Ronettes – Sleigh Ride

Thank you, Dave, for inviting me to Turntable Talk. I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! Dave wanted us to post a Christmas song, and this one, which I’ve never written about, fit perfectly. I could hear Ronnie Spector sing all day. 

Ronnie Spector

I could listen to Ronnie Spector sing the telephone book…if there are such things anymore. She has a unique voice and you know it’s her when you hear or see her.  I’ve become a full-blown fan of this lady through the years and when I saw her singing Be My Baby she won me over. She had the look, the voice, and the stage presence. I know why John Lennon and Keith Richards were crazy about her.

Leroy Anderson wrote Sleigh Ride as an instrumental in 1948 and Mitchell Parish added lyrics in 1950. There have been a whopping 883 versions of this holiday classic.

Phil Spector’s pool of talent released a classic Christmas album called  A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector but it was released on November 22, 1963. If that date seems familiar, it’s because it very significant. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas while riding in a motorcade with his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy. The artists on that album were Darlene Love, The Ronettes, The Crystals, and  Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans.

The album was considered a failure (#12) at first but it caught on later. It was later re-released by Apple Records and has since been acknowledged as a great album. it peaked at #6 on Billboard’s Christmas Charts after being re-released on the Beatles label. In the years since the album has re-charted. In 2003, the album was voted No. 142 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.  It was also included in Robert Dimery’s 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

The song peaked at #8 on the Billboard 100, #15 on the Canadian Hot 100, #20 in the UK, and #22 in New Zealand in 1963.

Sleigh Ride

Just hear those sleigh bells jingling, ring tingle tingling too
Come on, it’s lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you,
Outside the snow is falling and friends are calling yoo hoo,
Come on, it’s lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you.

Our cheeks are nice and rosy and comfy and cozy are we
We’re snuggled up together like two birds of a feather would be
Let’s take the road before us and sing a chorus or two
Come on, it’s lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you.

Our cheeks are nice and rosy and comfy and cozy are we
We’re snuggled up together like two birds of a feather would be
Let’s take the road before us and sing a chorus or two
Come on, it’s lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you.

…

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

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