Sleigh Ride

"Sleigh Ride" is a popular light orchestra standard composed by Leroy Anderson. The composer had the original idea for the piece during a heat wave in July 1946 and finished the work in February 1948. It was originally instrumental; the lyrics, where someone asks another to join them for a ride in a sleigh, were written by Mitchell Parish in 1950. The orchestral version was first recorded in 1949 by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra. "Sleigh Ride" was a hit record on RCA Victor Red Seal 49-0515 (45 rpm) / 10-1484 (78 rpm), and has become one of the orchestra's signature songs. The 45 rpm version was originally issued on red vinyl. The Pops has also recorded the song with John Williams, their conductor from 1979 to 1995, and Keith Lockhart, their current conductor.

Details
Leroy Anderson's own 1950 recording of "Sleigh Ride" on Decca 9-16000 (45 rpm) and 16000 (78 rpm) reached Cashbox magazine's bestsellers chart when re-released in 1952.

"Sleigh Ride"'s main melody was used (with no credit for Anderson) as the main theme of Victor Young's score for the 1949 western Streets of Laredo. Mitchell Parish worked with Young around this time, writing the lyrics for Young's version of Hoagy Carmichael's previously instrumental "Stardust". In 1950 The Andrews Sisters recorded the first vocal version of "Sleigh Ride", using lyrics written by Parish.

Although "Sleigh Ride" is often associated with Christmas and appears on Christmas compilation albums, its lyrics mention no holiday (apart from certain recordings, such as those by the Carpenters, Walter Schumann and Air Supply, that substitute "Christmas party" for "birthday party" in the song's bridge). The song 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 (or occasionally, drum rim shots), 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) review of Christmas music, "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. in 2009–2012, 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.

In his book Leroy Anderson: A Bio-Bibliography [Praeger 2004], Steve Metcalf says "'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 in rondo form. The second section utilizes an unusual, unprepared modulation to III, then II. The difficulty of singing this has caused several recordings to alter the harmonies or omit this section altogether, as in the Phil Spector / Ronettes version.

Notable recordings

 * 1949 – Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. The original hit recording, this version has never been available on CD. Other Boston Pops recordings have been made under conductors Fiedler (1959, 1970, and 1972), John Williams (1991), and Keith Lockhart (1998 and 2003).
 * 1950 – Leroy Anderson. The Decca Gold Label Series singles (#16000, both 45 and 78 rpm) referenced above were not issued as individual records, but were part of the four-disc set Leroy Anderson Conducts His Own Compositions. This version is played mostly during the holiday season, and has appeared in various compilations. Anderson re-recorded "Sleigh Ride" in stereo for the 1959 Decca LP Leroy Anderson Conducts Leroy Anderson.
 * 1950 – The Andrews Sisters (first vocal version)
 * 1958 – Johnny Mathis – Merry Christmas
 * 1963 – The Ronettes – A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records. This Phil Spector-produced recording has become the most popular version outside the traditional pop standard genre, charting yearly in Billboard's Top Ten U.S. Holiday 100. It features the well-known "Ring-a-ling-a-ling, ding-dong-ding" background vocals, and the clip-clop and whinny of a horse at its beginning and end.
 * 1993 - TLC recorded a version of the song for A LaFace Family Christmas, a holiday album featuring them and other artists signed to their record label of the same name. Their version features a rap written and performed by their late member Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes.
 * 1996 - Spice Girls recorded and released a version of the song, featured as the B-side for their single 2 Become 1, which was the Christmas number one in the UK that year.
 * 2002 - S Club Juniors, the junior spin off of S Club 7, released their version as part of a double-a-side with their version of Paul Anka's Puppy Love. Reaching #6 in December that year, it is still the only version of the song to have charted in the UK.
 * 2008 – Béla Fleck and the Flecktones – Jingle All the Way; nominated for the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance.

Classical "Sleigh Ride" pieces
"Die Schlittenfahrt" ("Sleigh Ride") is also the popular name of one of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Three German Dances. It is sometimes mistakenly attributed to Wolfgang's father, Leopold Mozart, whose own Divertimento in F major is popularly known as "Musical Sleigh Ride".

The "Winter Night" segment of Frederick Delius's Three Small Tonepoems is also commonly known as "Sleigh Ride".

The "Troika" movement of Lieutenant Kijé by Sergei Prokofiev is also a musical sleigh ride, referring to a three-horse team drawing a carriage (troika means "group of three"). Christmas carol expert William Studwell wrote that Prokofiev's work was "even better" than "Sleigh Ride", having a more "exhilarating" style and imagery.

"Caribbean Sleigh Ride" is a work for symphony orchestra by Robert Wendel in the style of a fast Latin merengue.