Jingle Bells Christmas Song Started as a Drinking Song written by a ‘Jerk’

The truth about Jingle Bells – drag racing, drunk driving, a deadbeat dad and conspiracy theories

Here’s the truth about Jingle Bells. It’s not a Christmas song — it’s a Thanksgiving song. It’s not a jolly family song — it’s a drinking song. It’s at the centre of a nasty dispute, and it was written by a ‘jerk’.

The real story of Jingle Bells starts on the banks of the Mystic River in New England, just upstream from Boston, in Medford, Mass.

If you walk along High Street, and stop at Rosetti Optical, you’ll find a plaque, which reads

Jingle Bells composed here.

On this site stood the Simpson Tavern, where in 1850, James Pierpont wrote the song Jingle Bells.