- [Narrator] 'Twas the day before Christmas,
and all through the hills, the reindeer were playing,
enjoying the spills.
Of skating and coasting, and climbing the willows,
and hopscotch and leapfrog, protected by pillows.
Well every so often, they'd stop to call names
at one little deer not allowed in their games.
Haha look at Rudolph, his nose is a sight.
It's red as a beet, twice as big, twice as bright.
Well Rudolph just wept, what else could he do?
He knew the things that they were saying were true.
Where most reindeer's noses are brownish and tiny,
poor Rudolph's was red, very large and quite shiny.
In daylight it dazzled, the picture shows that.
At night time it glowed like the eyes of a cat.
And putting dirt on it just made it look muddy.
Oh boy was he made when they nicknamed him Ruddy.
Although he was lonesome, he always was good,
obeying his parents as good reindeer should.
That's why on this day Rudolph almost felt playful.
He hoped that from Santa, soon driving his sleighful
of presents and candy, dollies and toys
for good little animals, good girls and boys.
He'd get just as much and this is what pleased him
as the happier, handsomer reindeer who teased him.
As night and a fog hid the world like a hood,
he went to bed hopeful, he knew he'd been good.
While way, way up North on this same foggy night
old Santa was packing his sleigh for its flight.
This fog he complained will be hard to get through.
He shook his round head and his tummy shook too.
Without any stars or a moon as a compass,
this extra dark night is quite likely to swamp us.
To keep from collisions, we'll have to fly slow,
to keep our direction we'll have to fly low.
We'll steer by the streetlamps and houses tonight
in order to finish before it gets light.
Just think how the boys and girls faith would be shaken
if we didn't reach them before they awaken.
Come Dasher, come Dancer, come Prancer and Vixen,
come Comet, come Cupid, come Donner and Blitzen.
Be quick with your suppers, get hitched in a hurry.
You too will find a fog, a delay and a worry.
And Santa was right as he usually is.
The fog was a thick as a soda's white fizz.
Just not getting lost required all Santa's skill
with street signs and numbers more difficult still.
He tangled in treetops again and again
and barely missed hitting a trimotored plane.
He still made good speed with much twisting and turning
as long as the streetlamps and houselights were burning.
At each house first noting the people who lived there
he'd quickly select the right presents to give there.
By midnight however, the last light had fled
for even big people have them gone to bed.
Because it might wake them, a match was denied him.
Oh my how he wished for just one star to guide him.
Through dark streets and houses, old Santa fared poorly.
He now picked the presents more slowly, less surely.
He really was worried for what would he do
if folks started waking before he was through?
The air was still foggy, the night dark and drear
when Santa arrived at the home of the deer.
A ledge that he tripped on while seeking the chimney
gave Santa a spill and a painfully skinned knee.
The room he came down in was blacker than ink.
He went for a chair and then found it a sink.
The first reindeer bedroom was so very black,
he tripped on the rug and fell flat on his back.
So dark that he had to move close to the bed
and squint very hard on the sleeping deer's head
before he could chose the right kind of toy.
A doll for a girl or a train for a boy.
But all this took time and filled Santa with gloom.
While slowly he groped toward the next reindeer's room.
The door he just opened when to his surprise,
a dim but quite definite light met his eyes.
The light wasn't burning, the glow came instead
from something that lay at the head of the bed.
And there lay but wait now, what would you suppose?
The glowing you've guessed it, was Rudolph's red nose.
So this room was easy, this one little light
let Santa pick quickly the gifts that were right.
How happy he was til he went out the door.
The rest of the house was a black as before.
So black that it made every step a dark mystery
and then came the greatest idea in all history.
He went back to Rudolph and started to shake him.
Of course very gently in order to wake him.
And Rudolph could scarcely believe his own eyes.
You can just imagine his joy and surprise
at seeing who stood there so real and so near
while telling the tale we've already told here.
Poor Santa's sad tale of distress and delay,
the fog and the darkness and losing the way.
The horrible fear that some children might waken
before his complete Christmas trip had been taken.
And you, he told Rudolph, may yet save the day.
Your wonderful forehead may yet pave the way.
For a wonderful triumph, it actually might.
Old Santa you notice was extra polite.
To Rudolph regarding his wonderful forehead,
to call it a big shiny nose would sound horrid.
I need you, said Santa, to help me tonight
to lead all my deer on the rest of our flight.
And Rudolph broke out into such a big grin
it almost connected his ears and his chin.
A note for his folks he dashed off in a hurry.
I've gone to help Santa, he wrote, do not worry.
Said Santa, my sleigh I'll bring down to the lawn,
you'd stick in the chimney, and flash, he was gone.
So Rudolph pranced out through the door very gay
and took his proud place at the head of the sleigh.
The rest of the night, well what would you guess?
Old Santa's idea was a brilliant success.
And brilliant was almost no word for the way
that Rudolph directed the deer and the sleigh.
In spite of the fog, they flew quickly and low
and made such use of the wonderful glow.
From Rudolph's forehead at each intersection
that not even once did they lose their direction.
Well as soon the houses and streets with the sign on them,
they nearly flew close so that Rudolph could shine on them
to tell who lived where and just what to give whom.
They'd fly by each window and peek in the room.
Old Santa knew always which children where good
and minded their parents and ate as they should.
So Santa selected the gift that was right
while Rudolph's forehead just gave enough light.
It all went so fast that before it was day,
the very last present was given away.
The very last stocking was filled to the top
just as the sun was preparing to pop.
The sun woke the reindeer in Rudolph's hometown.
They found the short message that he'd written down.
Then gathered outside to await his return
and were they excited, astonished to learn
that Rudolph, the ugliest deer of them all,
Rudolph the red nose, bashful and small.
The funny faced fellow they'd always called names,
and practically allowed in their games,
was now to be envied by all far and near.
For no greater honor can come to a deer
than riding with Santa and guiding his sleigh.
The number one job on the number one day.
The sleigh and its reindeer soon came into view
and Rudolph still led them as downward they flew.
Oh boy was he proud as they came to a landing
right where his handsome playmates were standing.
Those bad deer who used to nothing but tease him
would now have done anything only to please him.
They felt even sorrier they had been bad
when Santa said, Rudolph I never have had
a deer quite so brave or so brilliant as you
at fighting black fog and at guiding me through.
By you last night's journey was actually bossed.
Without you I'm certain we'd all have been lost.
I hope you'll continue to keep us from grief
on future dark trips as Commander in Chief.
But Rudolph just blushed from his head to his toes
until his whole fur was as red as his nose.
The crowd first applauded them started to screech,
hooray for Rudolph and we want a speech.
But Rudolph was bashful despite being a hero
and tired, his sleep on the trip totaled zero.
So that's why his speech was just brief and not bright.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
And that's why
whenever it's foggy and grey,
it's Rudolph the red-nose who guides Santa's sleigh.
Be listening this Christmas, but don't make a peek,
'cause that late at night children should be asleep.
The very first sound that you'll hear on the roof
provided there's fog will be Rudolph's small hoof.
And soon after that if you're still as a mouse,
you may hear a swish as he flies round the house.
And gives enough light to give Santa a view
of you and your room and when they're all through,
you may hear them call as they drive out of sight,
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
(cheery music)