Hello. I'm Gill at engVid, and today we're going to be looking at a song, and it's a
Christmas song. So, Christmas in the UK, Christmas Day is the 25th of December, but the Christmas
period is longer than just one day. There are different versions and different traditions,
but one tradition is that there are 12 days of Christmas. So, in that tradition the 12
days of Christmas run from the 25th of December through to the 5th of January, and the 5th
of January is known as 12th night. Okay, and it's the time, the date when you start taking
down all the Christmas decorations, get rid of the tree if you had a tree, put things
away, get back to normal again, Christmas is over.
So... But this song has come out of that 12-day tradition, and it's quite a funny song because
some... It's about somebody who sends his girlfriend a present on each day of the 12
days of Christmas. But it's not just one present each time, it's... It's the present for that
day, but also all the presents from the previous day as well, so it's sort of... It's a huge
number of presents and it's impossible, really, for it to happen, but this is it. So, when
I say: "12 days of Christmas", of course people joke about Christmas starting around October
because if you walk into a supermarket in the UK, probably in other countries as well
where Christmas is celebrated, the supermarkets often put their Christmas things out in October,
and you go in and you see mince pies, Christmas cards for sale, and Christmas puddings, and:
"Oh no, not Christmas already and it's only October", so Christmas sometimes feels like
12 weeks, not 12 days, but anyway, this song limits it to 12 days. So let's have a look
So, it begins... And I will teach you the tune as well in a minute. It begins: "On the
first day of Christmas my true love sent to me a Partridge in a Pear Tree." So, a partridge
is a kind of bird, okay; and a pear tree, a tree which grows pears obviously. Okay,
so that's the first day. Just one present. But then by the second day: "On the 2nd day
of Christmas my true love sent to me 2 Turtle Doves", that's two more birds, doves, "and
a Partridge in a Pear Tree". So, now the recipient... The person receiving the gifts has two pear
trees with two partridges and two turtle doves by the end of day two. Okay?
So, this is a song, so at this point I think I need to sing you how it sounds so far. So,
here we go: "On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me a Partridge in a Pear
Tree. On the 2nd day of Christmas my true love sent to me 2 Turtle Doves and a Partridge
in a Pear Tree." Okay, so that's how it goes. It's quite repetitive. It's the same tune
all the way through, basically, but I'll sing it again as we go through, as the song gets
longer and longer. And you'll see also that this is quite a useful song for learning the
numbers when you say: "First, 2nd, 3rd" because in English when you put the number and "nd"
or "3rd", "4" and then after... From 4 onwards you have "th", but can see the "st", when
you have "first" you put "1st", "second, 2nd; third, 3rd", and then "fourth, 4th". So this
song helps you with those numbers as well.
Okay, so the 3rd day... "On the 3rd day of Christmas my true love sent to me 3 French
Hens", so more birds. Lots of birds flying around. 3 French hens, whatever French hens
are, I'm not sure, but there we are. So, third day the person receives three French hens,
two turtle doves, and another partridge in a pear tree, so all of these things are adding
up. Okay. Fourth day, are you ready? Are you still with me? So: "On the 4th day of Christmas
my true love sent to me 4 Calling Birds". So, more birds, calling. The birds that make
calling sounds. "4 Calling Birds, 3 French Hens, 2 Turtle Doves, and a Partridge in a
So, the fifth day, this line is a little bit different because it sort of slows down and
there's a bit of a pause, so it's a good place to breathe a bit. So: "On the 5th day of Christmas
my true love sent to me 5 Gold Rings." So, that's a bit slower and you can take your
time over that. "5 Gold Rings, 4 Calling Birds, 3 French Hens, 2 Turtle Doves, and a Partridge
in a Pear Tree." So, okay, and so it goes on. So you get the idea of how the song works.
So, I will now just go through the words for the remainder of the lines and then perhaps
you'd like to join in with me, and when we sing the whole thing right through from the
12th going backwards. Okay, so the 6th day: "6 Geese a-Laying", geese, goose,
geese, birds again. This "a" that appears, we have... It comes a few times. You can ignore
it, really. It's just a way of filling in an extra syllable just to make it work in
terms of the rhythm, so don't worry about it. It's geese laying, geese laying eggs,
because when geese produce, when birds produce their eggs it's called "laying, to lay an
egg". To lay an egg. Okay? So: "6 Geese a-Laying". The 7th day "7 Swans"-another bird-"a-Swimming",
so the swans, lovely white birds on water, they're just swimming along, looking every
elegant as they usually do. Okay.
The 8th day... Now, we've got some people now coming into it. That's the end of all
the birds, now it's people. So: "8 Maids a-Milking", maids are young women, and they're milking...
Milking a cow to get the milk out of the cow. Okay? So they're milkmaids, they're working
in the dairy, producing from the cow. So: "8 Maids a-Milking". The 9th day there are
"9 Ladies Dancing", so that's simple. The 10th day: "10 Lords a-Leaping", so lords are
sort of aristocratic men, upper class. "Leaping" is another word for jumping, so they're leaping
around, jumping about. So, it sort of balances with the ladies dancing, the ladies are dancing,
the lords are leaping. Okay. The 11th day we get "Pipers Piping", so a musician with
a pipe, either this... That goes this way or that way like a flute. Pipers piping. What
else do pipers do? They pipe, they play the pipe. Okay. And then finally: "12 Drummers
Drumming", so they have their drums, they're drumming on their drums. Okay.
So, are you ready, then, to join in with me to sing the whole song? Okay? So, let's go.
"On the 12th day of Christmas my true love sent to me 12 Drummers Drumming, 11 Pipers
Piping, 10 Lords a-Leaping, 9 Ladies Dancing, 8 Maids a-Milking, 7 Swans a-Swimming, 6 Geese
a-Laying, 5 Gold Rings, 4 Calling Birds, 3 French Hens, 2 Turtle Doves, and a Partridge
There we are. So, that's the song. I hope you've enjoyed it, and I hope it's been useful
for learning the numbers and also perhaps some unfamiliar vocabulary. So, please go
to the website where there's a quiz on this subject, www.engvid.com and please subscribe
to my channel if you've enjoyed this lesson, and see you again soon. Okay, bye.