We’ve heard and sung it a million times but we never get tired of the melody associated with Christmas fun and cheer and no carol is truly complete without it. The curious thing is, it wasn’t written for Christmas. The song was written in 1857 by James Pierpont. It’s an American classic about Thanksgiving, and was titled One Horse Open Sleigh when first conceived.
Generally, it’s just about having fun and letting your hair down, when you consider some of its lesser-known lyrics, there’s not a hint of Christmas anywhere. Take the following for example.
“A day or two ago
“I tho’t I’d take a ride
“And soon Miss Fannie Bright
“Was seated by my side.
“The horse was lean and lank
“Misfortune seemed his lot
“He got into a drifted bank
“And we—we got upsot.”
There are suggestions that Jingle Bells used to be sung by schoolchildren, while others believe it was too ‘racy’ for that, and instead it was bellowed as a drinking party song.
