The Twelve Days of Christmas—The Murfin Winter Holidays Music Festival 2022-‘23

 

Ray Conniff's 1953 recording of The Twelve Days of Christmas made the song an American holiday staple.

The Twelve Days of Christmas is an English carol—a classic example of a cumulative song, the lyrics detail a series of increasingly numerous gifts given on each of the twelve days of Christmas—the days that make up the Christmas season, starting with Christmas Day to the day before Epiphany (5 January). Twelfth Night is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “the evening of January 5th, the day before Epiphany, which traditionally marks the end of Christmas celebrations.’

The cover of Thomas Bewick's 18th Century Mirth Without Mischief which published the version of an old English carol with its now common lyrics.

The best known English version was first printed in Mirth Without Mischief, a children’s book published in London around 1780. The work was heavily illustrated with woodcuts, attributed to Thomas Bewick. The carol has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 68. A large number of different melodies have been associated with the song, of which the best known is derived from a 1909 arrangement of a traditional folk melody by English composer Frederic Austin.

In 1909 English composer Fredric Austin married the lyrics to an old folk melody and the song as now commonly sung was complete.

In America the song took off in popularity when Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters recorded it in 1949.  The Ray Conniff Singers made what many consider to be the definitive version for the 1953 LP We Wish You a Merry Christmas.  As a novelty song it became a staple of many of the television holiday specials since the 1950s and was introduced to children on Sesame Street.  It is also frequently parodied.

Today we share the Ray Conniff Singers version.