A few days ago, I grabbed my mask and drove to a couple of stores. Yes…it was a mess, but when I got home I was still smiling – I heard “Clay Aiken” in two of the three stores I visited. I must admit, I stopped what I was doing and just listened for a moment. Who would have thought that listening to Sleigh Ride in Michael’s Arts and Craft could put me in the Christmas mood.
Sleigh Ride was originally written as an instrumental piece in 1946 by Leroy Anderson. Words for Sleigh Ride were added in 1950 by Mitchell Parish, and the song has since become a Christmas classic. Arthur Fiedler premiered the song with the Boston Pops.
More than 60 years after Leroy Anderson created Sleigh Ride, the composition is still ranked as one of the 10 most popular pieces of Christmas music worldwide. This is in spite of the fact that the word “Christmas” is never mentioned in the lyrics.
ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, named Sleigh Ride the most popular piece of Christmas music in the USA in 2009, 2010, 2011 and again in 2012. Leroy Anderson’s original recording of Sleigh Ride was the version most often played in 2010 based on performance data tracked by airplay monitoring service, Mediaguide, from over 2,500 radio stations nationwide. According to ASCAP, Sleigh Ride is in 6th place in 2019.
Just hear those sleigh bells
Jingling ring ting tingling too
Come on it’s lovely weather
For a sleigh ride together with you
Clay Aiken included Sleigh Ride in his Joyful Noise Tours. It was a light, fun song that moved quickly…in fact, the words were so fast that sometimes Clay stumbled on the words. Add to that, his animated face and directing hands, Sleigh Ride became a fan favorite.
I’m loving the following video!
What is your favorite Christmas Song?
How great to hear that they are playing Christmas Clay out in the stores. I would stop and listen, too! It’s always hard to pick favorites of anything Clay,
but for today I will pick two –
Mary Did You Know & Oh! Holy Night – – – okay one more – Where Are You Christmas!! I love them all and everything else Clay sings!!
I love that you heard Clay! I haven’t been out much, but I’m always listening for him this time of the year.
My favorites are “Don’t Save it All for Christmas Day” and “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?”, not exactly a Christmas song, but I love it!
Happy Holidays, friends!
I agree!
Thank you for all the pictures and the video. If I was in a store and I heard Clay singing, I would stop and listen too. I love the video. Clay looks great in white. I love any song that Clay sings at Christmas time or any other time of the year. Thank you CANN.
Clay has the greatest Christmas voice, I wish we all could hear him in the store. It would make shopping more fun. I'm going to go to You Tube and watch the Mary Christmas with love tour 2005.
Missing Clsy very much.