The song “One Horse Open Sleigh” was written as a Thanksgiving tune to honour sleigh races happening in Massachusetts. People liked it so much they altered the lyrics to create the popular Christmas song “Jingle Bells”.
“Jingle Bells” is one of the best-known and commonly sung American songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont and published under the title “One Horse Open Sleigh” in the autumn of 1857
“Jingle Bells” was first recorded by the Edison Male Quartette in 1898 on an Edison cylinder.
In 1902, the Hayden Quartet recorded the song.
In 1935, Benny Goodman and His Orchestra reached No. 18 on the charts with their recording of “Jingle Bells.”
In 1941, Glenn Miller and His Orchestra with Tex Beneke, Marion Hutton, Ernie Caceres and the Modernaires on vocals had a No. 5 hit with “Jingle Bells” on RCA Victor.
In 1943, Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters recorded “Jingle Bells” on Decca which reached No. 19 on the charts and sold over a million copies.
In 1951, Les Paul had a No. 10 hit with a multi-tracked version on guitar.
In 1955, Don Charles, from Copenhagen, Denmark, recorded a novelty version with dogs barking to the melody of “Jingle Bells,” which sold a million copies in 1955.
Among all these recordings, it was Bing Crosby with The Andrews Sisters who made the song the most popular. Their 1943 recording