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 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 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.
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