Every Christmas, the familiar song Jingle Bells resonates all over the world. Despite its popularity, many people may not know the special facts about this song.
J.P. Morgan’s Uncle Composed Jingle Bells
The nephew of the composer is J.P. Morgan. According to findings by author and historian Christopher Klein, the composer James Lord Pierpont’s older sister, Juliet Pierpont, married millionaire Junius Spencer Morgan. Their son, John Pierpont Morgan, founded one of the largest financial institutions in the world – J.P. Morgan.
The Song’s Birthplace
There are two historical plaques in two cities, each claiming to be the birthplace of the Christmas song Jingle Bells.
Jingle Bells was not originally composed as a Christmas song, although many people think it was.
One plaque in Medford, Massachusetts, suggests that Pierpont wrote the song in 1850 while sitting in a tavern watching sleigh races on Salem Street. This is disputed by research from Hamill, who claims that Pierpont could not have written the song in 1850 because he was earning money in the California Gold Rush at that time.
Additionally, there is a plaque in Savannah, Georgia, where people insist that the song was written in late 1857 before it was first sung in a local church.
Hamill suggests that it is likely Pierpont wrote the song in a rented house not far from where he lived in downtown Boston in 1857.
Jingle Bells Was Not Originally Composed as a Christmas Song
The song was actually first performed at a Thanksgiving service in a church and was not intended to become a Christmas song – as historian Klein notes, according to CNN. If you listen to the lyrics, you will notice that it does not actually mention Christmas, Thanksgiving, or any holidays.
The song became associated with Christmas several decades later when it was performed on September 15, 1857, on Washington Street in Boston, according to a researcher at Boston University, Kyna Hamill.
The Author of Jingle Bells Was Not Exactly a “Family Man”
The composer of “Jingle Bells” was the son of the abolitionist minister John Pierpont. From a young age, James Lord Pierpont sought adventures far from his family in Boston.
At 14, he dropped out of boarding school, joined the crew of a whaling ship, and spent nearly a decade at sea. When the California Gold Rush occurred in 1849, Pierpont left his wife and children in Massachusetts to seek wealth in the West.
Returning home a few years later, no richer than when he left, Pierpont left his family again in 1853 to become the church organist at a Unitarian church in Savannah, Georgia, where his brother served as minister.
A few months after the death of his first wife in 1856, the musician married the daughter of the mayor of Savannah and left two children from his first marriage in the North with their grandfather.
Pierpont Did Not Make Much Money from “Jingle Bells”
Despite its “strange” origins, Jingle Bells became a beloved song worldwide. After the hit by Bing Crosby and The Andrew Sisters, Frank Sinatra decided to record Jingle Bells in the 1940s. He followed this with another version in 1957 – the year the first “Frank Sinatra Christmas” television special aired – for the album A Jolly Christmas From Frank Sinatra by Capitol Records.
Jingle Bells has also attracted countless top jazz musicians, including Duke Ellington, Anita O’Day, Ella Fitzgerald, Dave Brubeck, and more, all of whom recorded their versions of Jingle Bells. Even organ maestro Jimmy Smith turned the song into a fun instrumental version for his album Christmas ’64 on Verve Records.
However, Pierpont’s death in 1893 meant he did not earn much from Jingle Bells. Pierpont primarily made a living by teaching piano. Yet today, this song has become a classic in popular music and could have made him a millionaire.
Jingle Bells Was the First Song Broadcast from Space
On December 16, 1965, in space, Gemini 6 astronauts Walter M. “Wally” Schirra Jr. and Thomas P. Stafford met Gemini 7 astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell, joking with ground control that they saw Santa Claus piloting… a spacecraft and played Jingle Bells on harmonica, transmitting it from space back to Earth.
The Original Title of the Song Was One Horse Open Sleigh
The song was originally titled One Horse Open Sleigh when it was written in 1857, with content not quite suitable for a church, referencing sleigh racing… Later, Pierpont registered the copyright as “Jingle Bells, or One Horse Open Sleigh.”
