The Twelve Days of Christmas (song)
Encyclopedia
"The Twelve Days of Christmas" is an English
Christmas carol
that enumerates a series of increasingly grand gifts given on each of the twelve days of Christmas
. Although first published in England in 1780, textual evidence may indicate the song is French
in origin. It has a Roud Folk Song Index
number of 68.
is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the last day of the Christmas festivities and observed as a time of merrymaking."
Although the specific origins of the chant are not known, it possibly began as a Twelfth Night
"memories-and-forfeits" game, in which a leader recited a verse, each of the players repeated the verse, the leader added another verse, and so on until one of the players made a mistake, with the player who erred having to pay a penalty, such as offering up a kiss or a sweet. This is how the game is offered up in its earliest known printed version, in the children's book Mirth without Mischief (c. 1780) published in England
, which 100 years later Lady Gomme, a collector of folktales and rhymes, described playing every Twelfth Day night before eating mince pie
s and twelfth cake.
The song apparently is older than the printed version, though it is not known how much older. Textual evidence indicates that the song was not English in origin, but French, though it is considered an English carol. Three French versions of the song are known. If the "partridge in a pear tree" of the English version is to be taken literally, then it seems as if the chant comes from France, since the red-legged (or French) partridge
, which perches in trees more frequently than the native common (or grey) partridge
, was not successfully introduced into England until about 1770.
The song was imported to the United States in 1910 by Emily Brown, of the Downer Teacher's College in Milwaukee, WI, who had encountered the song in an English music store sometime before. She needed the song for the school Christmas pageant, an annual extravaganza that she was known for organizing.
Frederic Austin
wrote an arrangement in which he added his melody from "Five gold rings" onwards, which has since become standard. The copyright to this arrangement was registered in 1909 and is still active by its owners, Novello & Co. Limited.
, 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.
The first verse runs:
The second verse:
The third verse begins to show some metrical variance, as explained below:
...and so forth, until the last verse:
This version features variant lyrics, as explained below.
The time signature
of this song is not constant, unlike most popular music. This irregular meter
perhaps speaks for the song's folk origin. The introductory lines, such as "On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me", are made up of two 4/4 bars
, while most of the lines naming gifts receive one 3/4 bar per gift with the exception of "Five gold(en) rings," which receives two 4/4 bars, "Two turtle doves" getting a 4/4 bar with "And a" on its 4th beat and "Partridge in a pear tree" getting two 4/4 bars of music. In most versions, a 4/4 bar of music immediately follows "Partridge in a pear tree." "On the" is found in that bar on the 4th (pickup) beat for the next verse. The successive bars of 3 for the gifts surrounded by bars of 4 give the song its hallmark "hurried" quality.
The second to fourth verses' melody is different from that of the fifth to 12th verses. Before the fifth verse (when "five gold(en) 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 12th 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.
." Still another version alters the fourth gift to "four mockingbirds."
A version considered by many to be the authoritative, traditional version of the chant in England appears in The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, as follows:
There are some regional variants of the verb in the opening line of each verse. In the United States the true love sometimes "gave" the gifts to the singer. In the British version, the true love "sent" the gifts to the singer, but "said" is also found (for example as sung by Kate Rusby
).
It has been suggested by a number of sources over the years that the pear tree is in fact supposed to be perdrix, French for partridge and pronounced per-dree, and was simply copied down incorrectly when the oral version of the game was transcribed. The original line would have been: "A partridge, une perdrix."
Some misinterpretations have crept into the English-language version over the years. The fourth day's gift is often stated as four "calling" birds but originally was four "colly" birds, being another word for a blackbird. The fifth day's gift of gold rings refers not to jewelry but to ring-necked birds such as the ring-necked pheasant; or to "five goldspinks"—a goldspink being an old name for a Goldfinch
. When these errors are corrected, the pattern of the first seven gifts all being birds is restored. There is a version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" that is still sung in Sussex
in which the four calling birds are replaced by canaries.
A minor variant includes the singing of "golden" rather than "gold" rings, to avoid having to stretch "gold" into two syllables ("go-old").
, a number of versions are sung, all of which replace the traditional gifts with items (mainly native animals) more likely to be found in that country.
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."
A bit of modern folklore claims that the song's lyrics were written as a "catechism
song" to help young Catholics learn their faith, at a time when practising Catholicism was discouraged in England (1558 until 1829). There is no substantive primary evidence supporting this claim, and no evidence that the claim is historical, or "anything but a fanciful modern day speculation." The theory is of relatively recent origin. It was first proposed by Canadian English teacher and hymnologist Hugh D. McKellar in an article, "How to Decode the Twelve Days of Christmas," published in 1979. The idea was further popularized by a Catholic priest, Fr. Hal Stockert, in an article he wrote in 1982 and posted online in 1995.
Variations in lyrics provide further evidence against the "catechism song" origin. For example, the four Gospels are often described as the "four calling birds," when in fact the phrase "calling birds" is a modern (probably 20th century) phonetic misunderstanding of "colly birds" (blackbirds).
Regardless of the origin of this idea, a number of Christians give the following meanings to the gifts:
economic indicator
. 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 2010 Christmas Price Index is $23,439. The original 1984 cost was $12,623.10.
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English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
Christmas carol
Christmas carol
A Christmas carol is a carol whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas or the winter season in general and which are traditionally sung in the period before Christmas.-History:...
that enumerates a series of increasingly grand gifts given on each of the twelve days of Christmas
Twelve Days of Christmas
The Twelve Days of Christmas are the festive days beginning Christmas Day . This period is also known as Christmastide and Twelvetide. The Twelfth Night of Christmas is always on the evening of 5 January, but the Twelfth Day can either precede or follow the Twelfth Night according to which...
. Although first published in England in 1780, textual evidence may indicate the song is French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
in origin. It has a Roud Folk Song Index
Roud Folk Song Index
The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of 300,000 references to over 21,600 songs that have been collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world...
number of 68.
Origin
The twelve days in the song are the twelve days starting Christmas day, or in some traditions, the day after Christmas (December 26) (Boxing Day or St. Stephen's Day, as being the feast day of St. Stephen Protomartyr) to the day before Epiphany, or the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6, or the Twelfth Day). Twelfth NightTwelfth Night (holiday)
Twelfth Night is a festival in some branches of Christianity marking the coming of the Epiphany and concluding the Twelve Days of Christmas.It is defined by the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary as "the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the...
is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the last day of the Christmas festivities and observed as a time of merrymaking."
Although the specific origins of the chant are not known, it possibly began as a Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night (holiday)
Twelfth Night is a festival in some branches of Christianity marking the coming of the Epiphany and concluding the Twelve Days of Christmas.It is defined by the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary as "the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the...
"memories-and-forfeits" game, in which a leader recited a verse, each of the players repeated the verse, the leader added another verse, and so on until one of the players made a mistake, with the player who erred having to pay a penalty, such as offering up a kiss or a sweet. This is how the game is offered up in its earliest known printed version, in the children's book Mirth without Mischief (c. 1780) published in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, which 100 years later Lady Gomme, a collector of folktales and rhymes, described playing every Twelfth Day night before eating mince pie
Mince pie
A mince pie, also known as minced pie, is a small British sweet pie traditionally served during the Christmas season. Its ingredients are traceable to the 13th century, when returning European crusaders brought with them Middle Eastern recipes containing meats, fruits and spices.The early mince...
s and twelfth cake.
The song apparently is older than the printed version, though it is not known how much older. Textual evidence indicates that the song was not English in origin, but French, though it is considered an English carol. Three French versions of the song are known. If the "partridge in a pear tree" of the English version is to be taken literally, then it seems as if the chant comes from France, since the red-legged (or French) partridge
Red-legged Partridge
The Red-legged Partridge is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds. It is sometimes known as French Partridge, to distinguish it from the Grey or English Partridge....
, which perches in trees more frequently than the native common (or grey) partridge
Grey Partridge
The Grey Partridge, Perdix perdix, also known as the English Partridge, Hungarian Partridge, or Hun, is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds...
, was not successfully introduced into England until about 1770.
The song was imported to the United States in 1910 by Emily Brown, of the Downer Teacher's College in Milwaukee, WI, who had encountered the song in an English music store sometime before. She needed the song for the school Christmas pageant, an annual extravaganza that she was known for organizing.
Music origin
The earliest well-known version of the music of the song was recorded by English scholar James O. Halliwell in 1842, and he published a version in 4th edition The Nursery Rhymes of England (1846), collected principally from 'oral tradition'. In the early 20th century, English composerComposer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
Frederic Austin
Frederic Austin
Frederic Austin was an English baritone singer, a musical teacher and composer in the period 1905–30. He is best remembered for his restoration and production of The Beggar's Opera by John Gay and Johann Christoph Pepusch, and its sequel, Polly, in 1920–23...
wrote an arrangement in which he added his melody from "Five gold rings" onwards, which has since become standard. The copyright to this arrangement was registered in 1909 and is still active by its owners, Novello & Co. Limited.
Structure
"The Twelve Days of Christmas" is a cumulative songCumulative song
A cumulative song is a song whose verses are built from earlier verses, usually by adding a new stanza to the previous verse. A simple cumulative song having n verses is structured as-Examples of cumulative songs:* "The Twelve Days of Christmas"...
, 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.
The first verse runs:
- On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
- A Partridge in a Pear Tree.
The second verse:
- On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
- 2 Turtle Doves
- And a Partridge in a Pear Tree.
The third verse begins to show some metrical variance, as explained below:
- On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
- 3 French Hens
- 2 Turtle Doves
- And a Partridge in a Pear Tree.
...and so forth, until the last verse:
- On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
- 12 DrummerDrummerA drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
s Drumming - 11 Pipers Piping
- 10 LordLordLord is a title with various meanings. It can denote a prince or a feudal superior . The title today is mostly used in connection with the peerage of the United Kingdom or its predecessor countries, although some users of the title do not themselves hold peerages, and use it 'by courtesy'...
s-a-LeapingJumpingJumping or leaping is a form of locomotion or movement in which an organism or non-living mechanical system propels itself through the air along a ballistic trajectory... - 9 LadiesLadyThe word lady is a polite term for a woman, specifically the female equivalent to, or spouse of, a lord or gentleman, and in many contexts a term for any adult woman...
DancingDanceDance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting.... - 8 Maids-a-MilkingMilkmaidA milkmaid is a girl or woman employed to milk dairy cows. She also used the milk to prepare dairy products such as cream, butter, and cheese...
- 7 SwanSwanSwans, genus Cygnus, are birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometimes, they are considered a distinct subfamily, Cygninae...
s-a-SwimmingAquatic locomotionSwimming is biologically propelled motion through a liquid medium. Swimming has evolved a number of times in a range of organisms ranging from arthropods to fish to molluscs.-Evolution of swimming:... - 6 GeeseGooseThe word goose is the English name for a group of waterfowl, belonging to the family Anatidae. This family also includes swans, most of which are larger than true geese, and ducks, which are smaller....
-a-LayingEgg (biology)An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing... - 5 Gold RingsCommon PheasantThe Common Pheasant , is a bird in the pheasant family . It is native to Georgia and has been widely introduced elsewhere as a game bird. In parts of its range, namely in places where none of its relatives occur such as in Europe , it is simply known as the "pheasant"...
- 4 Calling Birds
- 3 French HensFaverolles (chicken)The Faverolles is a French breed of chicken. The breed was developed in the 1860s in north-central France, in the vicinity of the villages of Houdan and Faverolles...
- 2 Turtle DoveTurtle DoveThe European Turtle Dove , also known as Turtle Dove, is a member of the bird family Columbidae, which includes the doves and pigeons.-Distribution & Status:...
s - And a PartridgePartridgePartridges are birds in the pheasant family, Phasianidae. They are a non-migratory Old World group.These are medium-sized birds, intermediate between the larger pheasants and the smaller quails. Partridges are native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East...
in a PearPearThe pear is any of several tree species of genus Pyrus and also the name of the pomaceous fruit of these trees. Several species of pear are valued by humans for their edible fruit, but the fruit of other species is small, hard, and astringent....
Tree.
This version features variant lyrics, as explained below.
The time signature
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
of this song is not constant, unlike most popular music. This irregular meter
Meter (music)
Meter or metre is a term that music has inherited from the rhythmic element of poetry where it means the number of lines in a verse, the number of syllables in each line and the arrangement of those syllables as long or short, accented or unaccented...
perhaps speaks for the song's folk origin. The introductory lines, such as "On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me", are made up of two 4/4 bars
Bar (music)
In musical notation, a bar is a segment of time defined by a given number of beats of a given duration. Typically, a piece consists of several bars of the same length, and in modern musical notation the number of beats in each bar is specified at the beginning of the score by the top number of a...
, while most of the lines naming gifts receive one 3/4 bar per gift with the exception of "Five gold(en) rings," which receives two 4/4 bars, "Two turtle doves" getting a 4/4 bar with "And a" on its 4th beat and "Partridge in a pear tree" getting two 4/4 bars of music. In most versions, a 4/4 bar of music immediately follows "Partridge in a pear tree." "On the" is found in that bar on the 4th (pickup) beat for the next verse. The successive bars of 3 for the gifts surrounded by bars of 4 give the song its hallmark "hurried" quality.
The second to fourth verses' melody is different from that of the fifth to 12th verses. Before the fifth verse (when "five gold(en) rings" is first sung), the melody, using solfege
Solfege
In music, solfège is a pedagogical solmization technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable, called a solfège syllable...
, is "sol re mi fa re" for the fourth to second items, and this same melody is thereafter sung for the 12th 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.
Variations
There are many variations of this song in which the last four objects are arranged in a different order (for example — twelve lords a-leaping, eleven ladies (or dames a-) dancing, ten pipers piping, nine drummers drumming). At least one version has "ten fiddlers fiddling," and another has "nine ladies waitingLady-in-waiting
A lady-in-waiting is a female personal assistant at a royal court, attending on a queen, a princess, or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman from a family highly thought of in good society, but was of lower rank than the woman on whom she...
." Still another version alters the fourth gift to "four mockingbirds."
A version considered by many to be the authoritative, traditional version of the chant in England appears in The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, as follows:
The twelfth day of Christmas, | My true love sent to me | Twelve lords a-leaping, | Eleven ladies dancing, | Ten pipers piping, | Nine drummers drumming, | Eight maids a-milking, | Seven swans a-swimming, | Six geese a-laying, | Five gold rings, | Four colly birds, | Three French hens, | Two turtle doves, and | A partridge in a pear tree.
There are some regional variants of the verb in the opening line of each verse. In the United States the true love sometimes "gave" the gifts to the singer. In the British version, the true love "sent" the gifts to the singer, but "said" is also found (for example as sung by Kate Rusby
Kate Rusby
Kate Anna Rusby is an English folk singer and songwriter from Penistone, South Yorkshire. Sometimes known as The Barnsley Nightingale, she has headlined various British national folk festivals, and is regarded as one of the most famous English folk singers of contemporary times...
).
It has been suggested by a number of sources over the years that the pear tree is in fact supposed to be perdrix, French for partridge and pronounced per-dree, and was simply copied down incorrectly when the oral version of the game was transcribed. The original line would have been: "A partridge, une perdrix."
Some misinterpretations have crept into the English-language version over the years. The fourth day's gift is often stated as four "calling" birds but originally was four "colly" birds, being another word for a blackbird. The fifth day's gift of gold rings refers not to jewelry but to ring-necked birds such as the ring-necked pheasant; or to "five goldspinks"—a goldspink being an old name for a Goldfinch
European Goldfinch
The European Goldfinch or Goldfinch is a small passerine bird in the finch family.-Habitat and range:The goldfinch breeds across Europe, North Africa, and western and central Asia, in open, partially wooded lowlands. It is resident in the milder west of its range, but migrates from colder regions...
. When these errors are corrected, the pattern of the first seven gifts all being birds is restored. There is a version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" that is still sung in Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
in which the four calling birds are replaced by canaries.
A minor variant includes the singing of "golden" rather than "gold" rings, to avoid having to stretch "gold" into two syllables ("go-old").
France
In the west of France the piece is known as a song, "La Foi de la loi," and is sung "avec solennite," the sequence being: a good stuffing without bones, two breasts of veal, three joints of beef, four pigs' trotters, five legs of mutton, six partridges with cabbage, seven spitted rabbits, eight plates of salad, nine dishes for a chapter of canons, ten full casks, eleven beautiful full-breasted maidens, and twelve musketeers with their swords.Scotland
In Scotland, early in the 19th century, the recitation began: "The king sent his lady on the first Yule day, | A popingo-aye [parrot]; | Wha learns my carol and carries it away?" The succeeding gifts were two partridges, three plovers, a goose that was grey, three starlings, three goldspinks, a bull that was brown, three ducks a-merry laying, three swans a-merry swimming, an Arabian baboon, three hinds a-merry hunting, three maids a-merry dancing, three stalks o' merry corn.Australia
In AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, a number of versions are sung, all of which replace the traditional gifts with items (mainly native animals) more likely to be found in that country.
Meaning
The lyrics of The Twelve Days of Christmas may have no meaning at all. Its meaning, if it has any, has yet to be satisfactorily explained.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."
A bit of modern folklore claims that the song's lyrics were written as a "catechism
Catechism
A catechism , i.e. to indoctrinate) is a summary or exposition of doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament times to the present...
song" to help young Catholics learn their faith, at a time when practising Catholicism was discouraged in England (1558 until 1829). There is no substantive primary evidence supporting this claim, and no evidence that the claim is historical, or "anything but a fanciful modern day speculation." The theory is of relatively recent origin. It was first proposed by Canadian English teacher and hymnologist Hugh D. McKellar in an article, "How to Decode the Twelve Days of Christmas," published in 1979. The idea was further popularized by a Catholic priest, Fr. Hal Stockert, in an article he wrote in 1982 and posted online in 1995.
Variations in lyrics provide further evidence against the "catechism song" origin. For example, the four Gospels are often described as the "four calling birds," when in fact the phrase "calling birds" is a modern (probably 20th century) phonetic misunderstanding of "colly birds" (blackbirds).
Regardless of the origin of this idea, a number of Christians give the following meanings to the gifts:
| Gift | Interpretation |
|---|---|
| A partridge in a pear tree | Jesus Jesus Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity... |
| Two turtle doves | The Old Old Testament The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism... and New Testament New Testament The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament.... s |
| Three French hens | The three kings bearing gifts |
| Four calling [sic] birds | The four Gospels |
| Five gold rings | The Torah Torah Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five... or Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament |
| Six geese a-laying | The six days of Creation |
| Seven swans a-swimming | Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are a medieval enumeration of seven spiritual gifts probably encodified by Thomas Aquinas along with five intellectual virtues and four other groups of ethical characteristics. They are: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the... |
| Eight maids a-milking | The eight Beatitudes Beatitudes In Christianity, the Beatitudes are a set of teachings by Jesus that appear in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The term Beatitude comes from the Latin adjective beatus which means happy, fortunate, or blissful.... |
| Nine ladies dancing | Nine fruits of the Holy Spirit |
| Ten lords a-leaping | The Ten Commandments |
| Eleven pipers piping | The eleven faithful Apostles Apostle (Christian) The term apostle is derived from Classical Greek ἀπόστολος , meaning one who is sent away, from στέλλω + από . The literal meaning in English is therefore an "emissary", from the Latin mitto + ex... |
| Twelve drummers drumming | The twelve points of the Apostles' Creed Apostles' Creed The Apostles' Creed , sometimes titled Symbol of the Apostles, is an early statement of Christian belief, a creed or "symbol"... |
Christmas Price Index
Since 1984, the cumulative costs of the items mentioned in the song have been used as a tongue-in-cheekTongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...
economic indicator
Economic indicator
An economic indicator is a statistic about the economy. Economic indicators allow analysis of economic performance and predictions of future performance. One application of economic indicators is the study of business cycles....
. 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 2010 Christmas Price Index is $23,439. The original 1984 cost was $12,623.10.
Parodies and other versions
1951
- Burl IvesBurl IvesBurl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an American actor, writer and folk music singer. As an actor, Ives's work included comedies, dramas, and voice work in theater, television, and motion pictures. Music critic John Rockwell said, "Ives's voice .....
recorded a traditional version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas".
1955
- On the Twelfth Day... (1955) — also known as On the Twelfth Day of Christmas (USA video box title) — is a short film (23 minutes) from the UK, in which a proper Edwardian lady (Miss Tilly, portrayed by Wendy ToyeWendy ToyeWendy Toye, CBE, was a British dancer, stage and film director and actress.Beryl May Jessie Toye was born in London. She initially worked as a dancer and choreographer both on stage and on film, collaborating with the likes of directors Jean Cocteau and Carol Reed...
, who also directed the film) patiently endures the ever-increasing disruption to her quiet household when her true love (Truelove, portrayed by David O’Brien) sends her all the items from the song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas." The film was produced by George K. ArthurGeorge K. ArthurGeorge K. Arthur was an English actor and producer. He appeared in 59 films between 1919 and 1935. He won an Academy Award for Best Short Film in 1956 for the film The Bespoke Overcoat....
.
1958
- Green Chri$tma$Green Chri$tma$Green Chri$tma$ is a radio play written and performed by Stan Freberg and Daws Butler and released by Capitol Records in 1958 . Musical arrangement and direction by Billy May, performed by the Capitol Records house orchestra. Other vocal performances by Marvin Miller , Will Wright and the Jud...
is a piece of audio theater written and performed by Stan FrebergStan FrebergStanley Victor "Stan" Freberg is an American author, recording artist, animation voice actor, comedian, radio personality, puppeteer, and advertising creative director whose career began in 1944...
and Daws ButlerDaws ButlerCharles Dawson "Daws" Butler was a voice actor originally from Toledo, Ohio. He worked mostly for Hanna-Barbera and originated the voices of many famous animated cartoon characters, including Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, and Huckleberry Hound.Daws Butler trained many working actors...
and released by Capitol RecordsCapitol RecordsCapitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
in 1958 (catalog number F 4097). Mr. Scrooge (Freberg), the head of an unnamed advertising agency, has gathered a group of clients to discuss tying their products into Christmas. One attendee, Bob Cratchit (Butler), wants to resist tying his spice company into Christmas, preferring to send Christmas cards with a simple message of "Peace on Earth." Scrooge extols the virtues of making money off of Christmas, and Cratchit counters by reminding Scrooge "whose birthday we're celebrating." The piece is a scathing indictment of the commercialization of Christmas, with references of Christmas-themed advertising by Coca-ColaCoca-ColaCoca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
and Marlboro cigarettes, among others. The names of the characters are taken from A Christmas Carol in ProseA Christmas CarolA Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens first published by Chapman & Hall on 17 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visits of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of...
by Charles DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
, as is one of the products "advertised" ("Tyn-E-Tim Chestnuts"). Green Chri$tma$ also contains a parody of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and an original song by Freberg, "Christmas Comes but Once a YearChristmas Comes But Once a YearChristmas Comes but Once a Year is a 1936 animated short produced by Fleischer Studios and released on December 4, 1936. It is part of the Color Classics series.-Summary:...
."
- At Brown UniversityBrown UniversityBrown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
a Latin Carol Service, held completely in Latin, is sponsored by the Classics Department each December. At this event, the women's a capella singing group The Chattertocks of Brown UniversityThe Chattertocks of Brown UniversityFounded over fifty years ago, The Chattertocks of Brown University, together with the Smiffenpoofs of Smith College, the V8s of Mt. Holyoke College and the Mischords of Middlebury College, is one of the oldest women's college a cappella singing groups in the United States.-History:Nancy Tobin,...
sing "The Twelve Days of Christmas" entirely in Latin. For this service, “Duodecem Dies Natalis” was translated into Latin by Eunice Burr Couch and, for more than 50 years, has been performed by the group listed in the program as “Grex Chattertockarum,” literally, the "Herd of Chattertocks."
1959
- The 12 Days of Christmas Local Style was written "local style" with items one would expect on a Pacific Island instead of Jolly old England. "It was written in 15 minutes as three friends ate Chinese food in the living room of a Diamond Head home." So reported the Honolulu Star Bulletin back in December 1995. The song was copyrighted in 1959 by Eaton "Bob" Magoon Jr.'s Hawaiian Recording and Publishing Co. Listed as its authors were composer/real estate developer Magoon, actor/singer Ed Kenney and Gordon Phelps, then Magoon's assistant, under the title, "Number One Day of Christmas." Hawaiian Recording and Publishing Co. is no longer in business.
1963
- Allan ShermanAllan ShermanAllan Sherman was an American comedy writer and television producer who became famous as a song parodist in the early 1960s. His first album, My Son, the Folk Singer , became the fastest-selling record album up to that time...
recorded—or at least released—two different versions of "The Twelve Gifts of Christmas," in which the gifts are tacky early 1960s items, such as a cheaply-made Japanese transistor radioTransistor radioA transistor radio is a small portable radio receiver using transistor-based circuitry. Following their development in 1954 they became the most popular electronic communication device in history, with billions manufactured during the 1960s and 1970s...
. 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 Brothers rushed out a 45 RPM version in early December. The "A" side was the song, as recorded for the TV show. An edited version of "The Twelve Gifts" was included on a later album and, in later years, it turned up on a number of compilation albums and CDs, often identified as "The Twelve Days of Christmas". Despite the title, this version has only eleven gifts. On the twelfth day of Christmas, he decides to exchange the eleven previous gifts for other items. - Alvin and the ChipmunksAlvin and the ChipmunksAlvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual;...
covered the song for their album Christmas with The Chipmunks, Vol. 2Christmas with The Chipmunks, Vol. 2Christmas with The Chipmunks, Vol. 2 is a Christmas music album by Alvin and the Chipmunks, released in 1963, and contains 12 tracks. The tracks in this and its predecessor—Christmas with The Chipmunks—have been in continuous circulation since their original releases...
, in which they grow tried in the middle and accidentally flubbed on the eleventh day.
1964
- The Thrifty Spendthrift is a comic version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" that first appeared in the February edition of Walt DisneyWalt DisneyWalter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
's monthly "Uncle $crooge" (US47). Story and art work by Carl BarksCarl BarksCarl Barks was an American Disney Studio illustrator and comic book creator, who invented Duckburg and many of its inhabitants, such as Scrooge McDuck , Gladstone Gander , the Beagle Boys , The Junior Woodchucks , Gyro Gearloose , Cornelius Coot , Flintheart Glomgold , John D...
. Scrooge McDuck is hypnotized by his nephew, Donald Duck using a ray pistol, and asked to give truckloads of gifts to the person he sees in a slideviewer. Unfortunately, for Donald, instead of Donald's picture his uncle sees the picture of a dog. Scrooge McDuck sets out to buy something original and is then inspired by a Christmas Card with the lyrics of "The Twelve Days of Christmas", wherefore he buys the gifts for the dog. The story has been reprinted numerous times in many languages, cf. INDUCKS.
1968
- Frank SinatraFrank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
and his children, Frank Sinatra, Jr.Frank Sinatra, Jr.Franklin Wayne Sinatra , professionally known as Frank Sinatra, Jr., is an American singer, songwriter and conductor....
, Nancy SinatraNancy SinatraNancy Sandra Sinatra is an American singer and actress. She is the daughter of singer/actor Frank Sinatra, and remains best known for her 1966 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"....
, and Tina SinatraTina SinatraChristina "Tina" Sinatra is the youngest child of Frank Sinatra and his first wife, Nancy Barbato Sinatra. Christina's parents divorced when she was three years old...
, included their own version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" on their album, The Sinatra Family Wish You a Merry ChristmasThe Sinatra Family Wish You a Merry ChristmasThe Sinatra Family Wish You a Merry Christmas is a 1968 Christmas album by Frank Sinatra and featuring his children, Frank Sinatra, Jr., Nancy Sinatra, and Tina Sinatra....
. Written by Sammy CahnSammy CahnSammy Cahn was an American lyricist, songwriter and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premiered by recording companies in the Greater Los Angeles Area...
and Jimmy Van Heusen, this version features items that Frank himself would like, such as "Five ivory combs, Four mission lights, Three golf clubs, Two silken scarfs, and a most lovely lavender tie."
1973
- Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Walt Disney ProductionsThe Walt Disney CompanyThe Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
used Disney's adapted character Winnie-the-PoohWinnie-the-PoohWinnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear, is a fictional anthropomorphic bear created by A. A. Milne. The first collection of stories about the character was the book Winnie-the-Pooh , and this was followed by The House at Pooh Corner...
for a "Twelve Days of Christmas"–themed coloring book in 1973. It included such items as "five acrobats," "two pogo sticks," and "a hunny pot inna hollow tree." - Scottish comedian Bill Barclay performed a parody version in which all the gifts were alcohol-related. As the song progressed, due to increasing (simulated) intoxication he would slur the words, omit some lines and sing others in the wrong order, until the final verse (which begins 'Twelve Alka-Seltzers...' which is sung in its entirety.
1979
- The MuppetsThe MuppetsThe Muppets are a group of puppet characters created by Jim Henson starting in 1954–55. Although the term is often used to refer to any puppet that resembles the distinctive style of The Muppet Show, the term is both an informal name and legal trademark owned by the Walt Disney Company in reference...
and singer-songwriter John DenverJohn DenverHenry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...
performed "The Twelve Days of Christmas" together on the 1979 television special John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas TogetherJohn Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas TogetherJohn Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together is a 1979 Christmas television special starring Jim Henson's Muppets and singer/songwriter John Denver.-Home media releases:...
, and was featured on the album of the same name. The song lyrics remain the same as the classic version, with Miss PiggyMiss PiggyMiss Piggy is a Muppet character who was primarily played by Frank Oz on The Muppet Show. In 2001, Eric Jacobson began performing the role, although Oz did not officially retire until 2002....
adding in her long drawn out "Five gold rings" and classic "ba-dum-bum-bum," remaining true to the style of her character. The song has been recorded by the Muppets five different times, featuring different Muppets in different roles each time.
1981
- Italian American singer-songwriter Joe DolceJoe DolceJoseph "Joe" Dolce is an American-born, Australian singer/songwriter who achieved fame with his multi-million-selling song, "Shaddap You Face", released under the name of his one-man show, Joe Dolce Music Theatre, in 1980...
recorded an Italian version of the Twelve Days of Christmas on his album Christmas in Australia. - A Maori / 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.
1982
- On the late-night sketch-comedy program Second City TV in 1982, the Canadian-rustic characters Bob & Doug McKenzie—Rick MoranisRick MoranisFrederick Allan "Rick" Moranis is a Canadian comedian, actor, musician, and a magician. Moranis came to prominence in the late 1970s on the sketch comedy show Second City Television, and later appeared in several Hollywood films including Strange Brew; Ghostbusters; Spaceballs; Little Shop of...
and Dave ThomasDave Thomas (actor)David "Dave" Thomas is a Canadian comedian and actor. He was born in St. Catharines, Ontario, but moved to Durham, North Carolina where his father, John E. Thomas, attended Duke University and earned a PhD in Philosophy. Thomas attended George Watts and Moorehead elementary schools...
, respectively—released a version on the SCTVSecond City TelevisionSecond City Television is a Canadian television sketch comedy show offshoot from Toronto's The Second City troupe that ran between 1976 and 1984.- Premise :...
spin-off album Great White North, in which the gifts included eight comic bookComic bookA comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
s, seven packs of smokes (cigaretteCigaretteA cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well...
s), six packs of two-four ("two-four" is Canadian slang for a case of 24 bottles of beerBeerBeer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
), five golden tuqueTuqueA – variously known as a knit hat or stocking cap among other names – is a knitted cap, originally of wool though now often of synthetic fibers, that is designed to provide warmth in winter...
s, four pounds of back baconBack baconBack bacon is bacon prepared from centre-cut boneless pork loin. The name refers to the cut of meat, which is from the back, and distinguishes it from other bacon made from pork belly or other cuts. Unlike other bacon, back bacon is not brined, cured, boiled, or smoked...
, three (pieces of) French toastFrench toastFrench toast or Eggy Bread, is a food made with bread and eggs. It is a Christmas time dessert in Portugal and Brazil.Where French toast is served as a sweet dish, milk, sugar, or cinnamon are also commonly added before frying, and it may be then topped with sugar, butter, fruit, syrup, or other...
, two turtlenecks, and a beer in a treeTreeA tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
(identified early on in the song merely as "a beer"). They did not get past the eighth day; Bob wanted to include a dozen (12) doughnutDoughnutA doughnut or donut is a fried dough food and is popular in many countries and prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franchised specialty outlets...
s on the twelfth day.
- Frank KellyFrank KellyFrank Kelly is an Irish actor, singer and writer, whose career has covered television, radio, theatre, music, screenwriting and film. He is best known for his role as Father Jack Hackett in the comedy Father Ted. He is the son of the cartoonist Charles E...
, the Irish actor, singer, and writer, released the parody, "Christmas Countdown," by Hugh Leonard, as a single (1982) and on the album, Frank Kelly's Christmas Countdown (Rego Irish Records & Tapes, Inc., 16 April 1995), available as both a CD and an audiocassette. The single version reached #8 on the Irish Singles Chart in 1982 and peaked at #38 on the UK Independent Singles Charts in 1984. This humoresque tells the story of an Irish man, Gobnait O'Lúnasa, who writes 12 successive letters to a woman named Nuala, who supposedly sent him each of the gifts mentioned in the song. The birds and characters (maids, lords, pipers, etc.) wreak havoc in the house where he lives with his mother. In his first letter, Gobnait's is thankful for the partridge in a pear tree, but he gets angrier and angrier and ends up desperately insulting Nuala.
1987
- "The Twelve Pains of Christmas" is a parodyParody musicParody music, or musical parody, involves changing or recycling existing musical ideas or lyrics — or copying the peculiar style of a composer or artist, or even a general style of music. Although the result is often funny, and this is the usual intent — the term "parody" in musical terms also...
of the song performed by Seattle, WashingtonSeattle, WashingtonSeattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, radio personality Bob RiversBob RiversBob Rivers is a well-known American rock and roll radio on air personality in the Pacific Northwest as well as a prolific producer of parody songs, most famous for his Christmas song parodies....
, in which the litany of each "thing of Christmas that's such a pain to me" includes "finding a Christmas tree," "sending Christmas cards," "facing my in-laws," "finding parking spaces," and Children and so forth. The song was released on the album, Twisted Christmas (Atlantic / WEA, 1987).
1990
- The cast of Twin Peaks recorded a version of the song that was broadcast on radio stations across the country at the time but was only made commercially available on record in Los Angeles. Cast members Dana Ashbrook (Bobby), Jack Nance (Pete), Kyle MacLachlan (Cooper), Kimmy Robertson (Lucy), Frank Silva (Bob), and Robert Bauer (Johnny) sang verses about different items and people in the town and related to the show such as jelly donuts, cherry pies, Laura Palmer's secret diary, the one-armed man, the midget from another place, and even Laura Palmer's corpse ("On the first day of Christmas..a body...dead...wrapped in plastic").
1992
- The KidsongsKidsongsKidsongs is an American award-winning children's media franchise which includes Kidsongs Music Video Stories on DVD and video, The Kidsongs TV Show, CDs of favorite children’s songs, song books, sheet music, toys and an ecommerce website...
Kids sang this song on their "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" video and DVD. - This song is parodied in a Christmas commercial for the Pennsylvania Lottery.
1993
- The Twelve Days of Christmas (TV 1993), which aired on NBC, is narrated by a partridge (voiced by Marcia Savella). This animated tale explains "the lengthy and confusing" Christmas carol of the same name through the following plot: The bold and brave Sir Carolboomer (voiced by Larry KenneyLarry KenneyLarry Kenney is an American radio personality and voice actor.In 1963, Kenney began his radio career at the age of 15 as a disc jockey at WIRL in Peoria. After WIRL, he worked at WOWO, Ft...
) loves the melancholy Princess Silverbell (voiced by Donna VivinoDonna VivinoDonna Vivino is a theatre actress and singer, who recently starred as Elphaba on the First National Tour of Wicked, and is currently the standby for the role on Broadway....
). To win her heart, he has squire Hollyberry (voiced by Phil HartmanPhil HartmanPhilip Edward "Phil" Hartman was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and graphic artist. Born in Brantford, Ontario, Hartman and his family moved to the United States when he was 10...
) steal what he thinks is her Christmas list, but what actually turns out to be the answers to the King's crossword puzzle. Sir Carolboomer enlists his squire, Hollyberry, to find every item on her list, including a partridge in a pear tree, eight maids a-milking, four calling [sic] birds, and so forth. Each day, the gloomy Princess Silverbell would chase Hollyberry away. After twelve days of gift-giving, the Princess finally smiles when she sees twelve lords a leaping and falls in love, not with Sir Carolboomer, but with the one who actually did the work, Hollyberry. Adapted from a story by Romeo MullerRomeo MullerRomeo Muller, Jr. was an American screenwriter and actor most remembered for his screenplays such as for the 1964 TV special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.-Early years:...
. - A parody of the song is featured on the album Ren & Stimpy's Crock O' Christmas. Titled The Twelve Days of Yaksmas, this parody has Ren and Stimpy list the strange gifts that Ren's cousin Svën has sent to them.
1994
- In 1994, the hip hopHip hop musicHip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
duoDuet (music)A duet is a musical composition for two performers. In classical music, the term is most often used for a composition for two singers or pianists; with other instruments, the word duo is also often used. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is referred to as...
Insane Clown PosseInsane Clown PosseInsane Clown Posse is an American hip hop duo from Detroit, Michigan. The group is composed of Joseph Bruce and Joseph Utsler, who perform under the respective personas of the "wicked clowns" Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope. Insane Clown Posse performs a style of hardcore hip hop known as horrorcore...
recorded a short version of the song on the EPExtended playAn EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
Carnival Christmas. - The Garfield and FriendsGarfield and FriendsGarfield and Friends is an American animated television series based on the comic strip Garfield by Jim Davis. The show was produced by Film Roman, in association with United Feature Syndicate and Paws, Inc., and ran on CBS Saturday mornings from September 17, 1988 to December 10, 1994, with...
episode "Happy Garfield Day", GarfieldGarfield (character)Garfield is a fictional character and the title protagonist from the comic strip Garfield created by Jim Davis.-Personality:Garfield is an anthropomorphic ginger cat. He loves eating , and sleeping. He is teased about being overweight. He is also selfish...
sings a version where he asks his birthday dinner to Jon ArbuckleJon ArbuckleJonathan Q. Arbuckle is a character from the Garfield comic strip by Jim Davis. He has also appeared in the animated television series Garfield and Friends, the computer-animated The Garfield Show, and two live-action feature films....
("For the first course of dinner, you're going to make to me lasagnaLasagnaLasagna is a wide and flat type of pasta and possibly one of the oldest shapes. As with most other pasta shapes, the word is generally used in its plural form lasagne in Italy and the U.K. Traditionally, the dough was prepared in Southern Italy with semolina and water and in the northern regions,...
prima verde"). The GarfieldGarfieldGarfield is a comic strip created by Jim Davis. Published since June 19, 1978, it chronicles the life of the title character, the cat Garfield ; his owner, Jon Arbuckle; and Arbuckle's dog, Odie...
website also releases every December an episodic Flash animation with a parody, where the only thing retained from the original is the partridge in a pear tree.
1995
- A Terrorist Christmas is a parodyParody musicParody music, or musical parody, involves changing or recycling existing musical ideas or lyrics — or copying the peculiar style of a composer or artist, or even a general style of music. Although the result is often funny, and this is the usual intent — the term "parody" in musical terms also...
of the song written and performed by James & Kling (R.J. James/Dave Kling). It begins with "a knife with a very sharp blade" replacing the traditional partidge-in-pear-tree, and appropriately ends with nuclear holocausts.
- Roger WhittakerRoger WhittakerRoger Whittaker is an Anglo-Kenyan singer-songwriter and musician with worldwide record sales of over 55 million. His music can be described as easy listening. He is best known for his baritone singing voice and trademark whistling ability...
recorded a traditional version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" on his album "The Christmas Song". - The 25-minute movie, William Wegman's Fay's Twelve Days of Christmas, presents Wegman's dogs celebrating the holidays. It was originally released on VHS by Warner Home Video (12 September 1995), and later on DVD by Microcinema International (31 October 2006); it was broadcast on HBO in 2006.
- RFC 1882: The 12-Days of Technology Before Christmas by Bill Hancock was released.
1996
- Jeff FoxworthyJeff FoxworthyJeffrey Marshall "Jeff" Foxworthy is an American comedian, television and radio personality and author. He is a member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, a comedy troupe which also comprises Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall and Ron White. Known for his "you might be a redneck" one-liners, Foxworthy...
released the parody, "Redneck 12 Days of Christmas," on his album, Crank It Up: The Music AlbumCrank It Up: The Music AlbumCrank It Up: The Music Album is the first musical album recorded by Jeff Foxworthy. It features many of Foxworthy's skits set to music, primarily with choruses sung by other musicians. Two comedy sketches, "S. I. N. G. L...
(Warner Bros. / WEA, 27 August 1996), available as both a CD and an audiocassette. "Redneck 12 Days of Christmas" charted several times as a single, where it peaked at #18 in 1996, #39 in 1997, and 1998, #37 in 1999, and #35 in 2000. In 2004, a CD single of this song was packaged with Jeff Foxworthy's book, There's No Place Like (a Mobile) Home for the Holidays. - In an episode of The Magic School BusThe Magic School Bus (TV series)The Magic School Bus is an American Saturday morning animated television series based on the book series of the same name by Joanna Cole. It is notable for its use of celebrity talent and combining entertainment with an educational show, according to an article in Animation World Magazine by...
, "The Family Holiday Special" (Episode 39, first aired on 25 December 1996) —during a trip to a recycling plant that belongs to Murph (Dolly Parton) —Ms. Valerie Frizzle (Lily Tomlin) activates the bus's un-recycler, taking the class and Murph on a song-filled field trip, in which they sing a parody of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" with the traditional gifts replaced by recyclable objects and "true love" replaced by "teacher." This was the last episode broadcast on PBS (on 25 September 1998). - In HogfatherHogfatherHogfather is the 20th Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, and a 1997 British Fantasy Award nominee.The Hogfather is also a character in the book, representing something akin to Father Christmas. He grants children's wishes on Hogswatchnight and brings them presents...
by Terry PratchettTerry PratchettSir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
, Mustrum Ridcully sings - On the second day of Hogswatch, I sent my true love back | A nasty little letter, hah, yes indeed | And a partridge in a pear tree.
1997
- Elmo's 12 Days of Christmas by Sarah Albee, illustrated by Maggie Swanson (Little Golden Storybook / Children's Television Workshop, 1997) is another Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
-themed reinterpretation of the "The Twelve Days of Christmas." "Three French friends, two yummy cookies..." In 1999, this book was released as a Sesame Street Jellybean Book.
1998
- In 1998, the How Ya Doin' Boys recorded "The Twelve Days of a Guido's Christmas" on their album "How Ya Doin' Yanks?"
- In 1998, Natalie ColeNatalie ColeNatalie Maria Cole , is an American singer, songwriter and performer. The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, Cole rode to musical success in the mid-1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be ", "Inseparable" and "Our Love"...
released a version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas," in which she began to parody the song with the ninth day, and sang the last verse (twelfth day) with the total number of gifts for each day (12 lords a-leaping, 22 ladies dancing, 30 pipers piping, etc.).
1999
- On the 23rd of December, Blizzard EntertainmentBlizzard EntertainmentBlizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher founded on February 8, 1991 under the name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of UCLA, Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce and currently owned by French company Activision Blizzard...
released the map The 12 days of StarcraftStarCraftStarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...
, with accompanying tune sang by the characters of the game.
2001
- In 12 Tiny Christmas Tales (TV 2001), a grandmother tells three children some Yuletide tales in Christmas cartoon by Bill Plympton. The stories include a horror-story retelling of "The Twelve Days of Christmas," depicting only days 1–6, primarily featuring birds, who become such a nuisance that the singer decides, after six geese a-laying, to kill all the birds and later eat them for dinner, to the horror of two of the children and the hungry delight of the third.
2002
- In an episode of Comedy CentralComedy CentralComedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
's animated television series South ParkSouth ParkSouth Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
, "Red Sleigh DownRed Sleigh Down"Red Sleigh Down" is episode 96 of the Comedy Central series South Park. It originally aired on December 11, 2002. The episode is notable for the return of Kenny from his death in Season Five...
" (Episode 96, first aired on 12 December 2002), Jimmy performs the song at the annual tree-lighting ceremony. Due to his stutter, it takes him all episode to finish the song. - As part of NickelodeonNickelodeon (TV channel)Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
's Christmas promotional spots parodying classic Christmas specials, one segment, The 12 Days of Nickmas, featured a parody of the song being sung by characters from the channel's animated series, including SpongeBob SquarePantsSpongeBob SquarePantsSpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series, created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. Much of the series centers on the exploits and adventures of the title character and his various friends in the underwater city of "Bikini Bottom"...
, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, The Wild ThornberrysThe Wild ThornberrysThe Wild Thornberrys is an American animated television series that aired on Nickelodeon. It was rerun in the USA on Nickelodeon and occasionally The N until 2009 and Nicktoons until 2007...
, As Told By GingerAs Told by GingerAs Told by Ginger is an American teen drama animated series that was produced by Klasky-Csupo and aired on Nickelodeon from 2000 to 2009. The series focuses on a middle schooler Ginger Foutley who, with her friends, tries to become more than a social geek. There are many subplots that focus on...
, The Fairly OddParentsThe Fairly OddParentsThe Fairly OddParents is an American-Canadian animated television series created by Butch Hartman about the adventures of Timmy Turner, who is granted fairy godparents named Cosmo and Wanda. The series started out as cartoon segments that ran from September 4, 1998 to March 23, 2001 on Oh Yeah!...
, Rocket PowerRocket PowerRocket Power is an American animated television series that aired on Nickelodeon.-Premise:Rocket Power involves the daily situations of a group of best friends named Oswald "Otto" Rocket, Regina "Reggie" Rocket, Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez, and Sam "Squid" Dullard, as they live in the fictional...
, and Hey Arnold!Hey Arnold!Hey Arnold! is an American animated television series created by Craig Bartlett for Nickelodeon. The show's premise focuses on a fourth grader named Arnold who lives with his grandparents. Episodes center on his experiences navigating big city life while dealing with the problems he and his friends...
2003
- Who Is Stealing the Twelve Days of Christmas? by Martha Freeman (Holiday House, 2003) was inspired by the song. Every Christmas since Alex can remember, his family and neighbors have filled their front yards with decorations from each of the twelve days mentioned in the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas," but this year someone is stealing them one by one.
- Relient K's Deck the Halls, Bruise Your HandDeck the Halls, Bruise Your HandDeck the Halls, Bruise Your Hand is the first Christmas album released by Christian rock band Relient K. It was released in many stores as a combo pack with later copies of their previous full-length album, Two Lefts Don't Make a Right...but Three Do....
, featuring the song "12 Days of Christmas" is released, later reaching #60 on the iTunes Top 100 Chart in 2006.
2004
- The Twelve Days of Christmas Eve (TV 2004) was a made-for-TV movie in which Calvin Carter (played by Steven WeberSteven Weber (actor)Steven Robert Weber is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the television show Wings which aired throughout the 1990s on NBC.-Early life:...
) is a successful business executive who has it all, but neglects those closest to him. On Christmas EveChristmas EveChristmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
, all that changes when the sign on his office building falls on him. He awakens in a hospital bed, attended by Angie (played by Molly ShannonMolly ShannonMolly Helen Shannon is an American comic actress best known for her work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1995–2001 and for starring in the films Superstar and Year of the Dog. More recently, she starred in NBC's Kath & Kim from 2008–2009 and on the TBS animated series Neighbors from...
), an angelAngelAngels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
in the guise of a nurse, who informs him know he has twelve days—that is, twelve chances—to get his act together and achieve the "perfect" Christmas Eve, else there will be dire consequences. This movie is a mix of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (song), Groundhog Day (film)Groundhog Day (film)Groundhog Day is a 1993 American comedy film directed by Harold Ramis, starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. It was written by Ramis and Danny Rubin, based on a story by Rubin....
, and A Christmas CarolA Christmas CarolA Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens first published by Chapman & Hall on 17 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visits of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of...
.
- On the December 18, 2004 broadcast of A Prairie Home CompanionA Prairie Home CompanionA Prairie Home Companion is a live radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor. The show runs on Saturdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Central Time, and usually originates from the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota, although it is frequently taken on the road...
, The Twelve Days of Christmas was performed by Garrison KeillorGarrison KeillorGary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio personality. He is known as host of the Minnesota Public Radio show A Prairie Home Companion Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio...
and Tom KeithTom KeithThomas Alan Keith was a radio personality who worked for Minnesota Public Radio in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was the engineer for Garrison Keillor when he began his early morning radio show from the St. John's University Collegeville studio...
with Keillor singing the lyrics but with Keith providing sound effects for all of the gifts but the five golden rings (which was sung traditionally by a choir and by the audience).
- On 24 December 2004, LoadingReadyRunLoadingReadyRunLoadingReadyRun, often abbreviated to LRR, is a Canadian sketch comedy website, based in Victoria, British Columbia, founded by Graham Stark and Paul Saunders...
(LRR) released the video, 2004 Holiday Special, which featured "The Twelve Geeky Days of Christmas," as sung by the LRR crew, in which the gifts relate to computers and video games. This parody was written by Graham Stark and Paul Saunders.
2005
- The First Day of Winter by Denise Fleming (Henry Holt & Co., 2005) is a riff on the popular holiday song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas." The picture book is narrated by a snowman, who receives all sorts of wintry necessities for the first 10 days of winter, beginning on December 21. It was named a Kirkus Reviews Best Children's Book for 2005.
- In her act, Las VegasLas Vegas, NevadaLas Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
entertainer Fay McKayFay McKayFay McKay was an American entertainer. She spent the majority of her career in Las Vegas.Born as Fayetta Gelinas in Manchester, New Hampshire, she won the 1951 Ted Mack Amateur Hour award and toured with the group...
performed "The Twelve Daze of Christmas," with the conventional partridge on the first day, and then a different strong alcoholic drink for nearly all the other days: two Cutty Sarks, three Old CrowOld CrowOld Crow is a low-priced brand of Kentucky-made straight bourbon whiskey, along with the slightly higher quality, but still inexpensive Old Crow Reserve brand. It is distilled by Beam Inc., which also produces Jim Beam and several other brands of bourbon whiskey...
s, four Old FitzgeraldOld FitzgeraldOld Fitzgerald is a brand of sour mash bourbon currently distilled in Louisville, Kentucky by Heaven Hill Distilleries, Inc. Beginning in 1870, Old Fitzgerald was first produced for rail and steamship lines and private clubs primarily located in the south by John E. Fitzgerald in Frankfort,...
s, etc. She started the song sounding sober and ending up sounding extremely inebriated and disoriented. McKay performed this parody of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" throughout her career, which began in 1951, but it was not until 2005 that a film of her performing the song was first released as part of the documentary, Lost Vegas: The Lounge Era.
2006
- Twisted SisterTwisted SisterTwisted Sister is an American heavy metal band from Long Island. Musically, the band implements elements of traditional heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, along with a style that is similar to early glam metal bands...
made a parody named "Heavy Metal Christmas" in their album A Twisted ChristmasA Twisted ChristmasA Twisted Christmas is a Christmas album from US heavy metal group Twisted Sister, released on October 17, 2006. The album features classic Christmas songs performed in Heavy metal versions.-Track listing:...
.
2007
- In 2007, a YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
viral videoViral phenomenonViral phenomena are objects or patterns able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them....
of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" by the undergraduate a cappellaA cappellaA cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
group Straight No ChaserStraight No Chaser (a cappella group)Straight No Chaser is the name of two related but separate a cappella men's singing groups. The Indiana University group is composed of 10 to 12 undergraduate men whose lineup changes every year. The professional group, known simply as Straight No Chaser, is composed of former members, mostly...
included the group's failure to be able to count the 12 days, and interspersed snippets of other traditional Christmas songs, as well as "I Have a Little DreidelI Have a Little Dreidel"I Have a Little Dreidel" is a Chanukah song in the English speaking world, and also has an Yiddish version. This children's tune is about making a dreidel and playing with it...
" and TotoToto (band)Toto is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1977. The group currently consists of Joseph Williams , David Paich , Steve Porcaro , Steve Lukather , Mike Porcaro , and Simon Phillips . Toto is known for a musical style that combines elements of pop, rock, soul, funk, progressive rock, hard...
's "Africa." This, in turn, was a rearrangement based on Richard Gregory's 1968 arrangement of the song.
2008
- "12 Days of Christmas Sing Along" (DVD 2008) was released by DreamWorks as a bonus feature extra on the Shrek the HallsShrek the HallsShrek the Halls is a television special that premiered on the American television network ABC on Wednesday, November 28, 2007. The thirty minute Christmas special included the following: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and Antonio Banderas reprising their roles from the feature films. The...
DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
(released on 4 November 2008). (Shrek the Halls premiered on ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
on 28 November 2007 as an animated TV special.) The short film employs footage from The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas CaperThe Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas CaperThe Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper is a computer-animated short produced by DreamWorks Animation. The 12-minute Madagascar spin-off features the adventures of four penguins, sometimes known as the Madagascar Penguins, who live in the Central Park Zoo and are trained as spies.The short...
. - A program hosted by Tom ArnoldTom Arnold (actor)Thomas Dwaine "Tom" Arnold is an American actor and comedian. He has appeared in many films, perhaps most notably True Lies . He was the host of The Best Damn Sports Show Period for four years.-Early life:...
, The 12 Days of Redneck Christmas, which takes a look at Christmas traditions, premiered on CMTCMT- Medicine :* California mastitis test* Certified Massage Therapist* Cervical motion tenderness, a sign of pelvic inflammatory disease* Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease* Chemically modified tetracyclines* Circus Movement Tachycardia...
in 2008. The theme music is "The Twelve Days of Christmas." - Bela Fleck and the FlecktonesBéla Fleck and the FlecktonesBéla Fleck and the Flecktones is a primarily instrumental group from the United States, that draws equally on bluegrass, fusion and jazz, sometimes dubbed "blu-bop". The band formed in 1988, initially to perform once on the PBS series Lonesome Pine Specials. The Flecktones have toured extensively...
recorded a version of the song on their album Jingle All The Way. Each day is performed in a different time signatureTime signatureThe time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
and a different key signatureKey signatureIn musical notation, a key signature is a series of sharp or flat symbols placed on the staff, designating notes that are to be consistently played one semitone higher or lower than the equivalent natural notes unless otherwise altered with an accidental...
.
2009
- A Piñata in a Pine Tree: A Latino Twelve Days of Christmas, by Pat Mora (Clarion Books, September 2009), provides a festive Latino twist on "The Twelve Days of Christmas," populating it with piñatas in place of partridges, plus burritos bailando (dancing donkeys), lunitas cantando (singing moons), and much more. In this version, a little girl receives gifts from a secret amiga, whose identity is a sweet surprise at the book's conclusion. There are things to find and count in Spanish on every page, with pronunciations provided right in the pictures and a glossary and music following the story.
- In the U.S. version of The Office's 2009 Christmas episode (season 6, episode 13), Secret SantaSecret Santa (The Office)"Secret Santa" is the 13th episode of the sixth season of the U.S. comedy series The Office and the show's 113th episode overall. It was written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Randall Einhorn...
, Andy BernardAndy BernardAndrew "Andy" Baines Bernard is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. The character is highly insecure, yet egotistical, constantly mentioning his education at Cornell University...
gives his crush, Erin HannonErin HannonKelly Erin Hannon is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. She is the office receptionist for the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin, a position previously held by Pam Halpert before she left the company. Erin is played by Ellie Kemper...
, a literal series of gifts following the lyrics of the carol. She is not happy and addresses to the office whoever is her Secret SantaSecret SantaSecret Santa is a Western Christmas tradition, in which members of a group or community are randomly assigned a person to whom they anonymously give a gift. Often practiced in workplaces, or amongst large families, participation in it is usually voluntary...
should stop giving these gifts because of injuries caused by the wild animals. The episode concludes with Andy admitting it was he who sent the anonymous gifts leading a parade of twelve marching drummers. - The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
couch gag for Pranks and GreensPranks and Greens"Pranks and Greens" is the sixth episode of the twenty first season of The Simpsons. It aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 22, 2009. In this episode, Bart tracks down an immature, college-aged man named Andy Hamilton who was once hailed Springfield Elementary's best prankster...
had a modified version of this song. - TV commercials for Best BuyBest BuyBest Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...
and the iPhone 3GIPhone 3GThe iPhone 3G is the second generation of iPhone designed and marketed by Apple Inc.. It was the successor to the original iPhone, and is succeeded by the iPhone 3GS. Introduced on June 9, 2008 at the WWDC 2008 at the Moscone Center, San Francisco...
sang the song with modified lyrics. - Team Four Star parodied the song for their series, Dragonball Z Abridged, with a version called 12 Days of DBZAbridgedmas.
2010
- The album Phineas and Ferb Holiday Favorites has a version in which the cast of the animated series Phineas and FerbPhineas and FerbPhineas and Ferb is an American animated television comedy series. Originally broadcast as a preview on August 17, 2007, on Disney Channel, the series follows Phineas Flynn and his English stepbrother Ferb Fletcher on summer vacation. Every day the boys embark on some grand new project, which...
list the things they want Santa Claus to bring them. Over the course of the song, Dr. Doofenshmirtz gradually tries to change his wish, and CandaceCandace FlynnCandace Gertrude Flynn is a main character of the popular Disney Channel animated television series Phineas and Ferb, voiced by Ashley Tisdale and created and designed by Dan Povenmire. She acts as the main antagonist of the series in her endless attempts to "bust" her brothers, but in some...
gets increasingly frustrated with not receiving hers (having her brothers get busted), eventually shouting, "Ah, forget it!" at the end of the song. The wishes are as follows in the song:- 12. One line of dialogue (sung by FerbFerb FletcherFerb Fletcher is the deuteragonist from the animated television series Phineas and Ferb. The character, voiced by British actor Thomas Sangster, was created by Phineas and Ferb co-founders Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh and first appeared in the show's pilot episode, "Rollercoaster."Ferb and...
(Thomas SangsterThomas SangsterThomas Brodie Sangster is an English film and television actor, best known for his roles in Love Actually, Nanny McPhee, The Last Legion, and voice of Ferb Fletcher in Phineas and Ferb.-Personal life:...
}) - 11. Her own set of wheels {sung by Vanessa (Olivia OlsonOlivia OlsonOlivia Olson is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She is known for her role of Joanna, singing "All I Want For Christmas Is You" in Love Actually , and for her voice-roles as Vanessa Doofenshmirtz in Phineas and Ferb and as Marceline the Vampire Queen in Adventure Time with Finn and...
)} - 10. A job that pays him money (sung by Carl (Tyler Mann))
- 9. His platypus chirp (sung by PerryPerry the PlatypusPerry the Platypus, also known as Agent P or simply Perry is an anthropomorphic platypus from the animated television series Phineas and Ferb. Perry is voiced by Dee Bradley Baker and created by the series' co-founders, Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh...
(Dee Bradley BakerDee Bradley BakerDee Bradley Baker is an American voice actor. He is noted as his long-running-role as Klaus Heissler in American Dad! and other various characters including Squilliam Fancyson in the hit TV series SpongeBob SquarePants, Nightcrawler in X-Men: Legends and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance...
)) - 8. Promotion to colonel (sung by Major Monogram (Jeff "Swampy" Marsh))
- 7. More nerds to bully (sung by Buford (Bobby GaylorBobby GaylorRobert "Bobby" Gaylor is a writer, actor, voice actor, producer, director, spoken word artist & former stand-up comic. He was raised in Boston and moved to L.A.to write for Roseanne Barr's television show "Roseanne"...
)) - 6. A kiss from a girl (sung by Baljeet (Maulik PancholyMaulik PancholyMaulik Pancholy is an American actor. He is best known for his recurring role as Sanjay on Weeds from 2005 to present, and his role as Jonathan on 30 Rock, which he has played since the show began in 2006....
)} - 5. The entire Tri-State Area (sung by Dr. Doofenshmirtz (Dan PovenmireDan PovenmireDaniel Kingsley "Dan" Povenmire is an American television director, writer, producer, storyboard artist, and actor associated with several animated television series, best known as the co-creator of the Disney animated series Phineas and Ferb in which he also voices the show's villain, Heinz...
), but later in the song, asks for one single state, promotion to colonel, and almond brittle, as well as going on a rant between his pressure for his wish and singing the original line, Five Gold Rings) - 4. A silver guitar (sung by Jeremy (Mitchel MussoMitchel MussoMitchel Tate Musso is an American actor, singer-songwriter and musician. Musso is best known for his three Disney Channel roles as Oliver Oken in the Disney Channel sitcom, Hannah Montana, Jeremy Johnson in the Disney Channel animated series Phineas and Ferb and his role as King Brady in the...
)) - 3. A sash full of patches (sung by Isabella (Alyson StonerAlyson StonerAlyson Rae Stoner is an American actress, dancer and singer. Stoner is known for her roles in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody , Cheaper By The Dozen and Cheaper By The Dozen 2 , Step Up and Step Up 3 , and Camp Rock and Camp Rock 2...
)) - 2. Two busted brothers (referring to Phineas and Ferb Get BustedPhineas and Ferb Get Busted"Phineas and Ferb Get Busted," broadcast outside the United States and Canada as "At Last," is the forty-fifth broadcast episode of the animated television series Phineas and Ferb. The episode aired in the United States as the premiere of the show's second season on February 16, 2009...
) (sung by CandaceCandace FlynnCandace Gertrude Flynn is a main character of the popular Disney Channel animated television series Phineas and Ferb, voiced by Ashley Tisdale and created and designed by Dan Povenmire. She acts as the main antagonist of the series in her endless attempts to "bust" her brothers, but in some...
(Ashley TisdaleAshley TisdaleAshley Michelle Tisdale is an American actress and singer who rose to prominence portraying the candy-counter girl Maddie Fitzpatrick in Disney Channel's The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and the female antagonist Sharpay Evans in the High School Musical film series...
)) - 1. A jet-powered rocket ski (sung by PhineasPhineas FlynnPhineas Flynn is the main protagonist of the animated television series Phineas and Ferb. Voiced by Vincent Martella and created and designed by Dan Povenmire, Phineas first appeared along with the rest of the series' main characters in the pilot episode "Rollercoaster." Phineas, along with his...
(Vincent MartellaVincent MartellaVincent Michael Martella is an American teen actor and singer. He is best known for his role as Greg Wuliger on the UPN/CW sitcom Everybody Hates Chris, and for the voice of Phineas Flynn in Disney Channel's original animated show Phineas and Ferb...
}}
- 12. One line of dialogue (sung by Ferb
- Online English and Esperanto version with simple melody score for all verses (as jpegs or pdf): "The Twelve Days of Christmas / La Dek Du Tagoj de Kristnasko."
- In The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode "The Fight Before Christmas," where a "MuppetThe Muppet ShowThe Muppet Show is a British television programme produced by American puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on 5 September 1976 and five series were produced until 15 March 1981, lasting 120 episodes...
"-like Simpson family with Katy PerryKaty PerryKaty Perry is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Born in Santa Barbara, California, and raised by Christian pastor parents, Perry grew up listening to only gospel music and sang in her local church as a child. After earning a GED during her first year of high school, she began to pursue a...
sang their version of the song, "39 days of Christmas Days." - In the episode Big Time Christmas they try to sing a version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" with Snoop DoggSnoop DoggCalvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. , better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school...
. - In Sonny with a chanceSonny With a ChanceSonny with a Chance is an American children's sitcom which aired on Disney Channel, created by Steve Marmel, that follows the experiences of teenager Sonny Munroe, portrayed by Demi Lovato, who becomes the newest accepted cast member of her favorite live comedy show, So Random!.The series debuted...
,Sonny (Demi LovatoDemi Lovato"She’s got the range, the full emotional spectrum, incredible control… Vocally, she’s the best thing Disney’s had since Christina Aguilera."—Producer Toby Gad on Demi Lovato's vocals...
) sings a parody of this song with a sick accent, as her character, in a special Christmas chapter with Joe JonasJoe JonasJoseph Adam "Joe" Jonas is a Pop American singer, musician, actor, and dancer. He is a member of the Jonas Brothers, a pop-rock band made up of him and his two brothers, Nick and Kevin...
.
External links
- Free online simple melody score for all verses (as jpegs or pdf) in English and Esperanto: "The Twelve Days of Christmas / La Dek Du Tagoj de Kristnasko".