Jingle Bells
Jingle Bells (about Jangles, (her) clamps ; meaning the clamps on the harness ) is a winter song that from 1850 to 1857 by the American composer James Lord Pierpont (1822 to 1893) (often mistakenly James S. Pierpont) under the title The One Horse Open Sleigh ("open one-horse sleigh") was composed and published in 1857 by Oliver Ditson & Co. ( Boston ).
In 1859 the song was published again, this time under the name Jingle Bells, or The One Horse Open Sleigh , which is still known today . Contrary to popular belief, Jingle Bells is not a Christmas carol , as Christmas is not mentioned in the song and the text has no other Christmas references. Rather, it is a song about horse-drawn sleigh races by young people.
| Above: notes . Left: Play melody ( audio file info ). |
history
There are different variants of the genesis, as it is not considered certain where James Lord Pierpont, who was an uncle of billionaire John Pierpont Morgan , composed the song. The two places Savannah (Georgia) and Medford (near Boston in Massachusetts ) each claim the place of origin for themselves.
Medford
In 1851 James Pierpont visited Otis Watermann in Medford , who let him play the only piano in town in her house, which belonged to her neighbor William Webber. Otis Watermann was the owner of the Seccomb Boardinghouse, later the Simpson tavern. After Pierpoint had played the song for her, Otis Watermann found the piece to be a “very merry little jingle”, which is said to have inspired him for the later title. Pierpont immediately wrote the text about the "one-horse open sleigh," the open horse-drawn sleigh in which young men competed on the mile-long snow-covered route on Salem Street between Medfort and Malden Square.
In 1946, Stella Howe, the great niece of Mary Gleason Watermann, who ran the Seccomb Boardinghouse, reported this visit to the Boston Globe . Ace Collins, author of the 2001 book Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas, found a report in a New England newspaper from the early 1840s about the premiere of One Horse Open Sleigh at a Thanksgiving service in Medford. The song was so well received by the community that the children performing at Christmas mass were asked to sing the song again - since then the piece has been considered a Christmas carol.
Savannah
It wasn't until 1969 that Milton Rahn, a Unitarian from Savannah , Georgia, questioned the Medford version. When the song was copyrighted in 1857, James Pierpont was the organist and choirmaster at the Unitarian Church in Savannah, where his older brother, John Pierpont, was pastor. James Pierpont married his second wife, the daughter of the Mayor of Savannah, Eliza Jane Purse, shortly before the copyright was granted. The house the song is believed to be composed on is located near Oglethorpe Street and Whitaker Street.
It is believed that Pierpont originally composed the song for the Thanksgiving Day service and rehearsed it with the children at the Sunday school where he taught. The 40 or so children learned the lively melody and the catchy lyrics by heart almost instantly.
In 1985, the City of Savannah erected a plaque across from the church, and then Mayor John Rousakis declared the song a "Savannah Song." In 1989 there was a somewhat friendly correspondence between Rousakis and the Mayor of Medford, Michael McGlynn.
Verse and melody
In the original, the melody of the chorus differs from the current version. It is not known who made the change, the melody may have been simplified over time by the singing schoolchildren. The text also differs slightly from the current version. (The original words are in square brackets below.) The first verse and chorus are the most frequently sung parts of the song.
original
Dashing through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh,
O'er the fields [hills] we go, laughing all the way.
Bells on bobtail ring, making spirits bright,
What fun it is [Oh what sport] to ride and sing a sleighing song tonight.
|: Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.
O, what fun [joy] 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 Fannie Bright was seated by my side.
The horse was lean and lank, misfortune seemed his lot,
He got into a drifted bank and we [we, we] got upsot.
|: Refrain: |
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 lay, But quickly drove away.
|: Refrain: |
Now the ground is white, go it while you're young,
Take the girls tonight and sing this sleighing song.
Just get a bobtailed bay, two-forty for his speed,
Then hitch him to an open sleigh, and crack! You'll take the lead.
|: Refrain: |
Literal translation
We rush through the snow, in an open horse-drawn sleigh,
across the fields [hills], laughing all the way.
Bells ring on the cropped ponytail, create a happy mood.
What a joy it is to drive and sing a sleigh song tonight.
|: Jingles, jingles, jingling jingles, jingling all the way.
Oh what a joy it is to ride in an open horse-drawn sleigh. : |
A day or two ago I decided to go for a ride,
and soon Miss Fannie Bright was sitting next to me.
The horse was lean and thin, misfortune seemed to be its fate,
it got caught in a snowdrift, and we, we fell.
|: Refrain: |
A day or two ago, I have to tell the story. I
walked into the snow again and fell on the seat of my pants;
A gentleman drove by in an open horse-drawn sleigh.
He laughed when I lay there lengthways and drove on quickly.
|: Refrain: |
Now the earth is white, use it while you're young,
take the girls tonight and sing this sleigh song.
Get a docked bay that can do a mile in 2 minutes 40, put
him in an open sleigh, and let it pop! You will take the lead.
|: Refrain: |
Jingle Bells in space
Jingle Bells was the first song broadcast from space. On December 16, 1965, Gemini-6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra joked about the ground control station. They reported:
"We have an object, looks like a satellite going from north to south, probably in polar orbit ... I see a command module and eight smaller modules in front. The pilot of the command module is wearing a red suit. ”(We have an object that looks like a satellite traveling from north to south, probably in polar orbit ... I see a command module and eight smaller modules in front of it. The pilot of the Command module is wearing a red suit)
The astronauts then took out a harmonica and a band of bells they had secretly taken away and broadcast their performance of the song Jingle Bells . The harmonica and bells were the first musical instruments to be played in space. They are now in the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum .
Jingle Bells in other languages
In 1968, a version of the song by Roy Black (with a text by Werner Twardy ) under the title A Little White Snowman achieved greater fame in Germany.
Another German version, the author of which is unknown, reads:
When the winter winds blow, when the days go by quickly,
when the colorful parcels are in the closet, mysteriously,
then the wonderful time begins and everyone is looking forward to it.
And the people look so friendly and sing
jingle bells far and wide , jingle bells, it sounds through ice and snow.
Santa Claus is coming tomorrow, come down there from above.
Jingle bells, jingle bells, it's like a dream.
Soon the little light is burning brightly on our Christmas tree.
In France, Francis Blanche (1919–1974) composed the nationally known verse Vive le vent to melody in 1948 .
In German-speaking Switzerland there is a Zurich-German version of the text about the pre-Christmas biscuit baking Zimetschtern han i gärn by Andrew Bond , which was first published in 1998.
literature
- Ace Collins: Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas. Zondervan Publishing House, 2001, ISBN 0-310-23926-5 .
- Albert J. Menendez, Shirley C. Menendez: Christmas Songs Made in America: Favorite Holiday Melodies and the Stories of Their Origins. Cumberland House Publishing, 1999, ISBN 1-58182-046-1 .
- Russ Bynum: Jingle Bells' dispute jangles on . In: The Washington Times , December 24, 2007, p. 1; Associated Press, December 24, 2003; edited in 2 towns squabble over from whom 'Bells' great . In: Chicago Sun-Times , December 24, 2003.
Web links
- Jingle Bells in the Gutenberg project
- James Lord Pierpont (1822-1893) at hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ J. Pierpont: One Horse Open Sleigh . Oliver Ditson & Co., Boston, deposited 1857 with Library of Congress, American Memory , accessed December 31, 2006
- ↑ The Life and Music of James Lord Pierpont Margaret DeBolt, Milton Rahn, and Jamie Keena ( Memento of the original from February 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Historical Georgia Society video, accessed December 31, 2006
- ↑ Jingle Bells? How come? ( Memento of the original from August 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Unitarian Universalist Church of Savannah, Georgia, accessed December 16, 2007
- ↑ Mark Israel: Jingle Bells . ( Memento of the original from January 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. The fast-access FAQ, alt.usage.english newsgroup; accessed on December 31, 2006
- ↑ When orbiting pranksters Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford launched into “Jingle Bells,” Mission Control almost lost control . ( Memento of the original from May 1, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Smithsonian Magazine , December 2005, pp. 25 ff .; Retrieved December 16, 2007
- ↑ A little white snowman . Roy Black. about.com; accessed on December 31, 2006
- ^ Vive le vent , French chorus and literal English translation, about.com, accessed December 31, 2006
- ^ Vive le vent , verses and choruses, paroles.net, accessed December 31, 2006
- ↑ andrewbond.ch ( Memento of the original dated December 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
