Friday, December 04, 2020

10-Sleighed

Today I have a little bit of an education for you.  Leroy Anderson's Sleigh Ride is a Christmas classic these days, covered at least once every five minutes by a new artist, with the arrangement rarely straying from the Boston Pops hit way back in the day. But it wasn't really a Christmas song, it was just a winter song that got caught up in the other parts of the season. And it's far from the only song of the sleigh out there. Here are a bunch of other examples of songs about a sleigh, any one of which could have been the one to catch on with the whole world, but in most cases didn't. You occasionally hear a version of Midnight Sleighride, which is really just a rip from a Prokofiev bit. And at least one of these is just Jingle Bells with a slightly longer name. And just for the sake of completeness, I threw in a record of sound effects, so you can make your own sleigh ride record.  Have at it! As usual, all records were originally digitized by The Internet Archive and their Great 78 Project. They do great work over there.

MEGA

Update-4 Jan 2023-Added tracklist to allow searching.

1. Percy Faith And His Orchestra-Brazilian Sleigh Bells
2. Lloyd Glenn's Combo-Christmas Sleigh Ride
3. The Sauter-Finegan Orchestra-Midnight Sleighride (From "The Lieutenant Kijie Suite")
4. Paul Weston And His Orchestra-Vocal By June Hutton-Sleigh Ride In July (From International Picture "Belle Of The Yukon")
5. Marek Weber And His Orchestra-Sleigh Ride In St. Petersburg
6. Lanny Ross, Tenor, With Orchestra-Sleigh-Bell Serenade
7. The Madcaps With Carl Ford And Joe DiFulvio-Sleighride
8. The Sportsmen-The Sleigh
9. Joe Gumin And His Orchestra-Jingle Bells (The One-Horse Open Sleigh) (Cascabeles)
10. Hal Kemp And His Orchestra-Siberian Sleigh Ride (Paseando En Trineo En La Siberia)
11. Major Records-Sleigh Bells











10 comments:

  1. Thanks, Ernie. Big fan of all things "Sleigh Ride." Look forward to these this afternoon.

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  2. There's certainly some good stuff in there. And an almost-Harmonicats version of the big song itself. :) I found it fascinating that there were sleigh songs dating back all the way to the beginning of recorded sound!

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  3. Fascinating stuff - good job of sleuthing!

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  4. What a great looking list! Thanks a bunch and Merry Christmas. Be Well.

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  5. Many thanks for this excellent job of curating, Ernie. Your "new version every five minutes" comment hit very close to home for me. I posted a personal version to YouTube some years ago.
    Be well. Stay safe. That goes out to everyone.

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  6. Whoa! This is the nicest collection of previously unheard Christmas-tunes I've heard in ages. Perhaps because to me nothing quite says christmas like that "sleigh ride-sound". I find lots of great stuff here to add to my ever expanding December-playlists (and mixtapes) every year, but this one (and also "Ladies Sing Christmas") was particularly packed with gems. Thanks!

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  7. Glad you folks are enjoying the sleighing songs! :) Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!

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  8. missed a couple of days,
    I laughed at how many times on my travels
    I wondered what was being posted next!

    Thanks

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  9. I have never been more ready for a sleigh ride than right now - thanks so much Ernie.

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