Day 1 - 'Sleigh Ride' - Leroy Anderson

I know that there are some people out there who will only entertain a Christmas record in the week before Christmas itself:  to them the whole idea of the Advent Calendar of Songs is an anathema. So to those misguided souls who need to be eased gently into the season, I’d like to start off with what might be considered more of a seasonal ditty. And what better way than a song that wasn’t even written with Christmas in mind at all?

So, who’s Leroy Anderson? Well, our Leroy (1908 - 1975) is the bloke who penned this little tune during a heat wave in 1946, he finished it in ’48 but the lyrics were penned – brilliantly, it must be said - by someone entirely different , one Mitchell Parish in 1950. It was him that hit on the idea of a ride in the snow and so associated the song with December from then on.

Anderson – whose  ‘The Typewriter’ album is well worth a listen – was a light orchestral leader who wrote dozens of top tunes including ‘Blue Tango’, the world’s first ever million seller, most of which you will claim you’ve never heard before until you actually hear them and then you’ll say “oh, so that’s.....” as many are used as incidental music for adverts and shows.

Similarly, you’ll have heard this instrumental version by Anderson himself before. It’s all rather jolly  and should send you all up into the loft. Be careful up there!