One of the songs we hear a lot during the Christmas season is not a Christmas song at all. “Jingle Bells” was written in 1850 by James Lord Pierpont of Medford, Massachusetts, the nephew of the famous wealthy New York financier, John Pierpont (J.P.) Morgan. According to an article I read online, Pierpont wrote the song in Simpson’s Tavern, a boardinghouse that had the only piano in town, and the ditty was inspired by the annual one-horse open-sleigh races in Medford. The races were typically held around Thanksgiving, so it’s really more of a Thanksgiving song, and there’s no mention of Christmas anywhere in the song.
The story goes that Pierpont was perhaps enjoying a little holiday cheer at the Simpson Tavern in 1850 when Medford’s famous sleigh races to neighboring Malden Square inspired him to write a tune. Supposedly, Pierpont picked out the song on the piano belonging to the owner of the boarding house attached to the tavern because he wanted something to play for Thanksgiving at his father’s Sunday School class in Boston. The resulting song wasn’t just a hit with the kids; adults loved it so much that the lyrics to “One Horse Open Sleigh” were altered slightly and used for Christmas.
There’s disagreement on the subject. Did Pierpont write “Jingle Bells” in Medford, Massachusetts, or in Savannah, Georgia? Both places make claim to the song’s origin. The song was published in 1857, when Pierpont was working at a Unitarian Church in Savannah, Georgia. However, it seems more likely that he wrote the song in Medford where snow was commonplace, rather than in the warmer climate of Savannah. There were probably not many sleighs in Georgia.
There are historical markers commemorating the song and its composer in both cities. The one in Medford is located near the site of the old boarding house.The one in Savannah is located in Troup Square, near the church which he served as a musician. Pierpont is buried in Savannah.
Supposedly, after he wrote the song, Pierpont didn’t pay very much attention to it until the Salem Evening News printed a story about it in 1864; then he accepted credit for writing “Jingle Bells.” And now, over 150 years after it was published as “Jingle Bells,” there are millions of listeners who know and love this song, even though it makes no mention of Christmas in its lyrics.
There have been hundreds of recordings of the song. Among all these recordings, it was Bing Crosby with The Andrews Sisters who made the song the most popular. Their 1943 recording on Decca reached No. 19 on the charts and sold over a million copies.
In 1955, Don Charles, from Copenhagen, Denmark, recorded a novelty version with dogs barking to the melody of “Jingle Bells,” which sold a million copies in 1955. You can still hear that occasionally.
Recently, there’s been a Youtube of checkout personnel in a German supermarket playing the song by swiping products on their scanners, much to the delight of the shoppers. Pretty darn cool! (Check it out: http://tinyurl.com/lptgzqv.)
I couldn’t uncover a lot of other biographical info about Pierpont, but I found that he was born in Medford, Massachusetts, in 1822 and died in 1893 in Winter Haven, Florida. According to some information I found, he had a rather unusual life.
He grew up in a strict New England Unitarian family who was against slavery, but when he was an adult, he moved to the South and was an organist in a church in Savannah, Georgia. In the South, Pierpont became a supporter of the Confederate cause, much to his family’s chagrin. He even wrote several songs supporting the Confederacy, including “Strike for the South” and “We Conquer or Die.”
Well, that’s probably more than you wanted to know, anyway!
So, when you’re dashing through the snow in your one-horse open sleigh this holiday season, you can sing about those sleigh bells jingling and know that people all over the world may be singing with you! Happy holidays.
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