This episode was written and hosted by Annie Zaleski. She is a music writer who has been published by Guardian, NPR Music, and Rolling Stone, and more. And she's the author of a book you need for the holiday season, This Is Christmas: Song By Song. Buy it on Bookshop.org, and signed copies are available for a limited time from Mac's Books.

 

 

RESOURCES

Bobby Helms 'Sang Like Dynamite' (Indianapolis Star)

'Jingle Bell Rock' Creator Gets Scrooged by Nashville (Folio Weekly)

Nashville Conspiracy? The Strange Story Of Bobby Helms (Classic Bands)

The Cash Box Disk of the Week (Record Review)

"Jingle Bell Hop" in the ASCAP repertory database 

West Texas Quarterly (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

Sweetwater Ex in Tin Pan Alley (Abilene Reporter-News)

WTTV Stars to Play at Donner (The Republic)

Twilight of a Legend (The Miami Herald)

Short Takes:‘Jingle Bell Rock’ a Yule Classic (The Los Angeles Times)

Joseph Carleton Beal, Jack Terry, and "Unsuspecting Heart" (Cash Box)

Beal Leaves Worldwide, Will Open Own Ad Agency

Jingle Bell Rocker Making a Comeback (The Daily Journal)

Holiday Classics Again Rule Top 20 Testing Christmas Songs (Inside Radio)

A Multimillion-Dollar Mystery: Who Really Wrote the Holiday Staple 'Jingle Bell Rock'? (The Los Angeles Times)

‘Jingle Bell Rock’: Bobby Helms’ Rockin’ Christmas Classic (UDiscover)

 

 

TRANSCRIPT

 

Dick Clark introduced a generation of teenagers to “Jingle Bell Rock” by Bobby Helms on the December 18, 1957 episode of American Bandstand.

 

Dick Clark: “We’ve played a few Christmas songs today...But his really is about the only Christmas song that came out this year that got to be anything. And well it should; it’s a nice one. The ‘Jingle Bell Rock’…”

 

Teens on the show danced in time to the music, holding their own jaunty “jingle hop,” as the lyrics say. Decades later, Bobby Helms' “Jingle Bell Rock” is still the source of a lot of hip-swiveling fun. 

 

As of this recording, it’s hanging out at No. 3 on Billboard’s Holiday 100 singles chart, which is where it also stayed most of last year. It’s consistently topped only by Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”  

 

My name is Annie Zaleski, and you’re listening to Have You Heard This One?, a show about the stories from the back pages and hidden corners of music history. I’m a Cleveland-based journalist whose work has appeared in the Guardian, NPR Music and Rolling Stone, among many others. I’m also the author of several music books, most recently This Is Christmas: Song By Song, which delves into the origin stories of one hundred of the most memorable Christmas songs of all time. 

 

Since 2019, the original version of “Jingle Bell Rock” and a 1964 cover by Brenda Lee have both been fixtures on Billboard’s Holiday 100 chart. Over the years, the song has also stayed in the spotlight thanks to new covers by country artists including Reba McEntire, Rascal Flatts, George Strait, Randy Travis, Blake Shelton as a duet with his then-wife Miranda Lambert, and among many, many more. In fact, artists spanning genres have put their twist on the song, from Hall and Oates to Kelly Clarkson to the Fall — which was released as a John Peel session, of course. That’s just a few of the hundreds of versions of “Jingle Bell Rock” that have been recorded in the last 50-plus years. 

 

However, Bobby Helms' version of “Jingle Bell Rock” remains the quintessential take. It’s not just the charts that it tops — there is also its placement in several notable movies. You can hear it over the opening credits of Lethal Weapon, and it also appears in the 1996 Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad comedy Jingle All the Way. And in the 2004 movie Mean Girls, which will get a musical reboot in 2024, a cover of "Jingle Bell Rock" sung by the cast soundtracks an iconic Lindsay Lohan dance scene.

 

Despite all its success, “Jingle Bell Rock” is a Christmas song with a mysterious past. Nobody can agree on who should get credit for writing the tune, for starters. And some of the musicians involved feel that their success came at a very high price. 

 

I love holiday music. Not just quirky songs like “Christmas Wrapping” by the Waitresses, which is about a sassy romantic encounter in a grocery store after a year of missed connections, but also whimsical tunes like “The Chipmunk Song” and “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.” And tearjerkers like Wham!’s “Last Christmas.”

 

After writing my book on Christmas songs, however, I discovered that some of them aren’t as merry or bright as we think. You might not expect “Jingle Bell Rock” to fall into that category. The jaunty tune is about a festive holiday celebration in dreamy places like Jingle Bell Square or on a cozy sleigh ride. The song captures a sense of wholesome fun and excitement — and nostalgia for a simpler time. 

 

It’s also widely considered one of the first rock ‘n’ roll Christmas songs. And the clever lyric "rock the night away" references a popular rock song from the era — Bill Haley and the Comets' "Rock Around the Clock." 

 

At the time, the idea of mixing Christmas with rock ‘n’ roll was still novel. For the song’s rock 'n' roll sound, we can thank the tasteful guitar licks of Hank Garland. He was a wildly talented guitarist who sold a million copies of  "Sugarfoot Rag" in 1949, a song he wrote when he was 18 years old. 

 

Hank later became a legendary session guitarist. He played on multiple Elvis Presley hits, including the groovy "Little Sister," and on country hits, including Patsy Cline’s “Walking After Midnight.”

 

On "Jingle Bell Rock," Hank's riffs are upbeat but subtle, setting a festive atmosphere as if he’s part of a backing band at a party.

These riffs mesh perfectly with the background vocals, which were done by Nashville session icons the Anita Kerr Singers. Led by Anita, the vocal group backed country music A-listers for Decca Records in the 1950s and early 1960s, including Eddy Arnold, Red Foley, and Chet Atkins. On “Jingle Bell Rock,” they added subtle oohs and lilting harmonies throughout, mimicking the chatter of happy party guests. 

 

Like many Christmas songs, “Jingle Bell Rock” is more famous than the person who sang it. So, who was Bobby Helms? Bobby was born in Indiana in 1933. He started out performing with his brother, Freddie, on a radio show called the Monroe County Jamboree that was hosted by their dad, Fred. Bobby later became a band member on Happy Valley Folks, a radio-turned-TV show founded by Uncle Bob Hardy, a legendary broadcaster. When Uncle Bob moved on to his next project, Freddie took over Happy Valley. However, Bobby went with Uncle Bob to play on the Hayloft Frolic — and it would become the most popular TV show in Indiana. 

 

This TV gig helped Bobby gain a foothold in Nashville. Uncle Bob called country star Ernest Tubb and told him about the promising young player, as the story goes. That led to Bobby receiving an invite to perform on the Ernest Tubb Midnight Jamboree. The gig went so well that Ernest tipped off Paul Cohen, a producer at Decca Records. Bobby successfully auditioned for the label and signed a record deal. In 1957, Bobby had two songs that reached No. 1 on Billboard’s country radio airplay and sales charts. First was the wistful heartbreak ballad “Fraulein,” which was written for and rejected by Ernest. And then, the waltzing love song “My Special Angel.” The latter earned him a spot performing on The Ed Sullivan Show. In fact, he would be given his first gold record for the song on the show by Ed himself a mere six weeks later.  Bobby was interested in writing his own material. He wrote the aching "I Don't Owe You Nothing," which was released in 1956. It’s a piercing dig at a dishonest ex-partner. 

 

In 1986 Bobby told an interviewer for ClassicBands.com that he made changes to his 1957 hits. He changed the melody of "Fraulein," which was originally a waltz, and added high vocal parts to "My Special Angel." In modern times, that kind of a change would get an artist some songwriting credits. And that’s important because for every percentage of a song’s publishing the writer controls, they make money. 

 

To earn money from their music, songwriters often work with publishers. These are companies that collect and give out what's known as publishing royalties. Writers can receive royalties in multiple ways: one, when their songs are played on the radio or performed live; two, when someone buys a copy of their songs; and three, when their songs are licensed for things like movies, TV shows, and ads. When different artists cover a song multiple times, songwriters can make a lot of money. 

 

Given Bobby's interest in putting his own stamp on songs, it would have been odd if he didn’t change “Jingle Bell Rock” before recording it. He says he did a lot more than that, which we’ll get to in a minute. However, the credited songwriters on “Jingle Bell Rock” are, and have always been, Joseph Carleton Beal and James Ross Boothe.

 

James was born in 1917 in Sweetwater, Texas. At 18, he wrote his first song and also founded the Exchange Quarterly, a magazine for Texas writers. His standards were very high: James edited submissions to the magazine, laid out the text, and even did the typesetting himself at his parents’ house. “Our only taboos are dullness in fiction and hackneyed or maudlin subjects in poetry,” he told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. When he went off to college, James won a national poetry writing contest, and he later served in World War II.

 

Joseph also gravitated toward writing. Born in 1900, he was something of a dilettante. After graduating from Boston University, he became an editor at a newspaper called the Boston Evening Transcript. Joseph later oversaw programming at the New Orleans radio station WDSU and then moved into public relations, where he handled several radio and business conferences. He turned his attention to music by the mid-’50s. Joseph co-wrote his first song at 54, a tune called “Unsuspecting Heart.” The version you’re about to hear is sung by jazz singer Terri Stevens. 

 

Joseph and a man named Bob Singer wrote the song in a New York City apartment. Their draft version had 52 bars, which was a songwriting faux pas. At the time, popular songs generally only had 32 bars.

 

The men hired a singer named Kitty Karr to record the demo. And DJ Jack Terry broadcast the demo version of the song over the airwaves via WRUL, which had international reach. This placement was likely no accident: Joseph worked on behalf of the station briefly in 1954. He served as manager of the new public service division of the World Wide Broadcasting System, which operated WRUL. Later in the year, he opened the Beal Radio & Television Agency. One of his first accounts was World Wide Broadcasting System — and, by extension, WRUL.

 

Connections aside, the response to “Unsuspecting Heart” was positive and led to the song being published. Despite being up against the odds, multiple versions of the song charted. Terri Stevens, in particular, “rocketed to stardom” thanks to the song.

 

In 1955, Joseph also co-wrote Pat Boone’s “Take the Time,” the b-side of his popular song "Gee Whittakers!"  

 

Not long after, Joseph linked up with James Ross Boothe, who was reportedly running a textile design business in New York. The duo started co-writing songs. Records from the Library of Congress show that the pair copyrighted several songs in 1956 and 1957 that have, apparently, never been recorded. However, on October 25, 1957, the men received a copyright for “Jingle Bell Rock.” And that lines up with the November release date of Bobby’s single, going by ads that appeared in publications including Billboard.

 

Given the creative backgrounds of Joseph and James to that point, it’s possible that they wrote “Jingle Bell Rock,” or at least some version of it that became the song we all know and love today. There’s even evidence they could explain the song’s lyrics. A 1964 Press of Atlantic City article paraphrased an explanation from Joseph that says the “rock” of the song actually “referred to the rocking of the sleigh as it was pulled by a horse through the snow, setting alive several sets of ‘jingle bells.’”

 

Despite that, both Bobby and guitarist Hank Garland have also claimed they wrote the song.  Although their stories changed slightly over the years, both men — Bobby especially — were adamant.

 

Bobby repeatedly said he didn’t want to record “Jingle Bell Rock” as it was written. He told ClassicBands.com that the demo version he was given to work with was just a guy playing an organ and singing. Bobby says that he and Hank fleshed out the rest of the track. 

 

So, that guitar that defines the song, the clever phrasing, all the instrumentation — most of this apparently didn't exist until Bobby got ahold of it, according to him. It was just a basic song, and Bobby says he “changed the music around” on it to boot. He also described one specific modification he made: adding a bridge. That’s this part. 

 

His one-time manager Dave Davis echoed this when asked whether he thought Hank and Bobby wrote "Jingle Bell Rock." According to Davis, Bobby claimed they also added a few verses and changed some lyrics. At the end of the session, they had created a whole lot of new parts to the song.  

 

One thing worth noting that may have Bobby’s fingerprints on it is that the lyrics of “Jingle Bell Rock” don’t mention Christmas at all. Bobby's one-time manager, John Kleiman, explained that Bobby's family was religious and he didn't want to link rock ‘n’ roll with Christmas because his mom would disapprove. 

 

In Bobby's obituary in the Indianapolis Star, the newspaper included a quote from him where he said: “They wanted a happy rock 'n' roll song but not necessarily a religious song because rock ’n’ roll wasn't part of Christmas. We put words and music to it and     when it became a hit, we were all surprised.”

 

This quote was also consistent with previous interviews Bobby gave. He told the Indianapolis Star in 1992 that he built “Jingle Bell Rock” off an existing tune. He didn't want to record it because it was of such poor quality. So he and other musicians (including, presumably, Hank Garland) improved it. 

 

That “poor quality” song was allegedly called  “Jingle Bell Hop.” Cheekily, Hank told the Jacksonville Business Journal in 2001, “I let it hop back to where it came from. It wasn't any good." Bobby had the same reaction to the demo, according to John Kleiman, who told The Los Angeles Times in 2022 that Helms minced no words. "He said the electric organ sounded bad and the guy who was singing was terrible."

 

Lending credence to this theory, “Jingle Bell Hop” does appear in the ASCAP songwriting database. Joseph Carleton Beal and James Boothe also copyrighted the song. But, curiously, not until August 1958, well after “Jingle Bell Rock” became a hit.

 

But then there’s this: According to a 2004 Folio Weekly story, Hank owned “an original copy of the sheet music for ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ pencilled in [his] meticulous hand” in addition to a “sworn statement by one of the studio musicians on ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ that Helms and Garland wrote the song.”

 

To date, neither Bobby nor Hank has received songwriting credit for “Jingle Bell Rock.”

 

After Jingle Bell Rock, James and Joseph never had any other widespread mainstream success in songwriting, though they kept writing and continued to work in music. James later managed an artist named Lor Crane, whose debut single consisted of two Boothe-Beal compositions: “I Reached for a Star” and “The Heavens Cried.” Charmingly, the pair also co-wrote songs that Atlantic City used to promote itself to business groups and tourists. Joseph wrote several additional songs with other collaborators, such as “Winter Champagne,” which was recorded in 1962 by a Philadelphia group called High Hopes, and “The U.S.A. March,” which the U.S. Marine Band added to their library.

 

Bobby Helms reportedly received royalties for sales of his version of "Jingle Bell Rock" as the artist who recorded the song — and the Los Angeles Times reported in 2022 that Bobby also received performance royalties. But he didn't receive royalties as a songwriter. The evidence begs the question: Why didn’t Bobby ever try filing a lawsuit to earn that songwriting credit and the royalty payments that would come with it? 

 

"Jingle Bell Rock" was a massive success, and he could have earned a lot more money from it than he did. In fact, his estate could still be earning money from every YouTube stream or movie and TV show that uses a cover of “Jingle Bell Rock.” (I’m looking at you, Mean Girls reboot.) And due to the way laws are written — when "Jingle Bell Rock" is in heavy rotation on U.S. terrestrial radio stations every Christmas, Bobby isn't getting paid. Only the songwriters are.

 

In 2001, entertainment lawyer Bill Whitacre told the Jacksonville Business Journal that he believed Decca Records thought it had the rights to the "Jingle Bell Rock" recording session. Bobby and Hank could only copyright their work and collect publishing royalties if they wrote what amounted to a new song. Modifying an existing song wouldn't count. 

 

This wouldn’t be as far out as it sounds today. In the ‘50s, a powerful label like Decca had carte blanche to set the terms, especially with young or up-and-coming artists. Taking all the songwriting royalties to the recording and paying Bobby and the musicians on the track a flat fee as an advance wouldn’t be out of the ordinary. In fact, that’s the structure of a lot of record deals now. 

 

Bobby also blamed naivete on his part. "I guess I could have sued, but I was 19 years old,” he told the Franklin, Indiana, Daily Journal in 1990. “I was making so much money at that time I didn't care.” 

 

In a sad footnote, that same 1990 article notes that Bobby spent a lot of the money he made early in his career on medical expenses for his wife, Dori. In 1968, she had what was termed "a nervous breakdown" and was frequently in the hospital. 

 

Tragically, Hank was in a serious car accident in 1961. He was in a coma for three weeks, and after leaving the hospital, he received treatment at a mental hospital including shock treatments, Thorazine, and even chemotherapy that left him significantly impaired. 

 

His brother Billy came to believe that the car accident happened because unknown people shot at his car. “They set him up on the road and tried to kill him,” he told Folio Weekly. “And he didn’t die, so they took him out and shocked his brains where he wouldn’t remember nothing.” 

 

That is a jaw-dropping accusation. But according to Billy, Hank was concerned someone was out to get him for reasons that were unclear. 

 

What was obvious is that the powers-that-be in Nashville weren't thrilled that Hank didn't continue to allow record labels to control his career after his early experiences with Decca. Hank had formed his own record company and publishing house — and was going to open a studio in Miami. 

 

Hank also wasn't afraid to speak his mind. “He was very angry about the way the record companies were doing people,” his brother Billy said. “He basically grew up in it and knew how crooked it was.”

 

Hank had talked with a lawyer about his 1949 hit “Sugarfoot Rag,” a song he wrote, played on, and copyrighted. However, some unknown entity later added other people to the copyright, which meant his share of the royalties was diminished significantly. 

 

According to Billy, the lawyer said something strange that wasn’t ever explained and sounded like a threat. “Hank, you have a family. You’re working here. I would suggest you just be quiet about this.” 

 

The Garlands refused to be quiet, however. In 2003, Billy sued the music publisher Warner-Chappell Music, which owned “Jingle Bell Rock” — and also long controlled the publishing of major songs including "Happy Birthday" — for what Folio Weekly reported was "fraud and intentionally inflicting emotional distress." 

 

A lawyer persuaded Billy Garland to refile with more allegations: copyright infringement, unfair trade practices, unfair competition, and unjust enrichment. The resolution of the case is difficult to find, although the Los Angeles Times reported in 2022 that “a federal judge dismissed all counts except one.”

 

Bobby Helms continued having success even after “Jingle Bell Rock,” earning six gold records overall. He allegedly almost booked a Las Vegas show with King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Elvis Presley, but the show fell through because nobody could decide the headliner. In 1958, he was in a movie called Case Against Brooklyn, singing his hit song “Jacqueline.” He had a few more top 20 country hits, the last being 1970’s "Mary Goes 'Round.” 

 

And "Jingle Bell Rock" appeared on the country charts again in early 1997, thanks to its appearance in the movie Jingle All the Way. But Bobby's career never again reached the heights it did in the late 1950s. Like the Garlands, he came to wonder if nefarious forces were in play. In an explosive 1986 interview with ClassicBands.com, he claimed that there were mysterious people in Nashville who didn’t want him to succeed.

 

As best as he could tell, the success of songs like "Fraulein," which crossed over to the pop world and was a huge hit in Germany, caused his label to drop other artists so they could focus on Bobby. He alleged that these unknown people held a grudge and sabotaged his career. 

    

“See, I've been getting threatening letters, about if I went back in the business they was gonna kill me or my wife or my kids,” he said. “I just got a letter two weeks ago….They don't want me back in Nashville because ‘Fraulein’ changed the business from last time. And see, the people don't like it…They feel like I’m gonna rock the boat or something.”

 

Bobby noted he informed the FBI about the first letter he received, which said, "We have stopped your career for 20 years and we won't let you get started now and we'll put out a contract on you that won't be canceled." 

 

The second letter he got was menacing and cryptic. "We see that you have paid no attention," it said. However, Bobby noted that his suit and guitar had recently been installed in the Country Music Hall of Fame.  “So, see somebody in Nashville didn't like that even,” he concluded.

 

It's unclear whether the songwriting controversy around "Jingle Bell Rock" ties into these accusations. And there are other possible reasons for these career lulls. Bobby's producer, Paul Cohen, left Decca Records in 1962, and Bobby told ClassicBands.com he had trouble connecting with other producers creatively. Musical styles changed once the Beatles arrived in 1963 and Bobby's music wasn't as on-trend. Plus, a 1979 newspaper feature on him also alleged that he lived with but overcame alcoholism during the 1960s. 

 

Bobby Helms died in June 1997 after struggling with health issues, including emphysema. By the end of the year, lawsuits had erupted over his estate. In one lawsuit, his former manager John Kleiman and another man claimed they had “exclusive rights and licenses for Bobby's master recordings and musical performances,” according to the Indianapolis Star. In 1999, two other people involved in another company said to have promoted Bobby's music filed a lawsuit seeking future royalties from the records. In 2000, a judge ruled that these royalties would be given to Bobby's estate, not the individual people making claims.

 

Chances are good we’ll never know the exact truth about who wrote “Jingle Bell Rock.” In doing research for this episode, I discovered so many different variations on the origin story, all told by the players involved. We'll never know exactly what happened in this recording session, and most of the people who were there have unfortunately since died. 

 

Given its popularity and how much joy the song adds to the holiday season, it's absolutely wild how many legal fights and conspiracies swirl around "Jingle Bell Rock." So, as you're mixing and mingling with a jingling beat this year, don't forget the mystery and drama at the heart of the song.