THE FIRST RECORDING
Jingle Bells was first recorded in 1889, and it was recorded on one of Edison's cylinders, actually making it the first holiday song ever recorded.
BROADCAST FROM SPACE
Fast forward to 1965 on the Gemini VI rocket up in space, middle of December. Two of the astronauts decided to have a little bit of fun. They radioed Mission Control and reported an unidentified object orbiting the Earth around the North Pole and working its way south. They then told Mission Control they were going to try to capture some data from it.
What they actually did was pull out a small harmonica and some bells they had smuggled on board and proceeded to play Jingle Bells for Mission Control, making it not only the first holiday song, but the first song period ever broadcast from space.
IS IT A CHRISTMAS SONG?
The funny thing is, Jingle Bells really isn't a Christmas song. When it was originally written, it was written about just being a sleigh ride. A bunch of people getting together, having a ride through the countryside and the snow and the bells. It really had nothing to do with Christmas.
PLAGIARIZED?
In fact, some musicologists have looked at the original, which was written by James Pierpoint, who, as it turns out, was ultimately the uncle to J.P. Morgan. The musicologists think that what he did was take lyrics from other popular songs of the day, mashed them together, added a melody to it and sold and published it quickly so he could get a bunch of cash.
That my be cynical, and whether it's true or not, it really doesn't matter.
THE SONG RESONATES
Because, out of all the songs that were in circulation back then, something resonated in this song and made it popular. By the 1870s and 1880s, it was a regular staple in people's holiday songs, and it went on to be the number one most popular secular Christian song of all time.
SO WHY "JINGLE BELLS"?
Why am I talking about Jingle Bells besides the fact that I really like it? Well, late last week, my mother-in-law sent me a video clip, a social media clip, and it was a video from 2009 from a PBS Christmas special done by Andrea Bocelli. He is an Italian tenor who sings both opera and pop songs. He had just put out a Christmas album and this special was helping him promote that album.
ENTER THE MUPPETS
Well, at one point they introduced the Muppets to come sing with him. When they introduced the name of the song as Jingle Bell, the Muppets were all excited. “Oh, Jingle Bells. I know that song. I love that song.That's my favorite song.”
ANDREA SINGS...SLOW
Well Andrea starts singing "Jingle Bells" he does a slow operatic version. The Muppets look at each other like, “Is this the same song? It's not right. This isn't right.” They eventually figure out that he's singing the right song, but way too slow in their mind.
MUPPETS TRY TO HURRY HIM UP
So Kermit the Frog stops him and says, “Andrea, no, no. It's supposed to be faster like this.” And the Muppets start singing it upbeat.
Andrea listens for a little bit, and then he resumes singing in his slow pace. But he's modified it ever so slightly so that it's actually falling within the quiet spaces of their upbeat version, giving a nice syncopation and putting together a really beautiful version.
It was awesome! It was great. And it got me thinking kind of traditions.
DIFFERING TRADITIONS
See, to the Muppets, the tradition was to sing "Jingle Bells" fast. To Andrea, the tradition was to sing it slow. But what they did is blend the two traditions together to make something even greater.
THE CHALLENGE
That's my challenge to you. This holiday season, you're going to run across hundreds, if not thousands of different traditions, things that may seem foreign to you. But they are traditions that are important to others. Everybody's got traditions they really love and hold on to.
I want you to open your mind and learn about those traditions, appreciate those traditions and expand your knowledge of Christmas. It's great to learn about people's traditions.
BE READY TO BLEND
Now, if you find yourself in a household or a new relationship or even a workplace where there's a couple of traditions that seem to be butting heads, see if you can find a way to blend the two traditions in such a way that you make something even greater. Because that would be in the spirit of Christmas!
TOMORROW....TREES
Tomorrow I'm going to talk about Christmas trees. I know that took me a real long time to get to that.
Hey, guys, don't forget, we NEED Christmas and have a great day.
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