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One Horse?
Author: TriSec
Date: 12/20/2025 13:33:07
Good Morning!
You know, it seems to me that the entire premise of the holiday season is that riding in a singular, quadruped-drawn, runnered conveyence is some kind of sublime pinnacle.
I'll not be posting any videos of why it isn't. This is a family website after all. Nevertheless, let's consider that singular horse. Wouldn't two be better? Why not a Russian "troika"? It's such a legendary arrangement that Sergei Prokofiev wrote one of his most famous melodies about it. (Yes, you know it.)
But how about four horses like Ben-Hur? That would be even better still, right?
Well, OK....maybe not.
But let's consider that famed holiday tune. OF COURSE you know it's from Boston, right??
(And for bonus points - name the two other Christmas songs associated with the City of Boston.)
Incredibly, a 19th century recording of the tune still exists. There are some slight differences, but it is still Jingle Bells.
Not sure that's going to be in my background music for the next few days. Christmas Prep starts today, as I'll be off to the market in a bit for a first round of shopping. I have returned to retail for the duration; I'm still on the fence over whether or not I'll stay after the season is over. I hope everything is going well in your world as we begin our initial descent to land 2025.
Of course - I won't leave you hanging here.
actually -->
You know, it seems to me that the entire premise of the holiday season is that riding in a singular, quadruped-drawn, runnered conveyence is some kind of sublime pinnacle.
I'll not be posting any videos of why it isn't. This is a family website after all. Nevertheless, let's consider that singular horse. Wouldn't two be better? Why not a Russian "troika"? It's such a legendary arrangement that Sergei Prokofiev wrote one of his most famous melodies about it. (Yes, you know it.)
But how about four horses like Ben-Hur? That would be even better still, right?
Well, OK....maybe not.
But let's consider that famed holiday tune. OF COURSE you know it's from Boston, right??
James Lord Pierpont originally copyrighted the song with the name "The One Horse Open Sleigh" on September 16, 1857. The songwriting credit given was "Song and Chorus written and composed by J. Pierpont." Possibly intended as a drinking song, it did not become a Christmas song until decades after it was first performed. Pierpont dedicated the song to John P. Ordway, Esq., an organizer of a troupe called "Ordway's Aeolians".
It is an unsettled question where and when Pierpont originally composed the song that would become known as "Jingle Bells". A plaque at 19 High Street in the center of Medford Square in Medford, Massachusetts, commemorates the "birthplace" of "Jingle Bells", and claims that Pierpont wrote the song there in 1850, at what was then the Simpson Tavern. Previous local history narratives claim the song was inspired by the town's popular sleigh races during the 19th century. Researcher Kyna Hamil proposes that the song was composed in Boston, before Pierpont moved to Savannah in the fall of 1857.
(And for bonus points - name the two other Christmas songs associated with the City of Boston.)
Incredibly, a 19th century recording of the tune still exists. There are some slight differences, but it is still Jingle Bells.
Not sure that's going to be in my background music for the next few days. Christmas Prep starts today, as I'll be off to the market in a bit for a first round of shopping. I have returned to retail for the duration; I'm still on the fence over whether or not I'll stay after the season is over. I hope everything is going well in your world as we begin our initial descent to land 2025.
Of course - I won't leave you hanging here.
actually -->
