I was approached by Brian over at Silber Records to record a version of Jingle Bells for a Christmas release he was working on for December, 2020. I'm not a Christmas person by any means but I dig being supportive of peoples endeavors so I said yes. After digging into "Jingles Bells" I was pretty shocked to learn I knew nothing at all about this song.
A) It was originally called "One Horse Open Sleigh".
B) It wasn't originally a Christmas song.
C) The original melody was WAY cooler than what we have now.
D) It's about dudes racing their sleighs around and picking up chicks. So it's basically the "Jesus Built My Hotrod" of 1857.
Yeah yeah yeah... I know that might be stretching it a bit but I love me some Ministry and I was loving that this supposed Christmas song wasn't what I thought it was. Feeling inspired I did what any good Industrial fan does... grab a shruti box and start recording. After things starting coming into some kind of recognizable form I reached out to a number of friends with skills far greater than I and not too long later we have this version of "One Horse Open Sleigh" to show for it... and I think it's pretty killer. Hope you dig it.
-Chvad SB
lyrics
Dashing thro' the snow,
In a one-horse open sleigh,
O'er the hills we go,
Laughing all the way;
Bells on bob tail ring,
Making spirits bright,
Oh what sport to ride and sing
A sleighing song tonight.
Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way;
Oh! what joy 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.
A day or two ago
I tho't I'd take a ride
And soon Miss Fannie Bright
Was seated by my side.
The horse was lean and lank
Misfortune seemed his lot
He got into a drifted bank
And we - we got upsot.
Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way;
Oh! what joy 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.
A day or two ago,
The story I must tell
I went out on the snow,
And on my back I fell;
A gent was riding by
In a one-horse open sleigh,
He laughed as there I sprawling lie,
But quickly drove away.
Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way;
Oh! what joy 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.
Now the ground is white
Go it while you're young,
Take the girls tonight
and sing this sleighing song;
Just get a bobtailed bay
Two forty as his speed
Hitch him to an open sleigh
And crack! you'll take the lead.
Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way;
Oh! what joy 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.
credits
from One Horse Open Sleigh,
released December 17, 2020
Chvad SB: shruti box, electronics
Truus De Groot: vocals
Susan Murphy: uilleann pipes, low D whistle, bflat whistle
Rossen Nedelchev: drums, percussion
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