"Jingle Bells" Is A Thanksgiving Song: What?

As one of the best-loved songs of the Christmas season, "Jingle Bells" has become part of our holiday culture, but there's more to this charming kitty than meets Cannes. For one thing, "Jingle Bells" is a Thanksgiving song, not a Christmas song, but it's just the tip of the snowball. Let's take a closer look at the history of this famous song, how it came to be and how it became the standard of Christmas.

Mira... thanks?

Listen carefully to the lyrics of "Jingle Bells" and you will realize that there is no reference to Christmas or December holidays. It simply encapsulates the joys of winter and the throngs of snow shoveling in a horse-drawn sleigh. So it surprisingly makes sense that "Jingle Bells" was written for Thanksgiving. It was first performed during the Thanksgiving Day service, after which it was often performed at the time of Thanksgiving.

Some verses are a bit juicy

Please retrieve your hat because we're about to blow it up again: "Jingle Bells" has more than one verse. Most of the time, we only hear the first verse about the pleasures of a snowy sleigh ride, but the original song continues with a surprising mix of sex and violence. In one poem, the narrator of the song talks about trying to take a girl and impress her with the speed of his sleigh, while another verse tells of two young men who die with disastrous consequences. With you pull your sleigh. In another poem, the narrator of the song slips on an icy road and falls on his back, while a passing sleigh, possibly a friend of the narrator, laughs and points to the unfortunate companion. So much for the goodwill towards men.

Jingle All The Way...to Space

"Jingle Bells" has the honor of being the first song to be broadcast from space. Just before Christmas 1965, Gemini 6 astronauts contacted Mission Control to report a strange object moving away from the North Pole, noting that it appeared to have a low Earth orbit. Mission Control was quite concerned about this incident until the astronauts began playing "Jingle Bells", Astronaut Wally Schirra played the harmonica and Tom Stafford rang the sleigh.

"Jingle Bells" Was Written by JP Morgan's Crazy Uncle

This deceptively rude winter anthem was written by songwriter James Lord Pierpont, brother-in-law of millionaire businessman Junius Spencer Morgan. The eldest son of Morgan and Pierpont's sister was John Pierpont "J.P.". Morgan, who went on to become one of the most powerful and wealthiest financiers of the 1800s. While JPMorgan was a successful businessman like his father, James Lord Pierpont played the freewheeling, paranoid uncle.