Lyrics & Knowledge Personal Pages Record Shop Auction Links Radio & Media Kids Membership Help
The Mudcat Cafesj



User Name Thread Name Subject Posted
Jerry Friedman, jfriedman@nnm.cc.nm.us Old Book - Jingle Bells, Blue-Tail Fly, etc. (3) Old BoJingle Bells, Blue-Tail Flyok 20 Oct 97


This is a recent addition to the alt.english.usage FAQ. (Now let's see whether that worked.)

"Jingle Bells" --------------

This song by James Pierpont was fist published in 1857 by Oliver Ditson & Co., with the title "The One Horse Open Sleigh". In 1859 Ditson reissued it with a new cover, and the title "Jingle Bells, Or the One horse open Sleigh." The book _Popular Songs of Nineteenth-Century America_ (ed. Richard Jackson, Dover, 1976, ISBN 0-486-23270-0) reprints this second edition in facsimile. There is no comma between "Jingle" and "bells" in either the title or the chorus. The first verse has "Bells on bobtail ring" (not "bobtails"). The word "fun" appears nowhere in the song: the first verse has "Oh what sport to ride and sing / A sleighing song tonight", and the chorus has "Oh! what joy it is to ride / In a one horse open sleigh." The verse tune and the words of both the verse and the chorus are nearly identical to those familiar today. The chorus tune is much less monotone than the chorus tune familiar today, but would have been too difficult for children to sing: it must have been corrupted by generations of schoolchildren into what we have now.

In the same volume are facsimiles of "Jim Crack Corn" (the words "Jim crack corn I don't care" have no "and", and "don't" rather than "I" on the downbeat), and "Oh My Darling Clementine" (said to be originally a serious song; the original does not include the verse with "And her shoes were number nine").




Back to the Main Forum Page

By clicking on the User Name, you will requery the forum for that user. You will see everything that he or she has posted with that Mudcat name.

By clicking on the Thread Name, you will be sent to the Forum on that thread as if you selected it from the main Mudcat Forum page.

By clicking on the Subject, you will also go to the thread as if you selected it from the original Forum page, but also go directly to that particular message.

By clicking on the Date (Posted), you will dig out every message posted that day.

Try it all, you will see.