Jingle Bells: the story behind the carol

James Lord Pierpont copyrighted it on September 16, 1857, under the title "The One Horse Open Sleigh". It wasn't written as a Christmas song at all: it's a winter "sleighing song" about racing sleighs, flirting and tipping over into a snowdrift.

Two towns still argue over it: Medford, Massachusetts, has a plaque saying Pierpont wrote it there in 1850, while Savannah, Georgia — where he lived when it was published — claims it too. Neither has proof. The popular story that it was written for a Thanksgiving program is also unconfirmed.

The song only became a Christmas favorite decades later, as sleigh bells came to mean winter holidays.