Get Flash to see this player.
Description
Another track from "Christmas Each Day." I had a lot of fun with this tune, especially going back to find the original lyrics that you don't typically hear on the Christmas ALL THE TIME radio stations that kick-in this time of year. The song has an interesting story that I discovered while researching copyright info (copyright has lapsed in the United States) - originally published in 1857 and written by James Lord Pierpont (1822-1893) as "One Horse Open Sleigh." Depending on whose history you follow, the tune was either written for a Thanksgiving service at the Unitarian Church in Savannah, Georgia where Pierpoint was an organist - or it was written to cheer up local Sunday school children.
Whatever the case (there are more stories indeed), its impact upon Christmas music can't be denied - though I truly love the original lyrics more, as they are a bit saucy, laced with bits of schadenfreude. Enjoy!
Whatever the case (there are more stories indeed), its impact upon Christmas music can't be denied - though I truly love the original lyrics more, as they are a bit saucy, laced with bits of schadenfreude. Enjoy!
Leave a Comment
You must be registered and logged-in to comment.
Lyrics
Dashing through the snow
In a one horse open sleigh
O'er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
Bells on bob tail 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.:|
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 upsot
|: 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 bob tailed bay
Two forty as his speed
and Hitch him to an open sleigh
And crack! you'll take the lead.
|: chorus :|
In a one horse open sleigh
O'er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
Bells on bob tail 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.:|
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 upsot
|: 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 bob tailed bay
Two forty as his speed
and Hitch him to an open sleigh
And crack! you'll take the lead.
|: chorus :|
Lennon714
I'm not sure I've ever heard those other verses. Quaint lyrics, for sure! Great version of a classic tune.