Popular songs

This section is for popular English folksongs/rhymes.

Here the very popular winter song, ‘Jingle Bells’ is given. This song was written by James Lord Pierpont, a minister (a cleric) (1822-1893) in New England for a Boston Sunday School Thanksgiving. It was copyrighted on Sep 26 1857 under the title ‘One Horse Open Sleigh’. It is not really a Christmas Song, but then it is very much connected to Christmas all over the world. Possibly this is so, because Christmas is connected to wintertime in the northern hemisphere of the globe. Moreover, the rhymes and the tinkling sound of the bells that accompany the words, and the sheer delightful tone of the lines, gives the feel of Santa Claus arriving. Santa Claus comes riding on his sleigh driven by reindeers, to the accompaniment of jingling bells, over the snow and fields!

Jingle Bells

Dashing through the snow,

In a one-horse open sleigh,

O’er the fields we go,

Laughing all the way,

Bells on bobtails ring,

Making spirits bright,

What fun it is to laugh and sing

A sleighing song tonight!

Jingle bells, jingle bells,

Jingle all the way;

Oh! What joy it is to ride

In a one-horse open sleigh.

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 got into a drifted bank,

And then 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 as there I sprawling lie,

But quickly drove away.

Now the ground is white,

Go it while you’re young,

Take the girls tonight

And sing this sleighing song;

Just get a bob tailed bay,

Two forty as his speed,

Hitch him to an open sleigh,

And crack! You’ll take the lead.