"Jingle Bells", also known as "One Horse Open Sleigh", is one of the best known and commonly sung secular Christmas songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and copyrighted under the title 'One Horse Open Sleigh' on September 16, 1857. The song has been translated into many languages.

[edit] Overview

When Pierpont's song was originally published in 1857,^[1] it had a different chorus melody, which was more classical, even Mozart-like.^{[citation needed]} The 1857 lyrics differed slightly from those we know today. (The original words are given below in square brackets.) It is unknown who replaced the chorus melody and the words with those of the modern version.

The first verse and chorus are the most often sung (and remembered) section of "Jingle Bells":

Dashing through the snow

In a one horse open sleigh

O'er the fields we go

Laughing all the way

Bells on bob tail^a[›] ring (Or Hear our voices ring)

Making spirits bright

What fun it is to laugh and sing (Or What fun it is to ride and sing)

A sleighing song tonight

(chorus)

|: Jingle bells, jingle bells,

Jingle all the way;

Oh! what fun [joy] it is to ride

In a one-horse open sleigh.:|

Music historian James Fuld notes that the "the word jingle in the title and opening phrase is apparently an imperative verb."^[2] However, it is commonly taken to mean a certain kind of bell.

Although less well known than the opening, the remaining verses depict high-speed youthful fun. In the second verse the narrator takes a ride with a girl and loses control of the sleigh:

A day or two ago

I thought I'd take a ride

And soon Miss Fanny Bright

Was seated by my side,

The horse was lean and lank

Misfortune seemed his lot

He got into a drifted bank

And then we [we—we] got upsot^b[›].

|: chorus :|

In the next verse he falls out of the sleigh and a rival laughs at him:

A day or two ago,

The story I must tell

I went out on the snow,

And on my back I fell;

A gent was riding by

In a one-horse open sleigh,

He laughed as there I sprawling lie,

But quickly drove away.

|: chorus :|

In the last verse, he picks up some girls, finds a faster horse, and takes off at full speed:

Now the ground is white

Go it while you're young,

Take the girls tonight

and sing this sleighing song;

Just get a bob tailed bay

Two forty^c[›] as [for] his speed

[and] Hitch him to an open sleigh

And crack! you'll take the lead.

|: chorus :|

The "Jingle Bells" tune is used in French and German songs, although the lyrics are unrelated to the English lyrics. Both celebrate winter fun. The French song, titled Vive le vent ("Long Live the Wind"), was written by Francis Blanche^[3][4] and contains references to Father Time, Baby New Year, and New Year's Day. There are several German versions of "Jingle Bells"; the popular Roy Black version Christkindl and Christmastime.^[5]

[edit] Charts

[edit] In space

"Jingle Bells" was the first song broadcast from space, in a Christmas-themed prank by Gemini 6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra, December 16, 1965. They sent Mission Control this report:

We have an object, looks like a satellite going from north to south, probably in polar orbit... I see a command module and eight smaller modules in front. The pilot of the command module is wearing a red suit...

The astronauts then produced a smuggled harmonica and sleighbells and broadcast a rendition of "Jingle Bells" (Smithsonian Magazine, December 2005 pp25ff).

[edit] Parodies and homages

Like many simple, catchy, and popular melodies, "Jingle Bells" is often the subject of parody. In addition to outright parody, many Christmas-themed songs use a snippet of notes from "Jingle Bells", usually from the beginning of the chorus, to establish a holiday theme. Some of these include:

• "Jingle Bell Rock" (Bobby Helms) - the best-known homage to "Jingle Bells", directly referencing the source song's lyrics. Originally recorded and released by Helms in a rockabilly style, "Jingle Bell Rock" has itself since become a Christmas standard.

• "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" (Elmo & Patsy), "Christmas Balls" (The Boulder Boys), "Santa Claus Is Watching You" (Ray Stevens), "Christmas in Hollis" (Run-DMC) - these and other Christmas novelty songs use variations of the "Jingle Bells" chorus as an opening; in addition, the chorus of "Grandma" uses slightly different chord patterns.

• A well-known children's playground song uses the "Jingle Bells" melody:

Jingle bells, Batman smells,

Robin laid an egg;

The Batmobile lost a wheel,

And the Joker got away! (Joker did ballet Or "Batman did ballet!" usually with a shout of 'Hey' at the end)

• This particular version was sung in "Christmas with the Joker", an episode of Batman: The Animated Series.
• Bart Simpson sings this version on The Simpsons, the first time being on "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire".
• This song was sung by Robert Goulet in The Simpsons episode "$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)", but was circulated by children as far back as the early 1970s.^{[citation needed]}
• The last two lines were spoken in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Panic in the Sky" as a joke by Flash when asked where Batman was (the others invloved did not think it was funny in the least)
• In episode 521 of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Santa Claus), Mike and the Robots dub this version of the song during the opening credits.

• In the Scholastic children's novel Junie B., First Grader: Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! (p.s. so does May.), Junie B. Jones sings the playground version listed above with the lyrics:

Jingle Bells,

Batman Smells,

P.S. So does May.

I'd push May right off the sleigh

And then I'd drive away.

• Children in the US, during and shortly after WWII, sang another version of the text:

Shingle nails,

Shingle nails,

Hammers, tacks and screws,

Oh what fun it is to ride,

In Hitler's stinking shoes.

• "The Christmas Song" (Nat King Cole), "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (Bruce Springsteen), "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" (Elmo & Patsy), "Christmas at Ground Zero" ("Weird Al" Yankovic), "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" (John Denver and the Muppets), "River" (Joni Mitchell), - these songs all close with variations of the "Jingle Bells" chorus.

• "Rusty Chevrolet", a novelty song by Michigan musical comedy group Da Yoopers, uses the melody of "Jingle Bells". The song, originally in their 1987 album Culture Shock, can also be found in their 1994 compilation For Diehards Only. The group performs "Rusty Chevrolet" year-round in concert, despite it being a Christmas song.

• In The Brian Setzer Orchestra's version, the first occurrence of "one-horse open sleigh" in the chorus is changed to "'57 Chevrolet."

• In the song "Christmas Medley" from the CD Pokémon Christmas Bash there's a pokémon-ish version of the original song with some pokémon like Rapidash, Horsea, Slowpoke, Slowbro, Bellsprout, Magnemite and Seaking in the lyrics.

• Toward the end of A Christmas Story a group of waiters in a Chinese restaurant sing the chorus of this song to the Parker Family, of course mispronouncing some words as "Jinger Bears" and "shreigh", in a confusion of Asian stereotypes, as it is actually the Japanese who tend to convert L's to R's, whereas the L is a common vocal sound in Chinese.

• Mike McCready of American rock band Pearl Jam recorded a version of "Jingle Bells" for the band's 2007 Holiday Single. This version just features the chorus melody, with McCready doing Chuck Berry-esque fills in between.

• Although recorded by hundreds of artists, Kimberley Locke's 2006 version of "Jingle Bells" was the first to ever top Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart.

• The main cast of the film Over the Hedge sing the song in a DVD extra, with Hami burping the alphabet and the first two verses.

• In The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper, the main characters and the animals from the zoo sing it with personalized lyrics.

• The ventriloquist Jeff Dunham's character, Achmed the Dead Terrorist, sings the song "Jingle Bombs" (also parodying the name of other Christmas songs), where he describes his death, using many trademarks of his personality and job for the lyrics (the last verse containing his catchline, "I kill you!")

[edit] Possible birthplaces

• A plaque commemorating the "birthplace" of "Jingle Bells" is placed on the side of a building in the center of Medford Square in Medford, Massachusetts, USA.

• In Savannah, Georgia, USA, there is a marker commemorating the composition of "Jingle Bells" in a church there where Pierpont served as music director.

[edit] Media

PDF: for bassoon, trombone, and violin (54KB, MIME type: application/pdf, )

[edit] See also

• Jingle Belle

[edit] Notes

^ a: The horse's name is not Bob. As can be seen from the linked scan (above) of the original from the Library of Congress, the horse is described as "bob tail" or "bob tailed." This refers to the tail as being "bobbed"—cut shorter or docked, which was commonly done to the tails of carriage horses to keep them neat and reduce the chance of the tail getting caught in the reins.
^ b: 19th century term and slang for "capsized" and "drunk or intoxicated" respectively
^ c: Two forty refers to a mile in two minutes and forty seconds at the trot, or 22.5 miles per hour. This is a good speed, and suggests the horse should be a Standardbred.

[edit] References

1. ^ "J. Pierpont, "One Horse Open Sleigh", Boston: Oliver Ditson & Co., deposited 1857 with Library of Congress". Library of Congress. Retrieved on 2006-12-26.
2. ^ James J. Fuld, The Book of World-Famous Music, Third Edition, Dover Publications (New York), p. 313.
3. ^ ""Vive le vent" (French chorus and literal English translation)". About.com. Retrieved on 2006-12-26.
4. ^ ""Vive le vent" (with verses and augmented refrain)". Paroles.net. Retrieved on 2006-12-26.
5. ^ "Roy Black, "Jingle Bells" (German lyrics and literal English translation)". About.com. Retrieved on 2006-12-26.

[edit] External links

• Free arrangements for piano and voice from Cantorion.org
• James Lord Pierpont - Discussion of the song's history
• Complete lyrics to "Jingle Bells"
• Story of the Singing Dogs
• Jingle bell in chinese Sophienkathedrale (Harbin)