[2][7] James Lord Pierpont originally copyrighted the song with the name "The One Horse Open Sleigh" on September 16, 1857.

Previous local history narratives claim the song was inspired by the town's popular sleigh races during the 19th century.

[10] Researcher Kyna Hamil proposes that the song was composed in Boston, before Pierpont moved to Savannah in the fall of 1857.

[2] The song was republished in 1859 by Oliver Ditson and Company, 277 Washington Street, Boston, with the new title "Jingle Bells; or, The One Horse Open Sleigh".

[7][12] The double meaning of "upsot" (an old variant of the past tense of "upset") was thought humorous, as a sleigh ride gave an unescorted couple a rare chance to be together, unchaperoned, in distant woods or fields, with all the opportunities that afforded.

[7] James Lord Pierpont's 1857 composition "Jingle Bells" became one of the most performed and most recognizable secular holiday songs ever written, not only in the United States, but around the world.

[citation needed] "Jingle Bells" was first recorded by banjoist Will Lyle on October 30, 1889 (attested A T E Wangemann Logbook, p. 114), on an Edison cylinder, but no surviving copies are known to exist.

In 1941, Glenn Miller and His Orchestra with Tex Beneke, Marion Hutton, Ernie Caceres, and the Modernaires on vocals had a No.

5 hit on the Billboard pop singles chart with a big band arrangement of "Jingle Bells" on RCA Victor as Bluebird 11353-A.

In 2001, House of Mouse version, sung by Wayne Allwine, Russi Taylor, and Bill Farmer.

[citation needed] "Jingle Bells" was one of the first songs to be broadcast from space, in a Christmas-themed prank by Gemini 6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra.

[19] Music historian James Fuld notes that (as opposed to an adjective), "the word jingle in the title and opening phrase is apparently an imperative verb.

"[20] In the winter in New England in pre-automobile days, it was common to adorn horses' harnesses with straps bearing bells as a way to avoid collisions at blind intersections, since a horse-drawn sleigh in snow produces almost no audible noise.

In the second verse, the narrator takes a ride with a girl and loses control of the sleigh: A day or two ago I thought I'd take a ride And soon, Miss Fanny Bright Was seated by my side, The horse was lean and lank Misfortune seemed his lot He got into a drifted bank And then we got upsot.

|: chorus :| In the last verse, after relating his experience, he gives advice to a friend to pick up some girls, find a faster horse, and take off at full speed: 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 as his speed[b] Hitch him to an open sleigh And snap!

A day or two ago I tho't I'd take a ride And soon Miss Fannie Bright Was seated by my side.

The progression of descending chords in the original refrain (A♭–E♭/G–Fm–C–D♭–A♭/E♭–E♭7–A♭; in Roman numeral analysis, I–V6–vi–V/vi–IV–I64–V7–I) bears some resemblance to that of Pachelbel's Canon.

There are several German versions of "Jingle Bells", including Roy Black's "Ein kleiner weißer Schneemann".

[29] The Australian "Aussie Jingle Bells" written by Colin Buchanan, broadly translates the idea of the original song to the summertime Christmas of the Southern hemisphere, making reference to a Holden ute and Kelpie.

Originally recorded and released by Helms in a rockabilly style, "Jingle Bell Rock" has itself since become a Christmas standard.

[31] It consists of 19th and 20th century stylistic variations of "Jingle Bells"[31] and is sometimes performed by classical orchestras for their Christmas concerts.

A piano is also heard playing these notes at the end of Springsteen's version of "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town".

A slow version of the chorus opening forms the conclusion of Stan Freberg's 1957 "Green Chri$tma$", interspersed with cash-register noises.