Sleigh Ride

«Sleigh Ride» er ein populær julesong av Leroy Anderson. Komponisten fekk ideen under ei heitebølgje i juli 1946 og skreiv ferdig songen i februar 1948. Teksten, som handlar om ein person som ønsker å køyre i ein slede ein vinterdag med ein annan person, vart skriven av Mitchell Parish i 1950. Orkesterversjonen vart først spelt inn i 1949 av Arthur Fiedler and The Boston Pops Orchestra. Songen vart ein hit på RCA Victor Red Seal 49-0515 (45 rpm) / 10-1484 (78 rpm), og har sidan vorte ein signaturlåt for orkesteret. Singelen kom opphavleg ut på raud vinyl. Orkesteret spelte òg inn songen med John Williams, dirigenten deira frå 1979 til 1995, og Keith Lockhart, den noverande dirigenten.

«A Brush for the Lead», litografi av Currier and Ives, 1867. I songen samanliknar teksten ein sledetur med «eit bilete trykt av Currier and Ives».

Soge

Leroy Anderson spelte sin eigen versjon av «Sleigh Ride» i 1950 på Decca 9-16000 (45 rpm) / 16000 (78 rpm). Denne versjon nådde Cashbox-lista som kom ut i 1952.

Sjølv om «Sleigh Ride» ofte vert assosiert med jul, og ofte finst på julealbum, nemner ikkje teksten spesifikt verken jul eller religion (utanom enkelte versjonar som av the Carpenters, Walter Schumann og Air Supply, der «birthday party» er byta ut med «Christmas party» i mellomspelet).

I følgje American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers [ASCAP] er «Sleigh Ride» ein av dei ti mest framførte songane skrivne av medlemmar av ASCAP.^[1]

Innspelingar

• 1949 – Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. Den originale innspelinga.
• 1950 – Leroy Anderson.
• 1950 – The Andrews Sisters – den første kjende vokalinnspelinga av melodien.^[2]
• 1950 – Merv Griffin with the Freddy Martin Orchestra
• 1950 – The Three Suns - instrumentalversjon (HMV B 10000).
• 1954 – Bing Crosby med vokalakkompagnement av Jud Conlon's Rhythmaires og the John Scott Trotter Orchestra (Decca 28463); Crosby spelte inn songen igjen i 1977 for det siste albumet hans Seasons.
• 1954 – George Melachrino – Christmas in High Fidelity.
• 1955 – Walter Schumann – The Voices of Christmas
• 1956 – Jo Stafford med Paul Weston and the Starlighters – Ski Trails
• 1956 – Spike Jones – A Xmas Spectacular
• 1956 – Frederick Fennell – The Music of Leroy Anderson
• 1956 – Ferrante & Teicher – Adventures in Carols (Westminster LP)
• 1958 - Johnny Mathis - Merry Christmas
• 1958 – Domenico Savino – Hi-Fi Christmas Party
• 1959 – Ray Conniff – Christmas with Conniff
• 1959 – Arthur Fiedler – Pops Christmas Party
• 1959 – Jan Garber – Christmas Dance Party
• 1959 – Lester Lanin – Christmas Dance Party
• 1959 – The Three Suns – A Ding Dong Dandy Christmas
• 1959 – Hugo Winterhalter – Wish You Were Here
• 1960 – Ella Fitzgerald – Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas
• 1960 – Sammy Kaye – Christmas Day with Sammy Kaye
• 1960 – Andre Kostelanetz – Joy to the World: Music for Christmas. A similar arrangement to the Boston Pops version, but moderately faster in speed and featuring a whistle in portions av songen.
• 1960 – Marco Rizo – Leroy Anderson in Latin America
• 1960 – The Randy Van Horne Singers – Sleighride
• 1961 – Lenny Dee – Happy Holi-Dee
• 1961 – Big Tiny Little – Christmas with "Big" Tiny Little
• 1961 – Mitch Miller – Holiday Sing-Along with Mitch
• 1962 – Ferrante & Teicher – Snowbound
• 1962 – Slide Hampton – Drum Suite
• 1962 – Skitch Henderson – Winter Holiday
• 1963 – The Ronettes – A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records. An altered version with background vokal singing "Ring-a-ling-a-ling Ding-dong-ding" and excluding the lyrics "giddy up giddy up let's go" and "The birthday [or] Christmas party at the home of farmer Gray."
• 1963 – Bert Kaempfert – Christmas Wonderland
• 1964 – Jack Jones – Christmas Album
• 1964 – Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme – That Holiday Feeling
• 1964 – The Ramsey Lewis Trio – More Sounds of Christmas
• 1965 – Al Hirt – The Sound of Christmas
• 1965 – The Ventures – Christmas Album. Ein surfestil instrumental.
• 1965 – Andy Williams – Merry Christmas
• 1966 – Henry Mancini – A Merry Mancini Christmas. Del av ein medley med «Jingle Bells».
• 1966 – The New Christy Minstrels – Christmas with the Christies
• 1967 – Maurice Abravanel – Fiddle Faddle and 14 Other Leroy Anderson Favorites
• 1967 – Al Caiola og Riz Ortolani – Sound of Christmas
• 1967 – Ron Goodwin – Christmas Wonderland
• 1968 – Herb Alpert – Christmas Album
• 1968 – Robert Goulet – Wonderful World of Christmas
• 1969 – Duke Pearson – Merry Ole Soul
• 1969 – Boots Randolph – Boots and Stockings
• 1970 – Arthur Fiedler – A Christmas Festival
• 1970 – Lawrence Welk – Merry Christmas
• 1971 – The Partridge Family – A Partridge Family Christmas Card
• 1972 – Arthur Fiedler – Pops Goes Christmas
• 1972 – Eugene Ormandy – A Christmas Spectacular
• 1976 – Vera Lynn – Christmas with Vera Lynn
• 1977 – Burl Ives – Christmas by the Bay
• 1977 – The Mormon Tabernacle Choir (og igjen i 1982, 1987, 2005 og 2006)^[3]
• 1978 – The Carpenters – Christmas Portrait
• 1980 – Larry Groce / Mickey Mouse / Donald Duck / Goofy / Disneyland Children's Sing-Along Chorus – Disney's Merry Christmas Carols
• 1981 – Alvin and the Chipmunks – A Chipmunk Christmas
• 1983 – Amy Grant – A Christmas Album
• 1987 – Air Supply – The Christmas Album
• 1987 – The Muppets – i A Muppet Family Christmas
• 1988 – MC Einar's «Jul, Det' Cool» – ein populær dansk julesong basert på denne songen.
• 1988 – The Glenn Miller Orchestra – In a Christmas Mood
• 1989 – The Hampton String Quartet – What if Mozart Wrote "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"?
• 1990 – Erich Kunzel – Christmas with the Pops
• 1991 – John Williams – Joy to the World
• 1992 – Glen Campbell – Christmas with Glen Campbell
• 1992 – Debbie Gibson – A Very Special Christmas 2
• 1992 – TLC – Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
• 1992 – Mel Tormé – Christmas Songs
• 1993 – Harry Connick, Jr – When My Heart Finds Christmas
• 1993 – Amy Grant – A Christmas Collection
• 1993 – Lou Rawls – Christmas Is the Time
• 1994 – Neil Diamond – The Christmas Album, Volume II
• 1994 – Lorrie Morgan – Merry Christmas from London
• 1994 – El Vez – Merry Me X-Mas
• 1996 – Brian Setzer – from the movie Jingle All The Way
• 1996 – Spice Girls – B Side of «2 Become 1» (similar to the Ronettes' version)
• 1997 – André Rieu – The Christmas I Love
• 1997 - The Toasters - "Christma-ska"
• 1998 – Keith Lockhart – Holiday Pops
• 1998 – Squirrel Nut Zippers – Christmas Caravan
• 1998 – Stuart Hamm – Merry Axemas 2
• 1999 – Garth Brooks – Garth Brooks and the Magic of Christmas
• 1999 – Natalie Cole – The Magic of Christmas
• 1999 – Kenny G – Faith
• 2000 - Dallas Symphony Orchestra - Dallas Christmas Gala
• 2000 – The Three Tenors – The Three Tenors Christmas
• 2000 – Vanessa L. Williams – from the movie A Diva's Christmas Carol
• 2000 – Billy Gilman – Classic Christmas
• 2001 – Garth Brooks – Call Me Claus
• 2001 – Helen Reddy – Christmas
• 2001 – TLC – MTV TRL Christmas
• 2002 – Hilary Duff – Santa Claus Lane
• 2002 – Jump5 – All the Joy in the World
• 2002 – S Club 8 – Puppy Love/Sleigh Ride
• 2003 – Art Paul Schlosser – Words of Cheese and Other Parrot Trees
• 2003 – Chicago – What's It Gonna Be, Santa?
• 2003 – MC F40 – Sleigh Ride^[4]
• 2004 – Clay Aiken – Merry Christmas with Love
• 2004 – Duo Campion Vachon – Noel Pianissimo
• 2004 – Play – Play Around the Christmas Tree
• 2005 – JoJo – Framført for president Bush under "Christmas in Washington"^[5]
• 2005 – Keith Lockhart – Sleigh Ride
• 2005 – Paul Carrack & The SWR Big Band – Winter Wonderland
• 2007 – KT Tunstall – Have Yourself a Very KT Christmas
• 2007 – Relient K – Let it Snow, Baby... Let it Reindeer
• 2008 – Béla Fleck and the Flecktones – Jingle All the Way. Nominert til Grammy-prisen 2009]] for Best Country Instrumental Performance
• 2008 – Brian Stokes Mitchell med Mormon Tabernacle Choir – Ring Christmas Bells
• 2008 – Leonard Slatkin – Leroy Anderson: Sleigh Ride and Other Holiday Favorites
• 2008 – Howard Hewett – Howard Hewett Christmas
• 2009 – Hayley Westenra – Winter Magic
• 2010 – Take 6 – The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
• 2010 - Wilson Phillips – Christmas in Harmony
• 2010 - REO Speedwagon – Not So Silent Night: Christmas with REO Speedwagon
• 2011 – Jeffrey Biegel – A Steinway Christmas Album
• 2011 – She & Him – A Very She & Him Christmas
• 2011 - TVXQ – 2011 SMTOWN Winter ‘The Warmest Gift'
• 2012 – fun. – Holidays Rule
• 2012 – Sufjan Stevens – Silver & Gold
• 2012 – Nickelodeon Cast – Merry Nickmas
• 2012 – The Real Group – The World for Christmas
• 2013 – Karmin – Promotional Christmas single
• 2012 – August Burns Red – August Burns Red Presents: Sleddin' Hill