Problems playing these files? See media help. However, " jingle bells" is commonly taken to mean a certain kind of bell. The rhythm of the tune mimics that of a trotting horse's bells. Music historian James Fuld notes that "the word jingle in the title and opening phrase is apparently an imperative verb." In the winter in New England in pre-automobile days, it was common to adorn horses' harnesses with straps bearing bells as a way to avoid collisions at blind intersections, since a horse-drawn sleigh in snow makes almost no noise. This "upset", a term Pierpont transposed to "upsot", became the climactic component of a sleigh-ride outing within the sleigh narrative. The double-meaning of "upsot" was thought humorous, and a sleigh ride gave an unescorted couple a rare chance to be together, unchaperoned, in distant woods or fields, with all the opportunities that afforded.
Pierpont remained in Savannah and never went back North.
In August 1857, Pierpont married Eliza Jane Purse, the daughter of the mayor of Savannah. Pierpont's lyrics are strikingly similar to lines from many other sleigh-riding songs that were popular at the time researcher Kyna Hamill argued that this, along with his constant need for money, led him to compose and release the song solely as a financial enterprise: "Everything about the song is churned out and copied from other people and lines from other songs-there's nothing original about it." īy the time the song was released and copyrighted, Pierpont had relocated to Savannah, Georgia to serve as organist and music director of that city's Unitarian Universalist Church, where his brother, Rev. The song was first performed on 15 September 1857 at Ordway Hall in Boston by the blackface minstrel performer Johnny Pell.
"Jingle Bells" was originally copyrighted with the name "The One Horse Open Sleigh" on September 16, 1857. Previous local history narratives claim the song was inspired by the town's popular sleigh races during the 19th century. A plaque at 19 High Street in the center of Medford Square in Medford, Massachusetts, commemorates the "birthplace" of "Jingle Bells", and claims that Pierpont wrote the song there in 1850, at what was then the Simpson Tavern. It is an unsettled question where and when Pierpont originally composed the song that would become known as "Jingle Bells". Musical notations of the original version
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