Bill Haley & His Comets - Jingle Bell Rock (1968)

Led by former country and western singer, Bill Haley, this band is credited as being the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll music to a white audience. Although they had success in the charts with earlier rock and roll releases, it was their hit “Rock Around the Clock” that was noted for thrusting rock and roll into the mainstream culture of the 1950s.

This song, written by Joseph Beal and James Boothe, was first and most popularly recorded by Bobby Helms in 1957. The version heard below was intended to be released in 1968, but became lost for nearly thirty years before finally being released in the mid-1990s. Although I’m partial to the original, it’s interesting to hear an alternate version that was thought to have been lost.



Bill Haley & His Comets - Jingle Bell Rock (1968)

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Lyrics:

Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring
Snowin’ and blowin’ up bushels of fun
Now the jingle hop has begun

Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time
Dancin’ and prancin’ in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air

What a bright time; it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go glidin’ in a one-horse sleigh
Giddy-up, jingle horse, pick up your feet
Jingle around the clock
Mix and a-mingle in the jingling feet
That's the jingle bell rock

Woah jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time
Dancin’ and prancin’ in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air

What a bright time; well it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go glidin’ in a one-horse sleigh
Giddy-up, jingle horse, pick up your feet
Jingle around the clock
Mix and mingle in the jingling feet
That's the jingle bell-
That's the jingle bell-
That's the jingle bell rock