Jingle Bells

James Lord Pierpont copyrighted the song in 1857 under the title One Horse Open Sleigh, and it was retitled two years later; nothing in the words mentions Christmas, and it was written as a secular winter piece about sleigh racing. Two American towns claim it, Medford in Massachusetts and Savannah in Georgia, where Pierpont was organist at his brother's church. In December 1965 the crew of Gemini 6A reported an unidentified object in a red suit and then played the tune on a smuggled harmonica and sleigh bells — the first song broadcast from space.