JOHNNY MATHIS - SLEIGH RIDE

SLEIGH RIDE

JOHNNY MATHIS

SONGWRITERS: LEROY ANDERSON & MITCHELL PARISH

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: MERRY CHRISTMAS JOHNNY MATHIS

LABEL: COLUMBIA RECORDS

GENRE: CHRISTMAS SONG

YEAR: 1958

 

            John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer-songwriter of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standard music, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status and 73 making the Billboard charts to date. Mathis has received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for three separate recordings.

Although frequently described as a romantic singer, his discography includes traditional pop, Brazilian and Spanish music, soul, rhythm and blues, show tunes, Tin Pan Alley, soft rock, blues, country music, and even a few disco songs for his album Mathis Magic in 1979. Mathis has also recorded six albums of Christmas music. In a 1968 interview, Mathis cited Lena Horne, Nat King Cole, and Bing Crosby among his musical influences.

             Merry Christmas is the first Christmas album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis and was released by Columbia Records on October 6, 1958. The selections are a mix of traditional Christmas carols ("Silent Night", "O Holy Night", "The First Noel") and holiday hits ("The Christmas Song", "White Christmas", "Silver Bells").

           The album debuted on Billboard magazine's list of the 25 Best-Selling Pop LPs in the US in its December 15, 1958, issue and got as high as number three during its initial four-week run. It made additional appearances there each holiday season from 1959 to 1962 and on the magazine's Christmas Albums and Pop Catalog Albums charts in subsequent years. It received Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of 500,000 copies in the US in December 1960 and in 2013 ranked as one of the top selling Christmas albums of all time with five million copies sold.

       Four songs from the album – "Winter Wonderland", "Blue Christmas", "White Christmas", and "Sleigh Ride" – were also released on the EP Merry Christmas, Vol. 1, which reached number two during the 1958 holiday season and number seven the following year on the magazine's Best-Selling Pop EPs chart. "Winter Wonderland" also spent three weeks on the UK singles chart, where his recording peaked at number 17 over the course of three weeks that began on Christmas Day 1958.

          The album was initially released only in the monaural format but became available in stereo in 1959. It was issued in the UK by Fontana Records and was later reissued in 1962 with a different cover both there and in the US. The original cover was used for compact disc pressings, the first of which was in 1984, and an edition featuring two bonus tracks was released on September 16, 2003. The 2015 Mathis compilation The Complete Christmas Collection 1958–2010, a 3-CD set on the Real Gone Music label, also includes the album in its track list.

Just hear those sleigh bells jingle-ing, ring-ting-tingle-ing too

Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you

Outside the snow is falling and friends are calling "You Hoo"

Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you

 

Giddy-up giddy-up giddy-up let's go, Let's look at the show

We're riding in a wonderland of snow

Giddy-up giddy-up giddy-up it's grand, Just holding your hand

We're gliding along with a song of a wintery fairy land

 

Our cheeks are nice and rosy and comfy cozy are we

We've snuggled close together like two birds of a feather would be

Let's take that road before us and sing a chorus or two

Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you

 

There's a birthday party at the home of Farmer Gray

It'll be the perfect ending of a perfect day

We'll be singing the songs we love to sing without a single stop

At the fireplace where we'll watch the chestnuts pop

Pop! Pop! Pop!

 

There's a happy feeling nothing in the world can buy

When they pass around the coffee and the pumpkin pie

It'll nearly be like a picture print by Currier and Ives

These wonderful things are the things we remember all through our li-ives

These wonderful things are the things we remember all through our lives

 

Just hear those sleigh bells jingle-ing , ring-ting-tingle-ing too

Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you

Outside the snow is falling and friends are calling "You Hoo"

Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you

 

Giddy-up giddy-up giddy-up let's go, Let's look at the show

We're riding in a wonderland of snow-ow

Giddy-up giddy-up giddy-up it's grand, Just holding your hand

We're gliding along with a song of a wintery fairy land

 

Nice and rosy and comfy cozy are we

We've snuggled close together like two birds of a feather would be

Let's take that road before us and sing a chorus or two

Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you

Lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you

Lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with

Lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with (fade).