He cut a version of "Jingle Bells" for Certron Records:
That was included on Bobby's "Jingle Bell Rock" album and it's probably obvious that I'm going to start talking about the title song!
Bobby Helms originally recorded the song for Decca Records in 1957:
That's a genuine classic! It's never been out of print or off the radio during the holiday season every year. There have also been a zillion other versions of the song in any genre imaginable.
It's almost as famous as "Jingle Bells" itself!
There's actually a whole conspiracy theory type story about "Jingle Bell Rock," so here's the short version...
The story goes that the song was originally called "Jingle Bell Hop" and it wasn't much of anything, but had made its way to a Bobby Helms recording session. Dissatisfied with the song, Bobby reworked it into its present form with ace session guitarist Hank Garland and the song was recorded. Such things apparently happened in the studio from time to time.
The song became an enormous hit but Bobby and Hank got no composer credit for it, as the song had already been published. Bobby was like "That's show biz!" about it, but Hank was resentful and made a squawk about it.
Is that all true? Who knows, but it's fascinating!
Back to that original record, it had a fun flipside:
Sixty-odd years later, most artists who were popular in 1957 are not known to current audiences, but Bobby Helms's voice is still heard every year!
As a bonus, let's listen to my favorite blending of "Jingle Bells" and "Jingle Bell Rock." It's by Randy Travis from 1992's "A Very Special Christmas 2":
That seems like 100 years ago to me!
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