It debuted in the motion picture The Lemon Drop Kid (1951), where it was started by William Frawley,[1] then sung in the generally known version immediately thereafter by Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell.

[1] The first recorded version was by Bing Crosby and Carol Richards on September 8, 1950, with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra and the Lee Gordon Singers.

Several periodicals and interviews cite writer Jay Livingston stating that the song's inspiration came from the bells used by sidewalk Santa Clauses and Salvation Army solicitors on New York City street corners.

[5][6][7] However, in an interview with NPR, co-writer Ray Evans said that the song was inspired by a bell that sat on an office desk that he shared with Livingston.

[15] In 2009 the song charted in the United Kingdom for the first time when a duet by Terry Wogan and Aled Jones that had been recorded for charity reached the Top 40, peaking at No.