On Friday, I found my jacket and umbrella and braved the rain, the long lines, and the traffic and did a bit of last minute holiday shopping.  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.

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.

Thank you to Wowzers4Clay for the following video

There is another video that has close-up pictures of Clay singing this song.  The video cannot be embedded.

If you want to see it, click HERE

What is your favorite Christmas Song?