Jingle Bells

DESCRIPTION: In praise of sleighing in the snow. Taking his "one horse open sleigh," the singer courts Miss Fanny Bright. Even a brief detour into a snowbank does not deter his ardor. The singer urges others to get a horse and sleigh and go courting
AUTHOR: James Pierpont (1822-1893)
EARLIEST DATE: 1857
KEYWORDS: horse nonballad courting
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (11 citations):
Huntington-TheGam-MoreSongsWhalemenSang, pp. 276-277, "Jingle Bells" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Jackson-PopularSongsOfNineteenthCenturyAmerica, pp. 93-96, "Jingle Bells Or the One horse open Sleigh" (1 text, 1 tune)
Krythe-SamplerOfAmericanSongs (16), pp. 219-220, "Jingle Bells" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 376, "Jingle Bells" (1 text)
Messerli-ListenToTheMockingbird, pp. 94-96, "Jingle Bells, or The One Horse Open Sleigh" (1 text)
Heart-Songs, pp. 148-149, "Jingle, Bells" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuld-BookOfWorldFamousMusic, p. 313+, "Jingle Bells"
Rodeheaver-SociabilitySongs, p. 27, "Jingle, Bells" (1 text, 1 tune)
National-4HClubSongBook, p. 29, "Jingle Bells" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, JNGLBLL*
ADDITIONAL: Henry Randall Waite, _College Songs: A Collection of New and Popular Songs of the American Colleges_, new and enlarged edition, Oliver Ditson & Co., 1887, p. 70, "Jingle, Bells" (1 text, 1 tune) (pp. 18-19 of part 3 of the 1876 edition)
Roud #25804
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Pony Song" (approximate tune, theme, and some words)
cf. "Tittler's Jam" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Shotgun Shells ("Jingle bells, shotgun shells, Rabbits on the run") (Solomon-ZickaryZan, p. 113)
Jingle Bells (New Zealand parodies) (Garland-FacesInTheFirelight-NZ, pp. 298-299)
Ginger Ale ("Ginger ale, ginger ale, ginger all the way") (Harbin-Parodology, , #129, p. 40)
Jingle Bells/camp version ("Mr. ---, Mr. ---, Listen while we sing") (Harbin-Parodology, #156, p. 44)
GInger Up ("Ginger up, ginger up, Never wear a frown") (Harbin-Parodology, #226, p. 58; Rodeheaver-SociabilitySongs, p. 125)
Summer Camp ("Summer camp, summer camp, echo it afar") (Harbin-Parodology, #252, p. 62)
NOTES [174 words]: According to a big of folklore which I have not attempted to check, Pierpont wrote this while living in Florida. Hm.
Ken Emerson, Doo-Dah! Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture, Da Capo, 1997?, p. 10, says that the phrase "bells on bob-tail ring" was condensed from the "Bet my money on de bob-tail nag" of Stephen Foster's "Camptown Races."
Jon W. Finson, The Voices That Are Gone: Themes in Nineteenth-Century American Popular Song, Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 47, says that James Pierpont was the son of a Unitarian minister and the uncle of J. Pierpont Morgan.
This became popular in the nineteenth century, but it also had some success in twentieth century recordings. Edward Foote Gardner, Popular Songs of the Twentieth Century: Volume I -- Chart Detail & Encyclopedia 1900-1949, Paragon House, 2000, p. 456, estimates that this was the fifteenth most popular song in America in December 1941 (apparently the hot recording was by Glenn Miller), and there was another successful recording in December 1951. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: RJ19093

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