"Jingle Bells" is one of the best known and commonly sung winter 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 . Despite being inextricably connected to Christmas, it is not specifically a Christmas song. It is one of many "joyful songs" written in New England during the late 19th century.
Overview
When Pierpont's song was originally published in 1857, it had a different chorus melody, which was more classical, even Mozart-like. 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":
Music historian James Fuld notes that the "the word jingle in the title and opening phrase is apparently an imperative verb." 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:
In the next verse (which is often skipped), he falls out of the sleigh and a rival laughs at him: Note the incorrect form of the verb "lie." The event is being told using the past tense and should be "lay." List of commonly misused English words
In the last verse, after relating his experience, he gives equestrian advice to a friend, who then picks up some girls, finds a faster horse, and takes off at full speed:
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 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.
Charts
"Jingle Bells" was first recorded by the Edison Male Quartette in 1898 on an Edison cylinder. In 1902, the Hayden Quartet recorded the song.
In 1943, Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters recorded "Jingle Bells" on Decca as Decca 23281 which reached no. 19 on the charts and sold over a million copies. In 1941, Glenn Miller and His Orchestra with Tex Beneke, Marion Hutton, Ernie Caceres and the Modernaires on vocals had a no. 5 hit with "Jingle Bells" on RCA Victor, as Bluebird 11353. In 1935, Benny Goodman and His Orchestra reached no. 18 on the charts with their recording of "Jingle Bells". In 1951, Les Paul had a no. 10 hit with a multi-tracked version on guitar. In 1955, Don Charles, from Copenhagen, Denmark, recorded a novelty version with dogs barking to the melody of "Jingle Bells" as RCA 6344, which sold a million copies.
Crosby sang a unique pronunciation of "jingle". The word is typically rendered "jing-gull", with a hard-G interposed. Crosby's version is "jing-ull", lacking the hard-G sound.
"Jingle Bells" has been performed and recorded by Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, Count Basie, Ray Brown, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Mike Horsfall, The Hoppers, Boney M and Ann Hampton Callaway. In 2006, Kimberley Locke had a no. 1 hit on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart with a recording of "Jingle Bells".
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). The harmonica, shown to the press upon their return, was a Hohner "Little Lady", a tiny harmonica approximately one inch long, by 3/8 of an inch wide.
Notable Recordings
- Rosemary Clooney
- Ella Fitzgerald on her Verve release "Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas"
- Yello for the film The Santa Clause
- Robert DeCormier Singers (original version)
- Basshunter
Appearances in popular culture
- The song is played during the Christmas party scene in the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975).
- A recording by The CSSR State Philharmonic featured in the film The Seeker (2007).
- A recording by Brian Setzer Orchestra featured in the short film The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper (2005).
- Poofer the Elf and the Smith Family sang this song in "Wee Sing The Best Christmas Ever" while riding on Poofer's snowflake sleigh back home from Santa's Workshop to the Smiths' house.
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:
- "Yingle Bells" (Yogi Yorgesson) is a version in which the singer, using a mock-Scandinavian accent and suffering chillblains, laments that "I should have vorn long undervear in dat vone-horse open sleigh."
- "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 Bells" (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 of the parody of Batman:
- A slightly better rhyming version, often sung in the UK goes as follows:
(Another version has the last two lines "Father Christmas lost his pants / On the M1 motorway.")
- 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:
- US schoolchildren in the 1960s commonly sang a different version:
- Children in the US, during and shortly after WWII, sang another version of the text:
- a parody of the song is known in the Philippines. It involves household appliances, and cookware that are common in the said country:
- "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. This version ranked #17 in the nationally syndicated Dusty Rhodes Christmas Top 60 Countdown.
- "Green Chri$tmas$", a 1950s song produced by Stan Freberg, parodies excessive Christmastime advertising, and sings of dashing through the snow in a 50-foot "cou-pe"... selling all the way.
- Another parody has the verse: Dashing through the snow, on a pair of broken skis, crashing into trees, and a piece of moldy cheese (Ha Ha Ha), the snow is turning red, I think I'm nearly dead, and next I'm in the hospital with stitches in my head.
- A variant of this is Dashing through the snow, on a pair of broken skis, o'er the hills we go, crashing into trees (boom crash pow), the snow is turning red, I think I'm almost dead, spending Christmas holiday in a hospital bed.
- A slightly more morbid variant of this ends with the final line, Oh what fun it is to be like Michael Kennedy (Kennedy died in a skiing accident on New Year's Eve 1997).
- 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
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