Introduction
This is a song about doing something fun with your friends. A lot of people think it’s a Christmas song, but it really isn’t! Believe it or not, it’s really just a winter song.
In the song, the main character has a fun time riding in a one horse open sleigh in the wintertime. It is actually a pretty funny song because after the first verse, (that’s the part that goes, “dashing through the snow…”) something funny happens to the sleigh in each verse afterward.
Here are the lyrics with an explanation.
Lyrics
The Words
Dashing through the snow, in a one-horse open sleigh
O’er the fields we go, laughing all the way
Bells on bob tail ring, making spirits bright
What fun it is to ride and sing, a sleighing song tonight!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.
Oh! what fun 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 Fanny Bright was seated by my side,
The horse was lean and lank, misfortune seemed his lot
He crashed into a drifted bank and there we got upsot.
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 at me as there I there lay, but quickly drove away.
The Explanation
Dashing is going fast and a one-horse open sleigh is a sleigh that has no top and is pulled by one horse, like the photo above. The bells are on the horse, a bobtail. Making spirits bright means making everyone happy.
I think Miss Fanny Bright was his girlfriend, (yuck) and they went for a ride together. Lean and lank means skinny and weak; not good things for a horse to be. A drifted bank is a pile of snow blown by the wind. The horse crashed into a pile of snow and the sleigh flipped over. “Upsot” is a poetic way of using the work “upset,” which is a play on words. They flipped the sleigh and got angry, or upset. Get it? Hee hee.
This verse is simple. He walks out on the snow and slips and falls on his back, (or backside) and some guy drove by in a one horse open sleigh and laughed and him and drove away. Ouch! How embarrasing!
Listen
The Lesson
Sheet Music
Piano
Piano ALTERNATE CHALLENGE VERSION
Looking for more of a challenge? Try this one!!
https://www.virtualsheetmusic.com/score/JingleBells.html
Note: There are 2 G Clefs and 1 F Clef in that sheet music. Here’s how they work:
Ukulele
Guitar
Recorder
Xylophone or On-Screen Piano
Don’t Forget!
You can look up the ukulele chords and guitar chords and get help with reading tablature,
playing the recorder or rhythm (percussion) instruments right here on my website!