Joker got away
I first heard it in 2nd grade, in 1986.
Same here.
“Jingle Bells, Batman smells,
Robin flew away.
Kojak lost his lollipop
And bought a Milky Way.”
First heard this version in Glasgow, must have been about 1977 or 78.
“Joker got away” for me.
There’s another dark kiddie Jingle Bells lyric, though.
Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Santa Claus is dead.
Rudolph took a .44
and shot him in the head.
Barbie doll, Barbie doll,
tried to save his life.
G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe,
stuck her with a knife.
Kids are nasty little psychopaths, aren’t they?
“Joker got away” here too.
Slightly different version of jayjay’s…
Jingle bells, shotgun shells
Santa Claus is dead
Daddy took his .22
And shot him in the head
Years ago I sang that in front of one of my little cousins and made him cry. Still feel kind of bad about it…
In my day the Joker got away, my daughter insists he’s doing ballet.
As for the murder at the North Pole:
Jingle Bells, shotgun shells
Santa Claus is dead
Rudolph took a .303
And shot him in the head.
Presumably a .303 rifle is easier to get ahold of here in Canada than a .44 handgun, and Rudolph didn’t want to mess around with a .22, he wanted to get the job done.
I really like this one. I’ve never heard it before. So delightfully silly.
When I was a kid it went:
Jingle Bells, Batman smells,
Easter’s on it’s way
“Commissioner broke his leg”
Current in SE Wisconsin, in the 70s.
Jingle Bells, Batman smells,
Robin laid an egg
The Batmobile lost a wheel,
And Joker did ballet!
Honestly, that was like the only version I heard growing up.
It has to be Joker got away:
Joker got away, direct from the horses mouth.
And, that’s what I heard.
Joker got away from the 70’s. The first time I heard Commissioner broke his leg, probably early 80’s, I thought that was the dumbest thing I ever heard.
We sang it with Alfred. I’d heard the Commissioner line, but being poetic even then, absolutely forbade it for it’s multitude of jammed-in syllables.
Ca. the Kennedy administration, it went:
Jingle Bells,
Cockle shells,
Easter’s on its way.
[or “Junket’s on a tray”]
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In Grandma’s Chevrolet.
Joker? No way, its the Riddler
Batmobile lost its wheel and the Riddler got away…
First version I heard in NH, probably 1974, involved the Commissioner. Not entirely sure when I heard the Joker getting away version, but that one’s my favorite now. Gonna have to try the Alfred version out, see how that works.
Joker danced ballet. Hey!
Mid-late 90’s.
ETA: brother knows it as “the Joker took ballet.”
Case closed !!! 
Ditto.
Joker got away. Chicago area in the 60s.