Following on the heels of my recent post about non-Christmas winter songs, here’s a related post regarding Jingle Bells, one of those great songs that we can sing right on through to the vernal equinox!
A patron had one of his great-grandfather’s letters dated Oct. 22, 1863. In it, the great-grandfather says, “Mother wrote that father had bought a colt that would carry me to Canterbury in good style when I come home….The style that will suit me best will be the 2:40 style. If father’s colt doesn’t come up to that or pretty near it, I’ll get one that will.” The patron wanted to know what “the 2:40 style” was.
Having sung in a holiday quartet for many years, I was aware of one of the lesser known verses of Jingle Bells that goes:
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 nag
Two-forty for his speed
And hitch him to an open sleigh
And crack, you’ll take the lead.
I passed this information along and suggested that 2:40 meant a speedy horse. I included a link to an online discussion about Jingle Bells. In that discussion there was mention of the song being originally a Thanksgiving song and so the patron had a follow-up question. He wanted to know if Jingle Bells had become a standard Christmas tune by the time of his letter.
Here is my response:
I’m afraid I’m having difficulty finding a definitive answer for you. From what I can gather, originally it was not so much a Thanksgiving song but rather it just happened to have its first performance around Thanksgiving. Also, it was first published in 1857 with the title “One Horse Open Sleigh” and then re-released in 1859 with the title Jingle Bells. However, it’s not clear when it became so connected with Christmas. On Google Books, I ran across a collection called “Song Book” compiled for the Twentieth Annual Dinner of the Harvard Club of New York, Delmonico’s, February 20, 1886.
Jingle Bells is included in this collection, so it was apparently popular then, but there’s no indication of its being connected with Christmas. Also, at this same link, if you scroll up to the top, there is another collection called “Selected Songs Sung at Harvard College from 1862-1866.” Interestingly, Jingle Bells is not included.
Here’s another website which says that it was not a hit when it was first published in 1857 nor was it popular when it was re-released in 1859. This suggests to me that, in 1863, it probably had not become the “standard” Christmas tune it is now.
Hope this information is helpful. Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance.
~Bob, Central Library
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