Christmas Bells

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

GET MUCH MORE by searching for this song in Musica virtual library (sound files of choirs singing it, correct pronunciation, scores for choirs,...)

Search Chercher Suchen Busca

Melody - "Waltham," John Baptiste Calkin, 1872
Melody 2 - "Mainzer"

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1863

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

2. I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

3. And in despair I bowed my head
'There is no peace on earth,' I said,
'For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.'

4. Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
'God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.'

5. Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

6. Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound the carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

7. It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn, the households born
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Note: verses six and seven are usually omitted from a hymnal. The hymn was written during the Civil War, and those two verses speak of that war.

| USA Songs Index | Home Page Robokopp |Home Page Musica|