Jingle Bells Was Originally Intended For A Different Holiday And I Am In Shock
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, oh what fun it is to learn this song was for another day… hey!
Yes, that’s right, one of the most iconic Christmas songs that’s instantly recognisable as a Christmas song and is hard to escape during December was actually originally for a different holiday all together.
The holiday that jingle bells was intended for
The experts at History.com pointed out that, uh, the song actually never features the word Christmas. Which is a very good point and annoying as hell to realise, to be honest.
They explain: “Some historical accounts report that the tune was first performed for a Thanksgiving service at the church of either Pierpont’s father or brother, but the lyrics might have been too risqué for an ecclesiastical audience.
“Given the songwriter’s rebellious nature, it shouldn’t be surprising that “Jingle Bells” has a bit of a rebel-without-a-cause attitude. The less-known verses of the song describe picking up girls, drag-racing on snow and a high-speed crash. The lyrics “go it while you’re young” in the final verse of the secular standard is hardly about a holy or silent night.”
It also originally wasn’t called Jingle Bells. The history experts say: “When the holiday ditty was first printed by a Boston music publishing house in 1857, it was released under the title ‘One Horse Open Sleigh.’ When it was reissued two years later, the song had the more familiar title of ‘Jingle Bells.’”
Before you get too sappy about this song, you may want to know more about the composer
Of course, Christmas is a great time for sentimentality and nostalgia but the writer of this song was pretty reprehensible, even by the 1800′s standards.
James Lord Pierpoint, the musician that composed Jingle Bells, was a notoriously racist man, according to Boston University.
The university explained: “He joined the Confederacy in the Civil War, serving as a company clerk and penning fight songs to rouse the men in grey as they defended slavery on the battlefield. His father, meanwhile, served as a Union chaplain.”
It was an overrated song anyway.
