Jingle Bells is one of the most well-known Christmas carols in the world.
Originally written in the autumn of 1857 by James Lord Pierpont, and was published under the title “One Horse Open Sleigh”.
James composed this song in 1850 at Medford, Massachusetts.
The lyrics today have changed ever so slightly from the original version, and there are also a few verses that you never seem to hear anymore!
So below is the full version of Jingle Bells.
Jingle Bells Lyrics
Dashing through the snow
In a one-horse open sleigh
O’er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
Bells on bobtail ring
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to laugh and sing
A sleighing song tonight!
(chorus)
Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way.
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.
Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way;
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open 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 got upset.
(chorus)
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)
Now the ground is white
Go it while you’re young,
Take the girls tonight
and sing this sleighing song;
Just get a bobtailed bay
Two forty as his speed
Hitch him to an open sleigh
And crack! you’ll take the lead.
(chorus)
Did You Know…
Jingle Bells also became the very first song to be broadcast from space!
On December 16, 1965, Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra, two astronauts from the Gemini 6 space program, sent the following message to mission control:
“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 two astronauts then started to play the harmonica and a set of sleigh bells that they had managed to smuggle on board, to the tune of Jingle bells!
