Winter Wonderland

By:Richard B. Smith, Felix Bernard · Source Recording: Rhonda Vincent (2006)Song details

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Sleigh bells ring are you listening
In the lane snow is glistening
A beautiful sight we're happy tonight
Walkin' in a winter wonderland

Gone away is the bluebird
Here to stay is a new bird
He sings a love song as we go along
Walkin' in a winter wonderland

In the meadow we can build a snowman
Then pretend that he is Parson Brown
He'll say are you married we'll say no man
But you can do the job when you're in town

Later on we'll conspire
As we dream by the fire
To face unafraid the plans that we've made
Walking in a winter wonderland

In the meadow we can build a snowman
And pretend that he's a circus clown
We'll have lots of fun with mister snowman
Until the other kiddies knock him down

When it snows ain't it thrillin'
Though your nose gets a-chillin'
We'll frolic and play the Eskimo way
Walking in a winter wonderland

Tempo BPM

Key Bb

Verse

Chorus

100%

By:Richard B. Smith, Felix Bernard · Source Recording:Rhonda Vincent (2006)

Song Details

Songwriter

Richard B. SmithFelix Bernard

First Release

Richard Himber and His Ritz-Carlton Orchestra (1934)

Genres

Holidays

Themes

Weather Seasons In Love

Jam Popularity

History

Felix Bernard wrote the music and Richard B. Smith the words of “Winter Wonderland” in 1934. Smith, from Honesdale, Pennsylvania, is said to have had his hometown’s Central Park under snow in mind, and wrote the words while being treated for tuberculosis at a sanitarium in Scranton; he died of the disease in September 1935, at thirty-three. Richard Himber’s orchestra made the first recording that October, with Joey Nash singing the refrain. The song is about a winter romance rather than Christmas — a couple walking in the snow, building a snowman and making plans by the fire — and a 1947 printing added a version for children, turning the snowman from a parson into a circus clown. In 2007 ASCAP named it the most-played holiday song written by one of its members.