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The Twelve Days of Christmas

[ Roud 68 ; G/D 3:637 ; Ballad Index FO213 ; Wiltshire 500 ; DT XMAS12DY ; Mudcat 12518 ; trad.]

J. Collingwood Bruce, John Stokoe: Northumbrian Minstrelsy Bob Copper: Early to Rise The Copper Family Song Book Paul & Liz Davenport: Down Yorkshire Lanes Inglis Gundry: Canow Kernow Cecil J. Sharp: One Hundred English Folksongs

The Twelve Days of Christmas is a song from the repertoire of the Copper Family. Bob and Ron Copper sang it in a Peter Kennedy recording on Folk Song Today (1955) and on Songs of Ceremony (The Folk Songs of Britain Volume 9, Caedmon 1961; Topic 1970). In his song book of 1936 Jim Copper called this song Christmas Presents, and this title has been used for the reissue of Bob and Ron Copper’s 1950s recording on the 2007 CD Coppers at Christmas.

Isla St Clair, Martin Carthy and others sang The Twelve Days of Christmas in 1982 on the video 70 Golden Nursery Rhymes.

John Kirkpatrick et al. sang The Twelve Days of Christmas on the Folkworks project and subsequent 1998 Fellside CD Wassail!. He noted:

The giving of gifts at Midwinter has been going on since ancient times. So has the singing of daft songs as memory tests and tongue twisters, of which this is a fine example. I can’t help thinking that the words may originally have been a recipe for one of those feasts where each bird is stuffed inside a larger one, but I accept that this theory doesn’t hold water once we get to nine lads a-leaping, even though it might explain their eagerness to keep on the move. This slightly unusual list of presents comes from the repertoire of the Copper family of Rottingdean, Sussex.

Bill Barclay sang an increasingly drunk The Twelve Days of Christmas on the 2002 Greentrax anthology Bah! Humbug.

The McCalmans sang The Twelve Folk Days of Christmas in 2006 on their Greentrax album Scots Abroad. This track was included in 2010 on their anthology The Greentrax Year.

Fiona Mackenzie sang Air a chiadh latha den Nollaig (Twelve Days of Christmas) in 2007 on her Gaelic Christmas album Duan Nollaig .

Nowell Sing We Clear sang The Twelve Days of Christmas in 2008 on their CD Nowell Nowell Nowell. They noted:

This version is from the Copper Family of Rottingdean in Sussex with our own arrangement inspired by a treatment on John Kirkpatrick’s 1997 “Wassail” tour of Northern England.

Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker sang The Twelve Days of Christmas in 2013 on their CD Midwinter.

This video shows Twelfth Day singing The Twelve Days of Christmas in the winter of 2020/21:

Lyrics

John Kirkpatrick et al sing The Twelve Days of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me
A partridge in a pear tree.

On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the third day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Three french hens,
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Four canary birds,
Three french hens,
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Five gold rings,
Four canary birds,
Three french hens,
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Six geese a-laying,
Five gold rings,
Four canary birds,
Three french hens,
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five gold rings,
Four canary birds,
Three french hens,
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Eight deers a-running,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five gold rings,
Four canary birds,
Three french hens,
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Nine lads a-leaping,
Eight deers a-running,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five gold rings,
Four canary birds,
Three french hens,
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Ten ladies skipping,
Nine lads a-leaping,
Eight deers a-running,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five gold rings,
Four canary birds,
Three french hens,
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Eleven bears a-baiting,
Ten ladies skipping,
Nine lads a-leaping,
Eight deers a-running,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five gold rings,
Four canary birds,
Three french hens,
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Twelve parsons preaching,
Eleven bears a-baiting,
Ten ladies skipping,
Nine lads a-leaping,
Eight deers a-running,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five gold rings,
Four canary birds,
Three french hens,
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.

Links

Donald E. Knuth: The Complexity of Songs