I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" is a Christmas carol based on the 1863 poem "Christmas Bells" by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The song tells of the narrator's despair, upon hearing Christmas bells, that "hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men". The carol concludes with the bells carrying renewed hope for peace among men.

Origin

During the American Civil War, Longfellow's oldest son, Charles Appleton Longfellow, joined the Union cause as a soldier without his father's blessing. Longfellow was informed by a letter dated March 14, 1863, after Charles had left. "I have tried hard to resist the temptation of going without your leave but I cannot any longer", he wrote. "I feel it to be my first duty to do what I can for my country and I would willingly lay down my life for it if it would be of any good". Charles soon got an appointment as a lieutenant but, in November, he was severely wounded in the Battle of New Hope Church (in Virginia), during the Mine Run Campaign. Coupled with the recent loss of his wife Frances, who'd died as a result of an accidental fire, Longfellow was inspired to write "Christmas Bells".

He first wrote the poem on Christmas Day in 1863. "Christmas Bells" was first published in February 1865, in Our Young Folks, a juvenile magazine published by Ticknor and Fields.

Lyrics

The following is the original words of Longfellow's poem:

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!

And 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!

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!

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!

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!

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!"

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."

Musical versions

It was not until 1872 that the poem is known to have been set to music. The English organist, John Baptiste Calkin, used the poem in a processional accompanied with a melody he previously used as early as 1848. The Calkin version of the carol was long the standard. Steven Curtis Chapman, Johnny Cash, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Elvis Presley, and Jimmie Rodgers have recorded this version. Less commonly, the poem has also been set to Joseph Mainzer's composition "Mainzer" (1845).

Since at least the middle of the 20th century, the poem has been set to other musical arrangements:

• Johnny Marks, known for his song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", set Longfellow’s poem to music in the 1950s. Marks' version has been recorded by Ed Ames, Harry Belafonte, The Carpenters, [[[Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians]], [Burl Ives]], Sarah McLachlan, Frank Sinatra, Kate Smith and other artists listed below. Marks' composition is now commonly used for modern recordings of the carol, though Calkin's version is still heard as well.
• In 1956, the Bing Crosby's version (released as a single) reached #55 in the Music Vendor survey
• In 1990, John Gorka recorded his arrangement, titled "Christmas Bells", which uses stanzas 1, 2, 6, and 7 of the poem
• Bryan Duncan recorded "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" on his album Christmas is Jesus (Myrrh Records)
• In 1999, MU330 recorded a ska-punk version for their Christmas album, Winter Wonderland (Asian Man Records)
• In 2000, the vocal group Rockapella began their album Christmas with an arrangement of the classic carol edition
• In 2002, choral composer Greg Gilpin set the words to the tune "Waly, Waly", an 18th Century English Folk Song, in a sheet-music arrangement that is interesting because of its use of hand bells to illustrate the words; it omitted the last verse
• In 2004, Pedro the Lion recorded a version for the Maybe this Christmas compilation
• In 2005, MercyMe included a version of the song on their Christmas album The Christmas Sessions
• In 2006, Bette Midler recorded the song for her album Cool Yule
• In 2006, Hawk Nelson released an arrangement called "I Heard the Bells" on their Gloria EP, which also uses stanzas 1, 2, 6, and 7 of the poem
• In 2007, Contemporary Christian music artists, Jars of Clay, included a version of the song on Christmas Songs
• In 2008, Mark Hall, lead vocalist of Casting Crowns, recorded his own arrangement, which was released on Peace On Earth
• In 2011, Richard Marx recorded his version of the song for his The Christmas EP and later released it on Christmas Spirit
• In 2011, Jack Gibbons, the British pianist and composer, set Longfellow’s poem to music in his role as artist-in-residence at Davis & Elkins College, and the first performance was given by the Davis & Elkins College choir on 4 December 2011
• In 2012, The Civil Wars recorded their version of the song for a collaborative Christmas album entitled Holidays Rule
• In 2013, Echosmith recorded their version of the song and made it available to download for free on their website through the month of December

Cultural references

• In Chapter Five of his 1962 novel Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury described the carol as "immensely moving, overwhelming, no matter what day or what month it was sung". The whistled carol is an ironic presage of the evil that Cooger & Dark's carnival is about to bring to Green Town, Illinois.

See also

• Christmas in the American Civil War

External links

• Song lyrics.
• Lyrics, full length version.
• Sheet music, lyrics and MP3 downloads.