6 Christmas Songs That Aren’t Christmas Songs

Nothing spreads holiday cheer like turning on the radio and listening to some Christmas classics. From “Jingle Bells” to “Sleigh Ride,” it’s hard to imagine the season without them, and even in the heat of summer, it’s hard to hear those “sleigh bells jingling” without slipping into a sing-song mood and taking a mental vacation to the end of the calendar. Christmas songs and the Christmas spirit simply go hand in hand.
Still, it turns out that many of our beloved Christmas lyrics weren’t originally set to music, and some weren’t even written about Christmas at all. Here are the stories behind six of our favorite not-so-Christmassy Christmas carols.

Jingle Bells

Uploaded to YouTube by Universal Music Group

Originally titled “One Horse Open Sleigh,” this tune was written by James Lord Pierpont in 1857. Since then, the song has set many records, including being the first song performed and broadcast from space. Its birthplace is disputed, with Medford, Massachusetts (where Pierpont’s father was a reverend) and Savannah, Georgia (where Pierpont ultimately moved) both claiming to be its home. Its holiday ties are also contested, with many saying that it was written for Thanksgiving. However, research shows it was actually a song about sleigh races, and was first performed in Ordway Hall, a minstrel theater in Boston.

Good King Wenceslas

Uploaded to YouTube by Universal Music Group

“Good King Wenceslaus” was written by John Mason Neale in 1853. It was first published in his collection Carols for Christmastide, which also featured English translations of hymns like “Christ Was Born on Christmas Day” and “Good Christian Men, Rejoice.” The work is about Wenceslaus I, a charitable duke from Bohemia, and was actually written for the Feast of Saint Stephen, a celebration of the first Christian martyr. As the song lyrics state, “Good King Wenceslaus looked out on the Feast of Stephen,” which takes place on December 26 — the day after Christmas.

Winter Wonderland

Uploaded to YouTube by Michael Bublé

The classic “Winter Wonderland” was written by lyricist Richard B. Smith in 1934. That winter, he was being treated for tuberculosis at the West Mountain Sanitarium in Scranton, Pennsylvania. One day, he saw snow falling outside the window and, reminded of snowy days from his childhood in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, he wrote the lyrics — which make no reference to the Christmas holiday. Unfortunately, this was Smith’s last Christmas, as he died of the disease the following September, but not before Felix Bernard set the lyrics to music and cemented his legacy.

Joy to the World

Uploaded to YouTube by The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square

The hymn “Joy to the World” began as a poem written by Isaac Watts in 1719. It was first published in his book The Psalms of David: Imitated in the Language of the New Testament, and Applied to the Christian State of Worship, and only became a song over a century later when Lowell Mason set it to the tune of “Antioch” by George Frideric Handel. Now, it is the most published Christmas carol in North America. However, Watts drew inspiration for the poem from Psalms and Genesis in the Old Testament, not from the Gospels.

Let It Snow

The Official Audio for “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” performed by Dean Martin (Uploaded to YouTube by Dean Martin)

This romantic “Let It Snow” was written by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn in 1945, but not in the wintertime. Instead, they wrote the lyrics in July as they dreamed of cooler temperatures during a heatwave in southern California. It became a Christmas song when Vaughn Monroe recorded it that December.

Interestingly, it was during the same heatwave that Mel Tormé and Bob Wells wrote “The Christmas Song” (“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…”), though Nat King Cole didn’t record it until the following year.

Sleigh Ride

Uploaded to YouTube by the United States Navy Band

Lastly, fan favorite “Sleigh Ride” was written by Leroy Anderson in 1948. Unlike the previous songs, which began as lyrics and eventually acquired music, this one did the opposite. Anderson composed it as an orchestral piece, which the Boston Pops premiered, and it didn’t become a song until Mitchell Parish added the lyrics in 1950. Since then, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers has named it the most popular piece of Christmas music in the United States many times. Funnily enough, it is another song inspired by a heatwave, although this one took place in 194