Jingle Bells!

È Natale, è tempo di Jingle Bells! Sapete che questa canzone, in origine, non c’entrava nulla con il Natale? Celebrava delle gare in slitta… Dopo aver letto la storia, ascoltate la versione del nostro Chuck Rolando!

Speaker: Chuck Rolando (Standard American accent)

They say that the modern Christmas was invented in Victorian England. Three people played an important role: Charles Dickens, who wrote A Christmas Carol in 1843, Henry Cole,  who created the first Christmas card that year, and Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s German husband, who introduced German traditions like the Christmas Tree. But the most famous Christmas song, “Jingle Bells,” comes from the United States.

NORTH AND SOUTH

The original title of “Jingle Bells” was “One Horse Open Sleigh“ (1) and the composer was James Lord Pierpont. Pierpont lived in Medford, Massachusetts, in New England, but later moved to Savannah, Georgia, in the Deep South.  His song was first published in 1857, when he was living in Savannah. But according to a plaque in Medford, he wrote the song there in 1850. But another plaque in Savannah doesn’t mention Medford.  Instead it tells us that Pierpont was the music director at a church in Savannah. The plaque also tells us that he was the uncle of the famous banker, John Pierpont Morgan, or J.P. Morgan. It also tells us that Pierpont fought (2), on the Confederate side, in the Civil War.

HIT RECORDS

Ironically, this famous Christmas song isn’t about Christmas. According to the plaque in Medford it was about sleigh races (3) in the town. It was also about winter in general, but it soon became associated with the festive season. Pierpont died in 1893. The first recording of “Jingle Bells” was made by the Edison Male Quartet, five years later, in 1898.  The list of artists who have recorded “Jingle Bells” is endless (4): Bing Crosby, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, The Beatles and Luciano Pavarotti. But the most original version was recorded in space. In December 1965 three astronauts aboard Gemini VI told Mission Control they could see a strange object entering the Earth’s atmosphere. They then played “Jingle Bells” on a harmonica.

THE SONG

LANGUAGE LEVEL C1 (ADVANCED)

Speaker: Chuck Rolando (Standard American accent)

(sotto traduzione in italiano)

Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun 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

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
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh!

Suonate campane, suonate campane
suonate per tutta la strada
che spasso andare su una slitta trainata da un cavallo
Suonate campane, suonate campane
suonate per tutta la strada
Oh! che spasso andare in slitta!

Correndo sulla neve,
su una slitta trainata da un cavallo,
attraversiamo i campi, ridendo per tutta la strada
le campane sulla coda del cavallo suonano,
rallegrando gli spiriti
Che spasso andare in slitta e cantare una canzone da slitta stasera

Suonate campane, suonate campane
suonate per tutta la strada
che spasso andare su una slitta trainata da un cavallo
Suonate campane, suonate campane
suonate per tutta la strada
Oh! che spasso andare in slitta!

GLOSSARY

1 One Horse Open Sleigh: una slitta aperta trainata da un cavallo
2 fought: combatté
3 sleigh races: corse in slitta
4 endless: infinita