The song was in the then popular style or genre of 'sleighing songs'. The song was first performed on September 15, 1857, at Ordway Hall in Boston by the blackface minstrel performer Johnny Pell. Sleigh bells were strapped across the horse to make the jingle, jangle sound. The sheet music cover featured a drawing of sleigh bells around the title. The song was republished in 1859 by Oliver Ditson and Company, 277 Washington Street, Boston, with the new title 'Jingle Bells or, The One Horse Open Sleigh'. The songwriting credit was listed as: 'Song and Chorus written and composed by J. 'Jingle Bells' was originally copyrighted with the name 'The One Horse Open Sleigh' on September 16, 1857. Previous local history narratives claim the song was inspired by the town's popular sleigh races during the 19th century.

A plaque at 19 High Street in the center of Medford Square in Medford, Massachusetts, commemorates the 'birthplace' of 'Jingle Bells', and claims that Pierpont wrote the song there in 1850, at what was then the Simpson Tavern. It is an unsettled question where and when Pierpont originally composed the song that would become known as 'Jingle Bells'. Second half of the chorus and other verses It was first recorded in 1889 on an Edison cylinder this recording, believed to be the first Christmas record, is lost, but an 1898 recording also from Edison Records survives.

Although it has no original connection to Christmas, it became associated with winter and Christmas music in the 1860s and 1870s, and it was featured in a variety of parlor song and college anthologies in the 1880s. It has been claimed that it was originally written to be sung by a Sunday school choir for Thanksgiving, or as a drinking song. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and published under the title ' The One Horse Open Sleigh' in the autumn of 1857.

' Jingle Bells' is one of the best-known and most commonly sung American songs in the world. Originally titled as 'The One Horse Open Sleigh' September 16, 1857, by Oliver Ditson & Co., Boston For the comics character, see Jingle Balls. This article is about the traditional winter holiday song.

Melody halloween special