Ideation for Lyrical Literacy Xmas Songs

This video is part of an ideation exercise for lyrical literacy, the idea of using song lyrics as texts to read, discuss and learn from. The captions contain no spoken commentary. What they carry is a full sung performance of Jingle Bells, so the song's own words are the material on offer. This article looks at what those words contain.

A song that opens with a scene

The first verse sets the scene in a few lines: dashing through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh, over the fields, laughing all the way. A sleigh with bells on the bobtail horse ring and make spirits bright. The verse ends by naming the activity itself, a sleighing song tonight. In a classroom or workshop, this is a useful first move for a reader: before any analysis, the lyric tells you where you are, what is moving, and what mood the speaker is in.

The chorus as a repeated anchor

After each verse the same chorus returns: jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, followed by the line about the fun of riding in a one-horse open sleigh. In the performance in this video the chorus is sung twice in a row after each verse. Repetition like this gives a listener something to hold on to and makes the song easy to join in on, which matters for anyone thinking about song lyrics as a literacy text. It also gives a clear contrast to the verses, which carry the narrative while the chorus carries the feeling.

The verses tell a small story

The second verse turns into an anecdote. A day or two earlier, the speaker took a ride, and soon Miss Fanny Bright was seated by his side. The horse is described as lean and lank, and misfortune seemed his lot. The ride ends badly: the sleigh gets into a drifted bank and everyone is upset, meaning overturned. The humor comes from the gap between the cheerful chorus and the small disaster in the verse.

The third verse continues in the same comic spirit. The speaker says he went out on the snow and fell on his back. A gentleman riding by in a one-horse open sleigh laughs at him as he lies sprawling, and then quickly drives away. For a literacy exercise, this is a good place to ask who is telling the story, how the speaker feels about the mishap, and why the song keeps its cheerful tone anyway.

A closing verse that gives advice

The last verse changes direction and speaks to the listener. The ground is white, so go it while you are young. It tells the listener to take the girls tonight and sing this sleighing song. It then gives practical advice: get a bobtail bay, a horse with a speed of 2:14, hitch him to an open sleigh, and crack the whip to take the lead. The shift from storytelling to instruction is one more feature a reader can notice and discuss, along with the way the final verse ends mid-action as the caption breaks off.

What a reader can take from the lyrics

Reading the text of the song closely shows several things at once:

• a verse and chorus structure, with the chorus repeated for emphasis
• a narrator who speaks in the first person and tells a short story
• named characters and concrete details, such as Miss Fanny Bright, the lean and lank horse and the drifted bank
• humor built from mishaps rather than from jokes
• a final verse that turns toward direct address and advice

Key takeaways

• The video presents Jingle Bells in full as source material for a lyrical literacy project.
• The captions contain only the sung lyrics, with no spoken explanation.
• The chorus repeats and anchors the song, while the verses carry the story.
• The verses include a scene, a mishap with a sleigh, a fall in the snow and a closing piece of advice.
• Concrete details and humor make the lyrics easy to discuss as a text.
• Familiar songs can be a low-barrier way into close reading.

Try it yourself

Pick one verse of Jingle Bells and read it aloud without the tune. Then write down who is speaking, what happens, and what feeling the chorus adds. Repeat the exercise with another Christmas song and compare how each one mixes story with refrain.