James Pierpoint wrote this song
about sleighing around 1857 as "One Horse Open Sleigh" either in
Savannah, Georgia, or Boston, Massachusetts, and contrary to popular
opinion it has no link to Thanksgiving, when it was possibly
written, or Christmas. It became an instant success and became one
of the most popular songs to be heard during Christmas throughout
the world and sung in many languages.Copyrighted and published in 1857
and with the name change to "Jingle Bells" happening in 1859, the
lyrics were not quite the same as today, although not too dissimilar
in their happy bouncy style, and they describe a young sleigh rider
who had an accident when he took his girlfriend out in the first
verse, he fell over and a rival of his was laughing at him in the
second and in he third he goes all out, gets a healthy horse, gets a
few more girls and carries on with his sleigh riding. The music was
also different to what we know today in that the chorus was more
classical in its sound and has even been likened to Mozart.There
has been dispute over which state and town the song was composed in
and one version is that he was writing about the "cutters" that used
to race between the squares of Medford and Malden in Massachusetts,
and another is that he was in Savannah and wrote it while missing
his home in Massachusetts.It has even been suggested that
it was written in Savannah for a childrens choir but this was
doubtful with it touching on the matter of a courting couple.Often
used by classical orchestras and popular artists alike it has
charted on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart at No. 5 for Diana
Krall in 2005 and No. 1 for Kimberley Locke in 2006 and there are
other numerous recordings of it. It has also been heard in nearly
100 movies and television programmes.Making it's place in history it
became the first song ever to be heard from outer space when the
astronauts Toms Stafford and Wally Schirra played a prank on Mission
Control, claiming to have seen an unknown object with eight smaller
ones, and then launched into their rendition of it.Regularly parodied it has been used by Bobby Helms in his
"Jingle Bell Rock", Ray Stevens in "Santa Claus Is Watching You",
Elmo & Patsy in "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer", Da Yoopers
in "Rusty Chevrolet" and has also appeared in The Simpsons. The
music has also been taken by composers on mainland Europe and made
into songs such as "Vive le Vent" in France and "Christkindl" in
Germany.The impact that this song has had on the world was recognised
when there was a plaque put up in Medford, Massachusetts, as the
"birthplace of Jingle Bells".
Black Dyke Mills Band
recordings
Chandos 4541 (CD: A
Christmas Fantasy)
Boston Pops recordings
Philips 416 287 - 2 (CD:We Wish You a Merry
Christmas)
Conductor - John Williams
DG 419 414-2 (CD: White
Christmas)
Conductor - Arthur Fiedler
RCA 09026-61685-2 (CD:
Pops Christmas Party)
Conductor - Arthur Fiedler
Sony SK 48232 (CD: Joy
to the World)
Conductor - John Williams
Tanglewood Festival
Chorus
Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra recordings
Naxos 8.990005 (CD: Joy
to the World)
Conductor - Richard Hayman
Rochester Pops Orchestra
Koch CHD 1531 (CD: Joy
to the WorldCarols for Orchestra and
Chorus)
St Louis Philharmonic Orchestra
recordings
Sonari records - 7 55724 00272 3 (CD: Christmas with the Philharmonic)
