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= The Twelve Days of Christmas (song) =
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Introduction
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"The Twelve Days of Christmas" is an English Christmas carol. A
classic example of a cumulative song, the lyrics detail a series of
increasingly numerous gifts given to the speaker by their "true love"
on each of the twelve days of Christmas (the twelve days that make up
the Christmas season, starting with Christmas Day). The carol, whose
words were first published in England in the late eighteenth century,
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.
Lyrics
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"The Twelve Days of Christmas" is a cumulative song, meaning that each
verse is built on top of the previous verses. There are twelve verses,
each describing a gift given by "my true love" on one of the twelve
days of Christmas.
There are many variations in the lyrics. The lyrics given here are
from Frederic Austin's 1909 publication that established the current
form of the carol. The first three verses run, in full, as follows:
Subsequent verses follow the same pattern. Each verse deals with the
next day of Christmastide, adding one new gift and then repeating all
the earlier gifts, so that each verse is one line longer than its
predecessor.
* four calling birds
* five gold rings
* six geese a-laying
* seven swans a-swimming
* eight maids a-milking
* nine ladies dancing
* ten lords a-leaping
* eleven pipers piping
* twelve drummers drumming
Variations of the lyrics
==========================
The earliest known publications of the words to "The Twelve Days of
Christmas" were an illustrated children's book, 'Mirth Without
Mischief', published in London in 1780, and a broadsheet by Angus, of
Newcastle, dated to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries.
While the words as published in 'Mirth Without Mischief' and the Angus
broadsheet were almost identical, subsequent versions (beginning with
James Orchard Halliwell's 'Nursery Rhymes of England' of 1842) have
displayed considerable variation:
* In early versions, at the beginning of each verse, the word 'on' is
skipped; for example, the last verse begins simply as "The twelfth day
of Christmas". 'On' was added in Austin's 1909 version, and became
very popular thereafter.
* In the early versions "my true love sent to me" the gifts. However,
a 20th-century variant has "my true love 'gave' to me"; this wording
has become particularly common in North America.
* In one 19th-century variant, the gifts come from "my 'mother'"
rather than "my true love".
* Some variants have "'juniper' tree" or "'June apple' tree" rather
than "pear tree", which is likely a mishearing of "partri'dge in a
pear' tree".
* The 1780 version has "four colly birds"—'colly' being a regional
English expression for "coal-black" (the name of the collie dog breed
may come from this word). This wording must have been opaque to many
even in the 19th century: "canary birds", "colour'd birds", "curley
birds", and "corley birds" are found in its place. Austin's 1909
version, which introduced the now-standard melody, also changed the
fourth gift to four "calling" birds, and this variant has become the
most popular, although "colly" is still occasionally found.
* "Five gold rings" has often become "five 'golden' rings", especially
in North America since the 1961 recording by Mitch Miller and The
Gang. In the standard melody, this change enables singers to fit one
syllable per musical note.
* The gifts associated with the final four days are often reordered.
For example, the pipers may be on the ninth day rather than the
eleventh.
For ease of comparison with Austin's 1909 version given above:
!Source !Giver 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
| **'Colly**' birds
'Mirth Without Mischief', 1780 My true love sent to me Partridge in a
pear-tree Turtle doves French hens Gold rings Geese a laying Swans a
swimming Maids a milking 'Drummers drumming' 'Pipers piping' 'Ladies
dancing' 'Lords a leaping'
| **'Colly**' birds
Angus, 1774-1825 My true love sent to me Partridge in a pear tree
Turtle doves French hens Gold rings Geese a laying Swans a swimming
Maids a milking 'Drummers drumming' 'Pipers piping' 'Ladies dancing'
'Lords a leaping'
| **'Part of a juniper tree**'
| **'Colley**' birds
| **'A golden ring**'
| **'Hares a running**'
| Lords **'a playing**'
| **'Bears a baiting**'
| **'Bulls a roaring**'
Baring-Gould, c. 1840 (1974) My true love sent to me Turtle doves
French hens Geese a laying Swans a swimming Ladies dancing
| My **'mother**' sent to me
| **'Canary**' birds
| **'Ships a sailing**'
| **'Ladies spinning**'
| **'Bells ringing**'
Halliwell, 1842 Partridge in a pear-tree Turtle doves French hens
Gold rings Geese a laying Swans a swimming 'Ladies dancing' 'Lords a
leaping'
| My **'mother**' sent to me
| **'Parteridge**' in a pear tree
| **'Canary**' birds
| **'Ships a sailing**'
| **'Ladies spinning**'
| **'Bells ringing**'
Rimbault, 1846 Turtle doves French hens Gold rings Geese a laying
Swans a swimming 'Ladies dancing' 'Lords a leaping'
| **'Colly**' birds
Halliwell, 1853 My true love sent to me Partridge in a pear tree
Turtle doves French hens Gold rings Geese a laying Swans a swimming
Maids a milking 'Drummers drumming' 'Pipers piping' 'Ladies dancing'
'Lords a leaping'
| **'Collie**' birds
Salmon, 1855 My true love sent to me Partridge 'upon' a pear-tree
Turtle-doves French hens Gold rings Geese a-laying Swans a-swimming
Maids a-milking 'Drummers drumming' 'Pipers piping' 'Ladies dancing'
'Lords a-leaping'
| **'Collie**' birds
| **'Fifers fifing**'
Caledonian, 1858 My true love sent to me Partridge 'upon' a pear-tree
Turtle-doves French hens Gold rings Geese a-laying Swans a-swimming
Maids a-milking 'Drummers drumming' 'Ladies dancing' 'Lords a-leaping'
| **'Colley**' birds
Husk, 1864 My true love sent to me Partridge in a pear-tree Turtle
doves French hens Gold rings Geese a-laying Swans a-swimming Maids
a-milking 'Drummers drumming' 'Pipers piping' 'Ladies dancing' 'Lords
a-leaping'
| Partridge **'and**' a pear tree
| **'Fat**' hens
| **'Ducks quacking**'
| **'Hares running**'
Hughes, 1864 My true love sent to me Turtle-doves "and so on"
| **'Colley**' birds
| **'Ducks**' a-laying
| **'Hares a-running**'
| **'Badgers baiting**'
| **'Bells a-ringing**'
Cliftonian, 1867 My true-love sent to me Partridge in a pear-tree
Turtle-doves French hens Gold rings Swans 'swimming' Ladies dancing
Lords a-leaping
| **'Colour'd**' birds
Clark, 1875 My true love sent to me Partridge in a pear tree Turtle
doves French hens Gold rings Geese 'laying' Swans 'swimming' Maids
'milking' 'Drummers drumming' 'Pipers piping' 'Ladies dancing' 'Lords
leaping'
| **'Some part of a juniper tree/And some part of a juniper tree**'
| **'Colly**' birds
| **'Lambs a-bleating**'
| **'Lords a-leading**'
| **'Bells a-ringing**'
Kittredge, 1877 (1917) My true love sent to me 'French hens' 'Turtle
doves' Gold rings Geese a-laying Swans a-swimming [forgotten by the
singer] 'Ladies dancing'
| **'Curley**' birds
Henderson, 1879 My true love sent to me Partridge 'upon' a pear tree
Turtle doves French hens Gold rings Geese 'laying' Swans 'swimming'
Maids 'milking' 'Drummers drumming' 'Pipers piping'
| **'The sprig of a juniper tree**'
| **'Coloured**' birds
| **'Hares a-running**'
| **'Bulls a-roaring**'
| **'Men a-mowing**'
| **'Dancers a-dancing**'
| **'Fiddlers a-fiddling**'
Barnes, 1882 My true love sent to me Turtle doves French hens Gold
rings Geese a-laying Swans a-swimming
| **'Colly**' birds
Stokoe, 1882 My true love sent to me Partridge 'on' a pear tree
Turtle doves French hens Gold rings Geese a-laying Swans a-swimming
Maids a-milking 'Drummers drumming' 'Pipers piping' 'Ladies dancing'
'Lords a leaping'
| **'Colley**' birds
Kidson, 1891 My true love sent to me 'Merry' partridge 'on' a pear
tree Turtle doves French hens Gold rings Geese a-laying Swans
a-swimming Maids a-milking 'Drummers drumming' 'Pipers piping' 'Ladies
dancing' 'Lords a leaping'
| **'Very pretty peacock** upon' a pear tree
| **'Corley**' birds
| **'Lads a-louping**'
Scott, 1892 My true love 'brought' to me Turtle-doves French hens
Gold rings Geese a-laying Swans a-swimming Maids a-milking 'Pipers
playing' 'Drummers drumming' 'Ladies dancing'
| **'Colly**' birds
| **'Squabs**' a swimming
| **'Hounds a running**'
| **'Bears a beating**'
| **'Cocks a crowing**'
Cole, 1900 My true love sent to me 'Parteridge' 'upon' a pear tree
Turtle doves French hens Gold rings Geese a laying 'Lords a leaping'
'Ladies a dancing'
| **'Colley**' birds
| **'Boys a-singing**'
| **'Asses racing**'
| **'Bulls a-beating**'
| **'Bells a-ringing**'
Sharp, 1905 My true love sent to me 'Goldie ring, and the part of a
June apple tree' Turtle doves, 'and the part of a mistletoe bough'
French hens 'Goldie' rings Geese a-laying Swans a-swimming Ladies
dancing
| **'Collie dogs**'
Leicester Daily Post, 1907 My true love sent to me 'A partridge upon
a pear-tree' Turtle doves French hens Gold rings Geese a-laying Swans
a-swimming Maids a milking Drummers drumming Pipers playing Ladies
dancing Lords a-leaping
Austin, 1909 My true love sent to me Partridge in a pear tree Turtle
doves French hens Calling birds Gold rings Geese a-laying Swans
a-swimming Maids a-milking Ladies dancing Lords a-leaping Pipers
piping Drummers drumming
| **'Collie**' birds
Swortzell, 1966 My true love 'gave' to me Partridge in a pear tree
Turtle doves French hens 'Golden' rings Geese a-laying Swans
a-swimming Maids a-milking 'Pipers piping' 'Drummers drumming' 'Lords
a-leaping' 'Ladies dancing'
Scotland
==========
A similar cumulative verse from Scotland, "The Yule Days", has been
likened to "The Twelve Days of Christmas" in the scholarly literature.
It has thirteen days rather than twelve, and the number of gifts does
not increase in the manner of "The Twelve Days". Its final verse, as
published in Chambers, 'Popular Rhymes, Fireside Stories, and
Amusements of Scotland' (1842), runs as follows:
"Pippin go aye" (also spelled "papingo-aye" in later editions) is a
Scots word for peacock or parrot.
Similarly, Iceland has a Christmas tradition where "Yule Lads" put
gifts in the shoes of children for each of the 13 nights of Christmas.
Faroe Islands
===============
In the Faroe Islands, there is a comparable counting Christmas song.
The gifts include: one feather, two geese, three sides of meat, four
sheep, five cows, six oxen, seven dishes, eight ponies, nine banners,
ten barrels, eleven goats, twelve men, thirteen hides, fourteen rounds
of cheese and fifteen deer. These were illustrated in 1994 by local
cartoonist Óli Petersen (born 1936) on a series of two stamps issued
by the Faroese Philatelic Office.
Sweden
========
In Blekinge and Småland, southern Sweden, a similar song was also
sung. It featured one hen, two barley seeds, three grey geese, four
pounds of pork, six flayed sheep, a sow with six pigs, seven åtting
grain, eight grey foals with golden saddles, nine newly born cows, ten
pairs of oxen, eleven clocks, and finally twelve churches, each with
twelve altars, each with twelve priests, each with twelve capes, each
with twelve coin-purses, each with twelve daler inside.
France
========
"Les Douze Mois" ("The Twelve Months") (also known as "La
Perdriole"—"The Partridge") is another similar cumulative verse from
France that has been likened to 'The Twelve Days of Christmas'. Its
final verse, as published in de Coussemaker, 'Chants Populaires des
Flamands de France' (1856), runs as follows:
According to de Coussemaker, the song was recorded "in the part of
[French] Flanders that borders on the Pas de Calais".
Another similar folksong, "Les Dons de l'An", was recorded in the
Cambresis region of France. Its final verse, as published in 1864,
runs:
Origins
=========
The exact origins and the meaning of the song are unknown, but it is
highly probable that it originated from a children's memory and
forfeit game.
The twelve days in the song are the twelve days starting with
Christmas Day to the day before Epiphany (6 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 in one source to
Thomas Bewick.
In the northern counties of England, the song was often called the
"Ten Days of Christmas", as there were only ten gifts. It was also
known in Somerset, Dorset, and elsewhere in England. The kinds of
gifts vary in a number of the versions, some of them becoming
alliterative tongue-twisters. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was also
widely popular in the United States and Canada. It is mentioned in the
section on "Chain Songs" in Stith Thompson's 'Motif-Index of
Folk-Literature' (Indiana University Studies, Vol. 5, 1935), p. 416.
There is evidence pointing to the North of England, specifically the
area around Newcastle upon Tyne, as the origin of the carol. Husk, in
the 1864 excerpt quoted below, stated that the carol was "found on
broadsides printed at Newcastle at various periods during the last
hundred and fifty years", i.e. from approximately 1714. In addition,
many of the nineteenth century citations come from the Newcastle area.
Peter and Iona Opie suggest that "if '[t]he partridge in the peartree'
is to be taken literally it looks as if the chant comes from France,
since the Red Leg partridge, which perches in trees more frequently
than the common partridge, was not successfully introduced into
England until about 1770".
Some authors suggest a connection to a religious verse entitled
"Twelfth Day", found in a thirteenth century manuscript at Trinity
College, Cambridge; this theory is criticised as "erroneous" by
Yoffie. It has also been suggested that this carol is connected to
the "old ballad" which Sir Toby Belch begins to sing in Shakespeare's
'Twelfth Night'.
Manner of performance
=======================
Many early sources suggest that 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' was a
"memory-and-forfeits" game, in which participants were required to
repeat a verse of poetry recited by the leader. Players who made an
error were required to pay a penalty, in the form of offering a kiss
or confection.
Halliwell, writing in 1842, stated that "[e]ach child in succession
repeats the gifts of the day, and forfeits for each mistake."
Salmon, writing from Newcastle, claimed in 1855 that the song "[had]
been, up to within twenty years, extremely popular as a schoolboy's
Christmas chant".
Husk, writing in 1864, stated:
Thomas Hughes, in a short story published in 1864, described a
fictional game of Forfeits involving the song:
Barnes (1882), stated that the last verse "is to be said in one
breath".
Scott (1892), reminiscing about Christmas and New Year's celebrations
in Newcastle around the year 1844, described a performance thus:
Lady Gomme wrote in 1898:
Partridge in a pear tree
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An anonymous "antiquarian", writing in 1867, speculated that
"pear-tree" is a corruption of French 'perdrix' (, "partridge"). This
was also suggested by Anne Gilchrist, who observed in 1916 that "from
the constancy in English, French, and Languedoc versions of the 'merry
little partridge,' I suspect that 'pear-tree' is really 'perdrix' (Old
French ) carried into England". The variant text "part of a juniper
tree", found as early as c. 1840, is likely not original, since
"partridge" is found in the French versions. It is probably a
corruption of "partridge in a pear tree", though Gilchrist suggests
"juniper tree" could have been 'joli perdrix', [pretty partridge].
Another suggestion is that an old English drinking song may have
furnished the idea for the first gift. William B. Sandys refers to it
as a "convivial glee introduced a few years since, 'A Pie [i.e., a
magpie] sat on a Pear Tree,' where one drinks while the others sing."
The image of the bird in the pear tree also appears in lines from a
children's counting rhyme an old Mother Goose.
: A pye sate on a pear tree, Heigh O
: Once so merrily hopp'd she; Heigh O
: Twice so merrily, etc.
: Thrice so, etc.
French hens
=============
Gilchrist suggests that the adjective "French" may mean "foreign".
Sharp reports that one singer sings "Britten chains", which he
interprets as a corruption of "Breton hens". William and Ceil
Baring-Gould also suggest that the birds are Breton hens, which they
see as another indication that the carol is of French origin.
Colly birds
=============
The word "colly", found in the earliest publications, was the source
of considerable confusion. Multiple sources confirm that it is a
dialectal word, found in Somerset and elsewhere, meaning "black", so
"colly birds" are blackbirds. Despite this, other theories about the
word's origin are also found in the literature, such as that the word
is a corruption of French ("ruff"), or of "coloured".
Gold rings
============
Shahn suggests that "the five golden rings refer to the ringed
pheasant". William and Ceil Baring-Gould reiterate this idea, which
implies that the gifts for first seven days are all birds. Others
suggest the gold rings refer to "five goldspinks"—a goldspink being an
old name for a goldfinch; or even canaries. However, the 1780
publication includes an illustration that clearly depicts the "five
gold rings" as being jewellery.
General
=========
According to 'The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes', "Suggestions
have been made that the gifts have significance, as representing the
food or sport for each month of the year. Importance [certainly has]
long been attached to the Twelve Days, when, for instance, the weather
on each day was carefully observed to see what it would be in the
corresponding month of the coming year. Nevertheless, whatever the
ultimate origin of the chant, it seems probable [that] the lines that
survive today both in England and France are merely an irreligious
travesty."
In 1979, a Canadian hymnologist, Hugh D. McKellar, published an
article, "How to Decode the Twelve Days of Christmas", in which he
suggested that "The Twelve Days of Christmas" lyrics were intended as
a catechism song to help young English Catholics learn their faith, at
a time when practising Catholicism was against the law (from 1558
until 1829). McKellar offered no evidence for his claim. Three years
later, in 1982, Fr. Hal Stockert wrote an article (subsequently posted
online in 1995) in which he suggested a similar possible use of the
twelve gifts as part of a catechism. The possibility that the twelve
gifts were used as a catechism during the period of Catholic
repression was also hypothesised in this same time period (1987 and
1992) by Fr. James Gilhooley, chaplain of Mount Saint Mary College of
Newburgh, New York. Snopes.com, a website reviewing urban legends,
Internet rumours, e-mail forwards, and other stories of unknown or
questionable origin, concludes that the hypothesis of the twelve gifts
of Christmas being a surreptitious Catholic catechism is incorrect.
None of the enumerated items would distinguish Catholics from
Protestants, and so would hardly need to be secretly encoded.
Standard melody
=================
The now-standard melody for the carol was popularised by the English
baritone and composer Frederic Austin. The singer, having arranged
the music for solo voice with piano accompaniment, included it in his
concert repertoire from 1905 onwards. A 'Times' review from 1906
praised the "quaint folk-song", while noting that "the words ... are
better known than the excellent if intricate tune".
Austin's arrangement was published by Novello & Co. in 1909.
According to a footnote added to the posthumous 1955 reprint of his
musical setting, Austin wrote:
A number of later publications state that Austin's music for "five
gold rings" is an original addition to an otherwise traditional
melody. An early appearance of this claim is found in the 1961
'University Carol Book', which states: Similar statements are found
in John Rutter's 1967 arrangement, and in the 1992 'New Oxford Book of
Carols'.
Many of the decisions Austin made with regard to the lyrics
subsequently became widespread:
* The initial "On" at the beginning of each verse.
* The use of "calling birds", rather than "colly birds", on the fourth
day.
* The ordering of the ninth to twelfth verses.
The time signature of this song is not constant, unlike most popular
music. This irregular meter perhaps reflects the song's folk origin.
The introductory lines "On the ['n'th] day of Christmas, my true love
gave to me", are made up of two bars, while most of the lines naming
gifts receive one bar per gift with the exception of "Five gold
rings", which receives two bars, "Two turtle doves" getting a bar
with "And a" on its fourth beat and "partridge in a pear tree" getting
two bars of music. In most versions, a bar of music immediately
follows "partridge in a pear tree". "On the" is found in that bar on
the fourth (pickup) beat for the next verse. The successive bars of
three for the gifts surrounded by bars of four give the song its
hallmark "hurried" quality.
The second to fourth verses' melody is different from that of the
fifth to twelfth verses. Before the fifth verse (when "Five gold
rings" is first sung), the melody, using solfege, is "sol re mi fa re"
for the fourth to second items, and this same melody is thereafter
sung for the twelfth to sixth items. However, the melody for "four
colly birds, three French hens, two turtle doves" changes from this
point, differing from the way these lines were sung in the opening
four verses.
In the final verse, Austin inserted a flourish on the words "Five gold
rings". This has not been copied by later versions, which simply
repeat the melody from the earlier verses. upright=1.25
Earlier melodies
==================
The earliest known sources for the text, such as 'Mirth Without
Mischief', do not include music.
A melody, possibly related to the "traditional" melody on which Austin
based his arrangement, was recorded in Providence, Rhode Island in
1870 and published in 1905.
Cecil Sharp's 'Folk Songs from Somerset' (1905) contains two different
melodies for the song, both distinct from the now-standard melody.
Several folklorists have recorded the carol using traditional
melodies. Peter Kennedy recorded the Copper family of Sussex, England
singing a version in 1955 which differs slightly from the common
version, whilst Helen Hartness Flanders recorded several different
versions in the 1930s and 40s in New England, where the song seems to
have been particularly popular. Edith Fowke recorded a single version
sung by Woody Lambe of Toronto, Canada in 1963, whilst Herbert Halpert
recorded one version sung by Oscar Hampton and Sabra Bare in
Morgantown, North Carolina One interesting version was also recorded
in 1962 in Deer, Arkansas, performed by Sara Stone; the recording is
available online courtesy of the University of Arkansas.
Parodies and other versions
======================================================================
* Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters recorded the traditional version
of this song on 10 May 1949 for Decca Records.
* The Ray Conniff Singers recorded a traditional version in 1962,
appearing on the album 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas'.
* Jasper Carrott performed "Twelve Drinks of Christmas" where he
appears to be more inebriated with each successive verse. This was
based on Scottish comedian Bill Barclay's version.
* Perry Como recorded a traditional version of "Twelve Days of
Christmas" for RCA Victor in 1953, but varied the lyrics with "11
Lords a Leaping", "10 Ladies Dancing", and "9 Pipers Piping". The
orchestrations were done by Mitchell Ayres.
* Allan Sherman released two different versions of "The Twelve Gifts
of Christmas". Sherman wrote and performed his version of the classic
Christmas carol on a 1963 TV special that was taped well in advance of
the holiday. Warner Bros. Records rushed out a 45 RPM version in early
December.
* Alvin and the Chipmunks covered the song for their 1963 album
'Christmas with The Chipmunks, Vol. 2'.
* The illustrator Hilary Knight included 'A Firefly in a Fir Tree' in
his 'Christmas Nutshell Library', a boxed set of four miniature
holiday-themed books published in 1963. In this rendition, the
narrator is a mouse, with the various gifts reduced to mouse scale,
such as "nine nuts for nibbling" and "four holly berries". Later
released separately with the subtitle 'A Carol for Mice'.
* Frank Sinatra and his children, Frank Sinatra Jr., Nancy Sinatra,
and Tina Sinatra, included their own version of "The Twelve Days of
Christmas" on their 1968 album, 'The Sinatra Family Wish You a Merry
Christmas'.
* Sears put out a special Christmas coloring book with Disney's
Winnie-the-Pooh characters in 1973 featuring a version of the carol
focusing on Pooh's attempts to get a pot of honey from a hollow honey
tree, with each verse ending in "and a hunny pot inna hollow tree".
* Fay McKay, an American musical comedian, is best known for "The
Twelve Daze of Christmas", a parody in which the gifts were replaced
with various alcoholic drinks, resulting in her performance becoming
increasingly inebriated over the course of the song.
* A radio play written by Brian Sibley, "And Yet Another Partridge in
a Pear Tree" was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Christmas Day 1977.
Starring Penelope Keith, it imagines the increasingly exasperated
response of the recipient of the "twelve days" gifts. It was
rebroadcast in 2011.
* The Muppets and singer-songwriter John Denver performed "The Twelve
Days of Christmas" on the 1979 television special 'John Denver and the
Muppets: A Christmas Together'. It was featured on the album of the
same name. The song has been recorded by the Muppets five different
times, featuring different Muppets in different roles each time.
* A Māori / New Zealand version, titled "A Pukeko in a Ponga Tree",
written by Kingi Matutaera Ihaka, appeared as a picture book and
cassette recording in 1981.
* On the late-night sketch-comedy program 'Second City TV' in 1982,
the Canadian-rustic characters Bob & Doug McKenzie (Rick Moranis
and Dave Thomas) released a version on the SCTV spin-off album 'Great
White North'.
* 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' (TV 1993), an animated tale which
aired on NBC, features the voices of Marcia Savella, Larry Kenney,
Carter Cathcart, Donna Vivino and Phil Hartman.
* VeggieTales parodied "The Twelve Days of Christmas" under the title
"The 8 Polish Foods of Christmas" in the 1996 album 'A Very Veggie
Christmas'. It was later rerecorded as a Silly Song for the episode
'The Little Drummer Boy' in 2011.
* Christian rock band Relient K released a recording of the song on
their 2007 album 'Let It Snow, Baby... Let It Reindeer'. This version
known for its slightly satirical refrain: "What's a partridge? What's
a pear tree? I don't know, so please don't ask me. But I can bet those
are terrible gifts to get."
* A program hosted by Tom Arnold, 'The 12 Days of Redneck Christmas',
which takes a look at Christmas traditions, premiered on CMT in 2008.
The theme music is "The Twelve Days of Christmas".
* Shannon Chan-Kent, as her character of Pinkie Pie from 'My Little
Pony: Friendship Is Magic', sings her own version of the song on the
album 'My Little Pony: It's a Pony Kind of Christmas'.
* Irish actor Frank Kelly recorded "Christmas Countdown" in 1982 in
which a man named Gobnait O'Lúnasa receives the 12 Christmas gifts
referenced in the song from a lady named Nuala. As each gift is
received, Gobnait gets increasingly upset with the person who sent
them, as said gifts wreak havoc in the house where he lives with his
mother. This version charted in both Ireland (where it reached number
8 in 1982) and the UK (entering the UK chart in December 1983 and
reaching number 26). The song peaked at number 15 in Australia in
1984.
* A special 'Creature Comforts' orchestral arrangement of "The Twelve
Days of Christmas" was made by British animator Nick Park and Aardman
Animations. Featuring different animals discussing or trying to
remember the lyrics of the song, it was released on Christmas Day
2005.>
* The video game 'StarCraft: Broodwar' released a new map named
'Twelve Days of StarCraft' with the song which was adopted a new lyric
featured units from the game by Blizzard on 23 December 1999. In 2013,
CarbotAnimations created a new web animation, 'StarCraft's Christmas
Special 2013 the Twelve Days of StarCrafts', with the song which was
played in the map 'Twelve Days of Starcraft'.
* In Hawaii, 'The Twelve Days of Christmas, Hawaiian Style', with the
words by Eaton Bob Magoon Jr., Edward Kenny, and Gordon N. Phelps, is
popular. It is typically sung by children in concerts with proper
gesticulation.
* A version by Crayola was made in 2008 titled 'The 64 Days of
Crayola.'
* American rock and roll radio on-air personality Bob Rivers made a
version of the song, 'The Twelve Pains of Christmas' (from Twisted
Christmas, 1988), replacing the traditional gifts with a list of
hassles associated with Christmas, such as installing decorative
lighting, or going shopping for gifts.
* In the '12 Disasters of Christmas' movie, the song has actually been
created by the Mayas to ensure that a prophecy of the end of the world
be foretold among Europeans even after the destruction of the Mayas'
civilization.
* With reference to President Trump's impeachment just before
Christmas 2019, the Washington International Chorus performed the 12
Days of Christmas carol,
[https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-50831653?zephr-top-banner
with specially adapted lyrics by BBC News].
Christmas Price Index
======================================================================
Since 1984, the cumulative costs of the items mentioned in the
Frederic Austin version have been used as a tongue-in-cheek economic
indicator. Assuming the gifts are repeated in full in each round of
the song, then a total of 364 items are delivered by the twelfth day.
This custom began with and is maintained by PNC Bank. Two pricing
charts are created, referred to as the Christmas Price Index and The
True Cost of Christmas. The former is an index of the current costs of
one set of each of the gifts given by the True Love to the singer of
the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas". The latter is the cumulative
cost of all the gifts with the repetitions listed in the song. The
people mentioned in the song are hired, not purchased. The total costs
of all goods and services for the 2023 Christmas Price Index is
US$46,729.86, or US$201,972.18 for all 364 items. The original 1984
cost was $12,623.10. The index has been humorously criticised for not
accurately reflecting the true cost of the gifts featured in the
Christmas carol.
John Julius Norwich's 1998 book, 'The Twelve Days of Christmas
(Correspondence)', uses the motif of repeating the previous gifts on
each subsequent day, to humorous effect.
Computational complexity
======================================================================
In the famous article 'The Complexity of Songs', Donald Knuth computes
the space complexity of the song as function of the number of days,
observing that a hypothetical "The Days of Christmas" requires a
memory space of as where is the length of the song, showing that
songs with complexity lower than indeed exist. Incidentally, it is
also observed that the total number of gifts after days equals .
In 1988, a C program authored by Ian Philipps won the International
Obfuscated C Code Contest. The code, which according to the jury of
the contest "looked like what you would get by pounding on the keys of
an old typewriter at random", takes advantage of the recursive
structure of the song to print its lyrics with code that is shorter
than the lyrics themselves.
See also
======================================================================
* List of Christmas carols
Bibliography
==============
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Opie, Peter and Iona, eds. 'The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery
Rhymes'. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951, pp. 122-230, .
*
*
*
External links
======================================================================
*
* Free online simple melody score for all verses (as JPEGs or a PDF
file) in English and Esperanto:
[http://www.genekeyes.com/12-DAYS/12-days-of-Christmas.html "The
Twelve Days of Christmas / La Dek Du Tagoj de Kristnasko"]
License
=========
All content on Gopherpedia comes from Wikipedia, and is licensed under CC-BY-SA
License URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Days_of_Christmas_(song)