy is.
But in the case of “you all” versus “y’all,” the peanut gallery is right.
“Texans do, indeed say ‘y’all.’ I’ve heard some argue that if you spell it ‘y’all,’ then you’re not a real Texan. ‘Ya’ll is preferred; that’s based on oral tradition rather than written,” said Jim Johnson, associate professor of voice, speech and dialects at the University of Houston.
“There are varied theories on the origins of the term ‘y’all.’ Mostly it’s thought to be a contraction of ‘you all,’ but some trace it back to the Scots-Irish term ‘ye aw.’ Because the Scots and Irish were ‘undesirables’ when they arrived in the U.S., they largely settled in the lesser desired mountainous Appalachian region, which was the major Anglo source of Texans when it was under Mexican rule.”
Other parts of the country have their own equivalents of ‘y’all.’
“I’m from Iowa originally, where ‘you guys’ still reigns. One of my favorites is ‘yinz,’ which is commonly said in Pittsburgh. That’s short for ‘you’uns,” which was sometimes said in West Virginia,” Johnson said.
“Personally, I love ‘y’all,’ and the plural for three or more people, ‘all y’all.’ English uses the same word, ‘you,’ for both the singular and the plural. But obviously very few Americans are willing to settle for a group being ‘you.’ We need a distinction, and for me, ‘y’all’ — however you spell it — solves the problem,” he said.
The use of “y’all” may be fading, though. Thanks to television — where news anchors and talk hosts never seem to have an accent — and the flow of people escaping the North for Texas, Florida and the Southwest, dialects and accents are disappearing.
Channel 2’s Dominique Sachse grew up in Houston. You’d never know it from listening to her deliver the news.
“I don’t have an accent, so I didn’t have to change the way I speak for television,” Sachse said. “My mom is from Philly, and my dad was from Germany, so that canceled out any chance of developing a twang. I grew up saying ‘y’all,’ and I still say it today, although not as much.”