The Twelve Days of Christmas " The Twelve Days of Christmas " is a traditional and lengthy English Christmas carol . The song is based on the premise that the singer receives one gift per day from his or her " true love " over the 12 days immediately following Christmas Day . Each verse repeats all of the previous gifts listed ; thus , one could say that the singer receives 364 gifts total - - or one a day until next Christmas , when the process begins all over again . The Muppets have recorded five versions of the song , each lasting well over four minutes . The Muppets and John Denver . The Muppets and John Denver performed " The Twelve Days of Christmas " as the opening to the 1979 special " " . A different version was recorded for the " Christmas Together " album . The singers on the album version are : The verse distribution for the televised version is slightly different : Both versions are particularly memorable for Miss Piggy belting " Five . . . gold . . . rings ! " , and following it in the later choruses with " ba - dum - bum - bum ( which the entire cast delivers on the final verse ) . Additionally , in both versions , each Muppet joins in on John ' s " partridge in a pear tree " once they have joined the song . Sesame Street . The " Sesame Street " Muppets recorded a version of the song for the 1975 album " Merry Christmas from Sesame Street " . In this version , the lyrics were adjusted to fit the characters singing . When the album was re - released in 1995 as " A Sesame Street Christmas " , some songs were re - edited ; characters who no longer appeared on the show were replaced with new characters . Hard Head Henry Harris and Smart Tina were replaced in this song by Elmo and Telly : Plus , Mr . Snuffleupagus ' verse was rerecorded using his current performer ; Martin P . Robinson , instead of Jerry Nelson . A different version of the song was recorded in 1984 for " Sesame Street Christmas Sing - Along " , using the traditional lyrics - - except for Oscar the Grouch , who turns " four calling birds " into " four mockingbirds " . Sound effects can be heard representing the various elements , including a tweeting partridge , a mooing cow being milked , and the tapping of nine ladies dancing . The characters also make various asides - - especially Oscar , who grouses at the end that the song is finally over . In " Elmo ' s Christmas Countdown " , during Brad Paisley and Grover ' s performance of " Jingle Bells " , they sing " Five golden rings " during the instrumental . Elmo performed his own monster - filled version of the song in the book , " Elmo ' s 12 Days of Christmas " . The song was used in an HBO promo for the special " Once Upon a Sesame Street Christmas " . " Late Night with Jimmy Fallon " . The Muppets appeared on the December 23 , 2009 episode of " Late Night with Jimmy Fallon " where they performed the song with Jimmy Fallon , while The Roots , the show ' s house band , performed the music . The version was similar to the one performed with John Denver , with a couple differences in the singers and with Fozzie comically stuggling to remember his line and cue . The singers for this version were : Other . Muppet Babies . The book Jim Henson ' s Muppet Babies ' Christmas Book features a storybook adaptation of the lyrics illustrated by Tom Brannon . Baby Kermit presents Baby Piggy with the 12 days of Christmas gifts . The Muppet Show Comic Book . The closing number for the " Winter " issue of " " is a variation of the song .