Jingle Bells Lyrics
Bells on a horse, a fast ride across the hills, and a tumble into a snowbank, all in a song with a chorus nearly everyone knows. James Lord Pierpont published it in 1857 as The One Horse Open Sleigh, and the chorus has hardly changed since.
Jingle Bells
Dashing through the snow,
In a one horse open sleigh,
O'er the hills we go,
Laughing all the way.
Bells on bobtail ring.
Making spirits bright;
Oh what fun to ride and sing,
A sleighing song to-night.
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.
Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh;
Oh! Oh! Oh!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.
Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh.
A day or two ago
I thought I'd take a ride,
And soon Miss Sally Bright
Was seated by my side.
The horse was lean and lank.
Misfortune seemed our lot;
We drove into a drifted bank.
And there we got upsot.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/jingle-bells/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- James Lord Pierpont
- Tune
- Bright and bouncy, with a clear beat on every 'jingle'
- Best for ages
- 2 to 10 years
What Does Jingle Bells Mean?
The first verse paints the ride. The singers dash through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh, a light sleigh with no roof, pulled by a single horse. The bells on the horse ring as it trots, and the ride lifts everyone's spirits. A bobtail is a horse whose tail has been cut short, and the bells ring on the bobtail horse as it trots.
The second verse is a small comedy. The singer takes a ride with a young woman named Miss Sally Bright, the horse is "lean and lank" (thin and bony), and the sleigh runs into a drifted bank of snow. They "got upsot", an old way of saying they were upset, which here means tipped over. Nobody is hurt in the song, and the next thing you hear is the chorus again.
The chorus is the part children keep: "jingle bells" twice, then "jingle all the way", then the line about what fun the ride is. In the middle of this version come three "Oh!" calls, and then the chorus runs once more. In a classroom the chorus is the easy part to give to the whole group, while one child sings the verse.
History and Origin
James Lord Pierpont (1822 to 1893) published the song in Boston in 1857 under the title The One Horse Open Sleigh. It was reissued in 1859 as Jingle Bells, or The One Horse Open Sleigh. Where he wrote it is disputed, and this page does not choose between the towns that claim it.
The words on this page come from a Harvard student songbook of 1866, a few years after the song appeared. Printings differ from one to the next. A songbook of 1910 names the young woman Fannie Bright, and a school anthology of 1928 prints only the first verse and the chorus. This page gives the first verse, the chorus and the second verse as the 1866 book has them.
Learning Activities
- Bell chorus: give each child a bell, or a jar with a few dried beans in it, and shake it only on the words "jingle bells". Everyone else sings on.
- Sleigh in a box: turn a cardboard box on its side, add a paper-plate seat, and let a child pull it across the carpet on a string while the others sing.
- Speed changes: sing the chorus slowly like a tired horse, then fast like a trot, and ask which one makes the bells sound happier.
- Draw the tumble: sketch the sleigh tipping into the snowbank from verse two and add the sound words the children think of.