Song of the Day 12/19: The Ronettes, “Sleigh Ride”

Here’s another piece of evidence supporting the theory that time makes songs Christmas classics: The LP “A Christmas Gift for You from Phillies Records” was a flop when it was released. It wasn’t until 1972, when it was rereleased by Apple Records (with the title’s prepositional phrase changed to “from Phil Spector”) that people realized it was a classic. It’s now considered not just the best Christmas album ever, but one of Rolling Stone’s top 500 albums of all time. It finally made the Billboard album chart in 2018.

The LP features the major acts in Spector’s Phillies Records stable – Darlene Love, the Crystals, the Ronettes and a forgotten act called Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans – performing their versions of secular holiday tunes of the day. Spector’s doo-wop-flavored arrangements and Wall of Sound production give the disc thematic unity and, for later audiences, an instant dose of nostalgia. Spector always blamed the album’s poor sales on bad luck – it was released Nov. 22, 1963, the day JFK was assassinated – but his style was already in eclipse, and “A Christmas Gift” preserved it in amber.

Spector gave three songs to the Ronettes, whose lead singer, Veronica Bennett, didn’t become Ronnie Spector until he married her in 1968.

“Sleigh Ride” was written in the late 1940s, the heyday of light orchestral music, by Leroy Anderson, a master of the form (he also wrote “The Syncopated Clock”). The Boston Pops debuted the song in a 1948 concert – in May. It was recorded the next year, and became the first pure orchestral piece to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Pop Music chart. It didn’t get lyrics until 1950, and they never mention Christmas.