Ooooh.... And I keep meaning to post (again) about the whole "12 Days of Christmas" song (again)...
I remember a few years ago trying to put together a small carolling book for a group. Since there are always songs in one book that are not in another, we were compiling our own from various sources. Well, when it came time for "The 12 Days of Christmas", we found at least four(!) different versions. One had only "nine ladies dancing", while one had "nine lords a leaping". Another had "ten drummers drumming", while the other one had "eleven drummers drumming". -You get the picture. We just kept singing each version over and over to see which one seemed the most familiary to our ears and brain.
*Oh, and just last night, the local public radio station played a song called, "The 12 Steps of Christmas". I need to find that recording! Made me laugh out loud.