I know this one! Woohoo. That must mean it is too easy, Nancy! I think I can still sing all the verses. Poor Fanny. Perhaps they followed up with hot chocolate.

Cynthia

Hmmmm, was the woo part of Cynthia's woohoo a clue? Wondering if I'm on the right track.

TM

If it was a clue, it is only half of the story....lol. But, I'm sure they said, these kids, these days!!

Nancy.

Like Cynthia, I know all the verses to this carol. We have friends on the way over so I am racing around the house picking up papers and getting some cookies baked.

Groupon has a one horse open sleigh ride and dinner special today. Sounds like a fun time.

No, TM, not a clue-at least not that I know. I was just excited to think I do know an answer right off. Now, I will be trying to connect 'woo' to the mix. Feeling stupid again. :)

Always thought it would be fun to do. Chuck was in Bozeman, Montana for a conference one winter and enjoyed this. We weren't married yet and I always wondered who might have been along for the ride. Well, not really, but it seems as though it would be a romantic outing.

Now, back to puzzling over woo...

Cynthia

Woo there Nelly or Lassie or Cynthia! Hold your horses Dad still says. Yes, even at 50 something, he thinks I am a teenager!

ESP again Nancy. I was up late last night making trees and other holiday goodies and as always listening to Christmas carols. Can't do Christmas anything withour seasonal music!

As a kid, I was in every Christmas concert and every Glee club and every lunch hour around the piano in school. I remember speaking of an LA teacher I had in school years ago who was also my home room and music teacher. Very frisky kind of guy who loved drama and music and such. I think Jingle Bells was his favorite song! Oh, there I go again!

Shorter form. I love Christmas songs and they are no exception to my curiousity about lyrics. Yes, I do know this one and it will always remind me of Dad (and Mom) and their youth growing up on the farm.

Have I said enough? :) Going out to pussy foot in the new snow for a bit. Or is that "horse around"? Bet I'm done decorating before you.....Lol!

Ginny

PS TM. Right track. :)

Ginny

mnwsgal is on the right track....not 100% sure about the rest of you!! lol. And btw mnwsgal, they have changed the lyrics quite a bit, since 1857!!

I have two kinds of shortbread done - chocolate, and crystallized ginger. Moving on to gingerbread men, but I am going to make them out of gingersnap cookie dough - I think it is tastier. I don't care if the dough isn't as 'sturdy'. And Ginny, you're probably right - you will be done before me, no doubt!!

Nancy.

I doubt it Nancy! I am so far behind, I think I'm first! "Bet" was the operative clue there! It's not a race for me, Nancy. This old bobtail couldn't beat a snowman in a race but I only do it for the fun anyway! :)

Oh dear. <: rereading my post i realize that said nothing about the answer really only in mind is this better :>Ginny

I was thinking it had to do with Fanny Bryce being wooed, but the hints seem to be pointing toward a race. No stars for me.

TM

lol!!

Well, I think mnwsgal spelled it out, didn't she? At least that was what I was thinking. Still can't connect woo unless you are saying it like whoa.

Cynthia

Shall I put you out of your misery?? They shoot horses, don't they!! Hey, Michael Sarazin died this year, I think....
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"Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and commonly sung winter songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont. As previously stated, he wrote it for your November Thanksgiving - I find that interesting, that in that day, there was enough snow to have sleigh races - and that indeed is what I was going for!!! James Lord Pierpont originally composed his song in 1850. A plaque commemorating the "birthplace" of "Jingle Bells" adorns the side of a building in Medford, Massachusetts. Pierpont wrote the song there, at the former Simpson Tavern, now 19 High Street in the center of Medford Square. According to the Medford Historical Society, the song was inspired by the town's popular sleigh races during the 1800s.
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The song has since passed into public domain.

Music historian James Fuld notes that "the word jingle in the title and opening phrase is apparently an imperative verb." However, today it is commonly taken to mean a certain kind of bell.
So, for mnswgal and honalee:

Now, you know I can't help myself:

Lyrics

The first verse and chorus are the most well-remembered sections of "Jingle Bells":

Dashing through the snow
In a one-horse open sleigh
O'er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
Bells on bobtail ring
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to laugh and sing
A sleighing song tonight!

(chorus)
Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way.
Oh! what fun 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.

Although less well-known than the opening, the remaining verses depict high-speed youthful fun. In the second verse, the narrator takes a ride with a girl and loses control of the sleigh:

A day or two ago
I thought I'd take a ride
And soon, Miss Fanny Bright
Was seated by my side,
The horse was lean and lank
Misfortune seemed his lot
He got into a drifted bank
And then we got upsot.
:: chorus ::

In the next verse (which is often skipped), he falls out of the sleigh and a rival laughs at him:

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.
:: chorus ::

In the last verse, after relating his experience, he gives equestrian advice to a friend to pick up some girls, finds a faster horse, and take off at full speed:

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.
:: chorus ::

Thanks all for playing!! Oh, so many Youtube versions to chose from, but here below is my pick!! How can you beat Der Bingle and the Andrew Sisters??

Nancy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Jingle Bells

Ah, well. I had the sleigh ride, but not the race part. Did know that the singer and Fanny Bright got "upsot" on their ride.

Fun question and great link, too!

Cynthia

Fun question Nancy! I always like the music ones. I was thinking about Mom and Dad cause they always had to take the horses into town. In the winter that meant by sleigh. Dad often spoke of unharnessing the horses after a trip to town and many times on the way in, his boss (sort of foster boss) would warn him not to race the horses!It is cold here and he didn't want them to get sweated up and get chilled, not to mention tiring them out in the deep snow!. As Dad put it, it was like a young man thing to have the best horse and to win the prettiest gal. He also worked the horses in the field in the warm months but that was "work" and not "fun and fancy"!

I can only imagine life back then when I complain about having to brush off my truck and warm it up in the winter here........I'd never have made it in those days.....

Hope all your Christmas prep goes well. I am even getting my DH involved in the decorations this year.
Surprises the H E double hockey sticks out of me!

Ginny

PS Just to add an extra bit of trivia, Dad tells me they put the bells on the horses harnesses to warn other teams or drivers they were coming in say a blizzard or such.

Fun question and answer, Nancy. Sorry if I am a little thick-headed, but was the final answer to the question a race? Just wondering what I am missing in the lyrics.

TM

The last verse is the hint at the race bit - two forty is his speed - Two forty refers to a mile in two minutes and forty seconds at the trot, or 22.5 miles per hour. This is a good speed, and suggests the horse should be a Standardbred. - according to Wikipedia. The horse in the picture is a Standardbred.

Also, to Cyn - upsot is considered to a cross between sot, as in 'drunken sot', and upset. Little wonder the song was written at a tavern!!

Nancy.

To me, the last line in the last verse is the one that indicates racing, "and crack you'll take the lead."