Pure childhood nostalgia describes what this holiday tune is for me. Dad loved both Burt Bacharach and Herb Albert so this was a holiday staple at our house. Hearing it still invokes the excitement of the approaching visit of Santa.
Herb Albert – The Bell That Couldn’t Jingle – 1968 – written by Burt Bacharach
A Christmas bell was cryin’ and Santa heard it say
I just can’t seem to jingle and I can’t go on the sleigh
Then Santa soon discovered the reason that it cried
The bell that couldn’t jingle, it had nothin’ there inside
I just can’t seem to jingle and I can’t go on the sleigh
Then Santa soon discovered the reason that it cried
The bell that couldn’t jingle, it had nothin’ there inside
Then Santa said
“Jack Frost will bring my Christmas gift to you
And on Christmas Eve, you’ll jingle
Just like you were brand new”
“Jack Frost will bring my Christmas gift to you
And on Christmas Eve, you’ll jingle
Just like you were brand new”
Then Jack Frost froze a teardrop
So each time that it swayed
The bell that couldn’t jingle, it went jingling all the way
The bell that couldn’t jingle, it went jingling all the way
So each time that it swayed
The bell that couldn’t jingle, it went jingling all the way
The bell that couldn’t jingle, it went jingling all the way
Then Santa said
“Jack Frost will bring my Christmas gift to you
And on Christmas Eve, you’ll jingle
Just like you were brand new”
“Jack Frost will bring my Christmas gift to you
And on Christmas Eve, you’ll jingle
Just like you were brand new”
Then Jack Frost froze a teardrop
So each time that it swayed
The bell that couldn’t jingle, it went jingling all the way
The bell that couldn’t jingle, it went jingling all the way
It went jingling all the way, it went jingling all the way
So each time that it swayed
The bell that couldn’t jingle, it went jingling all the way
The bell that couldn’t jingle, it went jingling all the way
It went jingling all the way, it went jingling all the way
Fearsome Beard 
Video on your blog here comes up as ‘unavailable’ but found it easily on YouTube, which may well be where you got it from anyway.
Was curious as the title rang no bells(!) in my mind – and, sure enough, it’s totally unfamiliar to me, as I suspect it also isn’t with, perhaps, most non-Americans.
Glad you printed out the words (by Hal David?) as they are not at all easy to catch..
Strange, but I had the feeling that Herb A. had died about a year or so ago but can find no mention of it now. Must have dreamt it. However, there’s no doubt that in his day he sure was a good-looker (now 85).
Thanks for the heads up, I just found another copy that allows playback. It’s actually a rather obscure number that probably is only known, at this point in time, by children of Herb Albert or Burt Bacharach fans.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_Alpert
herb is still with us, dear raybeard. lucky us!
Ta, W.Q.
Wow. An xmas tune I’d never heard before…a rare gem indeed. Already added to my playlist. You also gifted us the awareness of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings a few years back, sharing their version of “White Christmas.” That version and Album (It’s a Holiday Soul Party) are now part of our favorite holiday music play list.
My “signals christmas” music are 2 albums: Elvis Presley Christmas Album (played repeatedly every year growing up) and the far more obscure Santa Claus is coming to Town by the Peter Pan Caroleers & Orchestra, with unique Xmas songs I’ve only ever heard on that album; both were staples in our house during the holidays, and nothing evokes that sense of Christmas excitement like those two albums, for me. (And how great that we still can evoke such sensations even now, as adults!)
As Maya Angelou said “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” I’ve found that music, especially from my childhood, really evokes the feelings of the event/time. Thanks for sharing and now I’m off to look up Peter Pan Caroleers.
I only like the old nostalgic Christmas songs some as far back as the 1940 and 50’s. I like this one too. People can keep the new fangled Christmas stuff. It sounds as christmasy as a halloween song. And absolutely no Mariah Carey. Who told her she could sing Christmas songs.???? That song makes me instantly angry.
So thanks for this ditty and hope you had a nice. Thanksgiving!
Smooooooches!
fat drunk mooooooooriah carey does nothing but scream. my fave xmess song is “linus and lucy” by vince guraldi.
I too have never heard it. I like learning of ‘new ones’ especially if they have meaning to a loved one.