Sleigh Ride

“Sleigh Ride” is a light orchestra standard composed by Leroy Anderson. He formed the idea for the piece during a heat wave in July 1946, and finished it in February 1948. Its first performance was by the Boston Pops Orchestra, with Arthur Fiedler conducting, on May 4, 1948. Anderson also made arrangements for wind band and piano. The original recordings were instrumental versions: it was first recorded in 1949 by Fiedler and the Boston Pops. As a 45 rpm version issued on red vinyl, “Sleigh Ride” was a hit record on RCA Victor Red Seal and has become one of the orchestra’s best-known works. The Pops have recorded the piece numerous times, with Fiedler as well as John Williams, their conductor from 1979 to 1995, and Keith Lockhart, their current conductor. The lyrics, about riding in a sleigh and other wintertime activities, were written by Mitchell Parish in 1950. Anderson also made arrangements for wind band and piano. The Ronettes recorded a cover of “Sleigh Ride” in 1963 for Phil Spector’s A Christmas Gift for You, which was commercially successful in the United States and featured in various media. The song has since been associated with the Christmas and holiday season. “American Homestead, Winter,” a lithograph by Currier and Ives, 1867. The song’s lyrics refer to a “picture print by Currier and Ives,” whose lithographs were popular in the 19th century.Leroy Anderson’s own recording of “Sleigh Ride” was made on September 11, 1950, and was released on his album “Leroy Anderson Conducts His Own Compositions” on the Decca label in 1951. Also released that year as a 78-rpm single, then reissued as a 45-rpm single the following year when it reached #26 on the Cash Box bestsellers’ chart. The main melody of “Sleigh Ride” was used, but without crediting Anderson, as the main theme of Victor Young’s score for the 1949 Western Streets of Laredo. Mitchell Parish worked with Young at this approximate time, writing the lyrics for Young’s recording of Hoagy Carmichael’s previously instrumental “Stardust.” In 1950, the Andrews Sisters recorded the first vocal version of “Sleigh Ride”, using the lyrics Parish had written. Although the song is often associated with Christmas and appears on Christmas compilation albums, its lyrics do not mention any holidays. The piece is noted for the sounds of a horse clip-clopping, and a whip used to get the horse moving. In most performances, a percussionist provides these sounds on temple blocks and a slapstick, respectively. Toward the end of the piece, a trumpet imitates the sound of a horse whinnying. According to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), “Sleigh Ride” consistently ranks as one of the top 10 most-performed songs written by ASCAP members. ASCAP named “Sleigh Ride” the most popular piece of Christmas music in the U.S. between 2009 and 2012 based on performance data from over 2,500 radio stations. Anderson’s recording remains the most popular instrumental version, while Johnny Mathis’s has become the most popular vocal version. Biographer Steve Metcalf said, “‘Sleigh Ride’… has been performed and recorded by a wider array of musical artists than any other piece in the history of Western music.”
“Sleigh Ride” is written in seven-part rondo form (though performers sometimes omit the final B section, effectively rendering it a five-part rondo).