JINGLE BELLS

When it was originally published in 1857,^[1] Pierpont's song had a different chorus melody, which was more classical, even Mozart-like.^{[citation needed]} The 1857 lyrics differed slightly from those we know today. (The original words are given below in square brackets.) It is unknown who replaced the chorus melody and the words with those of the modern version.

The first verse and chorus are the most often sung (and remembered) section of "Jingle Bells":

Dashing through the snow

In a one horse open sleigh

O'er the fields we go

Laughing all the way

Bells on bob tail^a[›] ring (Or Hear our voices ring)

Making spirits bright

What fun it is to laugh and sing (Or What fun it is to ride and sing)

A sleighing song tonight

(chorus)

|: Jingle bells, jingle bells,

Jingle all the way;

Oh! what fun [joy] it is to ride

In a one-horse open sleigh.:|

Music historian James Fuld notes that the "the word jingle in the title and opening phrase is apparently an imperative verb."^[2] However, it is commonly taken to mean a certain kind of bell.

Although less well known than the opening, the remaining verses depict high-speed youthful fun. In the second verse the narrator takes a ride with a girl and loses control of the 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 [we—we] got upsot^b[›].

|: chorus :|

In the next verse he falls out of the sleigh and a rival laughs at him:

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 :|

In the last verse, he picks up some girls, finds a faster horse, and takes off at full speed:

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^c[›] as [for] his speed

[and] Hitch him to an open sleigh

And crack! you'll take the lead.

|: chorus :|