Jingle Bells parodies

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Parodies of "Jingle Bells" are numerous. Like many simple, catchy, and popular melodies, the American winter holiday song "Jingle Bells" is open to parody.

Numerous parodies start out with the line,

Jingle bells, shotgun shells

Another version that has been common among elementary school children throughout the English-speaking world since the late 1960s at least, is of unknown origin.

Jingle bells, Batman smells,

Robin laid an egg,

The Batmobile lost its wheel

and The Joker got away!

The lyrics have changed over time. The original version of the last line was different, and rhymed with egg:

and Commissioner broke his leg!

By the time the song began appearing in the media the Joker had replaced Commissioner Gordon.

Another one:

Jingle bells, Batman smells Robin laid an egg, Rudolph got a 44 and shot him in the head Barbie doll, barbie doll tried to save But action man from Pakistan stabbed her with a knife!

Another popular parody in the UK is :

Jingle Bells, Batman Smells,

Robin Laid an egg,

The Batmobile lost a wheel,

On the M6 motorway.

Dashing through the snow,

On a pair of broken skis,

Over the hills we go,

Crashing into trees,

The snow is turning red,

I think I might be dead,

All I want this Christmas is an artificial head!

The song has appeared in the 1993 comedy film Look Who's Talking Now as well as the first Simpsons Christmas special (arguably the first episode), and in Jingle All The Way, it is used as a crook's password. It first appeared in a Batman-related media in the Batman: the Animated Series episode "Christmas with the Joker", where, fittingly, it was sung by the Joker as he escaped from Arkham Asylum. The Flash also uses it in reference to Batman on an episode of Justice League Unlimited.

An "instrumental" version of Jingle Bells heard every year (much to the annoyance of many listeners) has the melody rendered by means of dog barks for each note. Attributed to the "Singing Dogs," it was put together by a Danish recorder of bird songs who had removed the barks from his bird tapes, although there are allegations that the sounds were edited to make them on pitch.

Ethnic comedy singer Yogi Yorgesson, perhaps better known for the Dr. Demento favorite, "I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas", also recorded this song from the point of view of a theoretically hardy Nordic type, who finds that riding in the open air in winter can be bone-chilling:

Yingle Bells, Yingle Bells,

Yingle all de vay;

I should have vorn long undervare,

In dat one-horse open sleigh

Stan Freberg references bits of many secular Christmas songs in his 1959 part-song, part-prose "Green Chri$tma$" parody of the over-commercialization of Christmas, including this segment which refers to another famous Christmas song, takes a shot at 1950s cigarette ads, and segues in and out of a version of the song, also referencing the other meaning of "Jingle" as an advertising tune:

Chestnuts roasting...

(Say, Mother, as sure as there's an "X" in "Christmas", you can be sure those are TINE-EE-TIM Chestnuts roasting... etc.)

Tine-ee-Tim, Tine-ee-Tim Chestnuts all the way!

(Tine-ee-Tim's roast hot, like a chestnut ought! And they are mild... mild... mild...)

Jingles here, jingles there, jingles all the way!

Dashing through the snow

In a 50-foot coupé

O'er the fields we go

Selling all the way

The version by Da Yoopers begins this way:

Dashing t'rough da snow

In my rusty Chevrolet

Down da road I go

Sliding all da way

A slightly off-kilter instrumental reference to the song precedes the otherwise original music and lyrics composed by Ray Stevens for his novelty song, "Santa Claus is Watching You!" (He's everywhere! He's everywhere!)

Likewise, the tune is used as instrumental intro to Elmo and Patsy's irreverent novelty song, Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.

Another St. Nick favorite is "Laughing Jingle Bells", consisting entirely of an overly-cheerful man doing the song entirely as different kinds of laughs, only speaking at the end when he says "Merry Christmas!" in a laughing way.

Norelco once advertised their newly-designed electric razors with a jingle that went something like this:

Floating heads, floating heads,

Floating all the way

The Madagascar Penguins: A Christmas Caper had a Jingle Bells-style Song at the end of the movie. It went like this:

Jingle Bells, Monkeys Smell,
Melman laid an egg,
Marty thinks that Alex stinks,
And The Camels say "Oy Vey"!

A neopets version goes like this::

Jingle Bells, Illusen smells The Grarrl laid an egg. The faerie racer lost a thruster, And King Skarl did ballet!

The Brian Setzer Orchestra changed the first occurrence of "one-horse open sleigh" in the chorus to "'57 Chevrolet." This was done to fit the band's swing/rock style.

In addition, other automotive marques have been inserted into the song. For example, one version of the song includes the line "Oh what fun it is to ride in a big red Oldsmobile" because the person who came up with the line was, indeed, riding in the backseat of the car it referred to. (According to the parody's author, who wishes to remain anonymous, it was a 1974 Delta 88 convertible with a white top.)

On a Christmas episode of The Late Show with David Letterman, Dave interacts with different kids, and they sing Jingle Bells, though not always as the original song. One of the kids sings a mild criticism of Letterman, which goes:

You are not, you are not,
You are not funny...

The muppet character Elmo from Sesame Street sings a one word song (which was the topic that was discussed in the segement) sung to Jingle Bells at the end of the Elmo's World segment.

In December 1998 Nintendo used the "Jingle Bells" melody for a song used in their game commercial.