The weather this past week has been exceptionally hot and humid as many of you know. I thought about this song, Sleigh Ride. I knew that it had it's beginnings during a heat wave in July. I love to watch the Boston Pops Christmas concerts and this is how I heard that it was written in the middle of a heat wave. I did some checking and it was in July of 1946 that the original idea for the piece came about. It was composed by
Leroy Anderson and finished in February of 1948. The orchestral version, my favorite, was recorded in 1949 by
Arthur Fiedler and the
Boston Pops Orchestra. I first saw this performed by
John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra on television years ago. I absolutely loved it!! This song became a hit record on RCA Victor Red Seal which is a classical music label and is now part of Sony Masterworks. The
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers named Sleigh Ride the most popular piece of Christmas music in the USA in 2010.
So that's a little history of one of my all time favorite Christmas songs. Here's a video from You Tube, the artist is Arthur Fiedler. If you like, watch and enjoy. The light display is pretty amazing! Pause player in left side bar if you watch. THINK COOL!!
Wikipedia