Sleigh Ride

"Sleigh Ride" is a popular light orchestral Christmas music 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 an instrumental piece; the lyrics, about someone asking 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 a signature song for the orchestra. 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.

The melody of the main strain of the tune was used (with no credit for Anderson) as the main theme of Victor Young's score for the 1949 western Streets of Laredo; Mitchell Parrish had worked with Young around this time, having recently written lyrics for Young's version of Hoagy Carmichael's previously instrumental number "Stardust".

Leroy Anderson recorded his own version of "Sleigh Ride" in 1950 on Decca 9-16000 (45 rpm) / 16000 (78 rpm). The recording hit the Cashbox magazine best-sellers chart when re-released in 1952.

In 1950 The Andrews Sisters recorded the first vocal version.

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