December 9, 2012

“Jingle Bells” Misunderstood

When I was a young child, I was under the mistaken impression that there were two distinct songs, “Jingle Bells” and “Dashing Through the Snow,” that were sometimes sung together. The two melodies seemed too different to be part of the same composition. Somehow, I overlooked the relatedness of the words associated with those melodies, which might have disabused me of my misunderstanding. I don’t remember when I realized that “Jingle Bells” and “Dashing Through the Snow” were really parts of the same song, a song that includes a chorus.

By the way, some interesting facts about “Jingle Bells” can be found on Wikipedia.

Do any readers share my childhood misunderstanding?


One-horse open sleigh

3 comments:

  1. I always knew "JIngle Bells" and "Dashing through the Snow" to be the same song, but there is an entire internet meme about misunderstood lyrics (like Creedence Clearwater Revival's great hit "There's a Bathroom on the Right" or the Jimi Hendrix number "Excuse me while I kiss this guy"). And there's this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9_3nQFNy-w

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  2. And then, of course, there are the misunderstood hymn titles such as “Lead on, O kinky turtle.”

    ReplyDelete

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