{"id":17969,"date":"2019-12-10T11:00:37","date_gmt":"2019-12-10T11:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.roadietuner.com\/?post_type=blog&p=17969"},"modified":"2020-11-13T13:06:20","modified_gmt":"2020-11-13T13:06:20","slug":"the-surprising-true-story-of-jingle-bells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.roadiemusic.com\/blog\/the-surprising-true-story-of-jingle-bells\/","title":{"rendered":"The Surprising True Story of \u201cJingle Bells\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Looking for easy Christmas songs to play on guitar? Jingle Bells is probably your first port of call. With just three simple chords<\/a>, no wonder it\u2019s \u201cone of the best-known American Christmas songs.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Being so beloved, it\u2019s always been one of our go-to Christmas songs on guitar. But, it wasn\u2019t until recently that we found out the strange story behind the creation of Jingle Bells.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tale of drunk driving, drag racing, and deadbeat dads\u2026 and it\u2019s nothing you expected from this Christmas classic! So, without further ado, let\u2019s dive in by debunking a commonly held assumption\u2026<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Not Actually a Christmas Song:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Jingle Bells is a quintessential Christmas classic. But it might surprise you to know that it\u2019s not actually a Christmas song at all<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Originally, author James Pierpont \u2013 who was a church music director \u2013 wrote it for the congregation to perform at a Thanksgiving service in 1850. But, it was so popular with the parishioners that they performed it again at Christmas, forever cementing the associations with the song and the holiday season.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s About Drunk Driving:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The song isn\u2019t perhaps as festive as you first thought, though. Apparently, it was inspired by the drag races that occurred in Medford, MA, where Pierpont lived. As Medford historical society vice president Kyna Hamill notes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“Medford is home to a series of sleigh races that used to occur on a street called Salem Street, and because of this event, which pretty much happened in the middle of the 19th century, these sleigh races\u00a0\u2014 which you could pretty much call drag races \u00a0\u2014 down this street was one of the most popular events. Because of that, the influence and inspiration of the song, we believe came from those races.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Not only that, its likely that said drag race participants were out of their minds on booze, given the main local industry:<\/p>\n

“If you think about the fact that one of the great industries of Medford was rum-making, and if you really think about the lyrics of the song, with the lens that these are drag races that are happening at top speed down the center of\u00a0this street, one of the suggestions is that it’s actually a drinking song.”<\/p>\n

A Deadbeat Dad Wrote It:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Given that James Pierpont was a church music director, you\u2019d expect him to be an on-the-level sort of guy. In reality though, it was a different story. As Hamill notes:<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s kind of a jerk, actually. He would leave all of the time. He went out west to try to make his way with the gold rush and left his wife with his father.”<\/p>\n

When his wife died, he remarried, and abandoned his kids. As Hamill states, he didn\u2019t even pay his respects to the recently deceased:<\/p>\n

“He didn’t come, apparently, to his first wife’s funeral. He’s sort of not a nice guy.”<\/p>\n

It Wasn\u2019t Originally Called \u201cJingle Bells\u201d:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When it was first published in the early 1850s, Jingle Bells went under the infinitely less catchy title of One Horse Open Sleigh<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until it was reprinted in 1859 that \u201cJingle Bells\u201d was added, with the now-convoluted title reading \u201cJingle Bells, or the One Horse Open Sleigh.\u201d For obvious reasons, most people just referred to it as \u201cJingle Bells,\u201d and the shortened title eventually stuck.<\/p>\n

Did you know the story of Jingle Bells? What songs will you be playing on guitar this Christmas? Share your stories in the comments!<\/p>\n

Further Reading –\u00a0Roadie\u2019s Favorite Metal Christmas Albums<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":17970,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[224],"tags":[1295,1298,1315,1320,1335],"class_list":["post-17969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting-facts-info","tag-genre_all","tag-level_all","tag-instrument_other","tag-content_topics","tag-topics_history"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Surprising True Story of \u201cJingle Bells\u201d - Roadie Music Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Being so beloved, it\u2019s always been one of our go-to Christmas songs on guitar. 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