I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day is a Christmas carol based on the poem "Christmas Bells," composed by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) in 1864.

[edit] Origin

Longfellow wrote "Christmas Bells" on Christmas day 1864 in the midst of the American Civil War and the news of his son Charles Appleton Longfellow having suffered wounds as a soldier in battle. He had suffered the great loss of his wife two years prior to an accident with fire. His despair in the following years after was recorded in his journal.

The poem has been set to several tunes. The first tune was set in the 1870s by an English organist, John Baptiste Calkin. Johnny Marks, known for his song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, set Longfellow’s poem in the 1950's. Marks' version has been recorded by Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians, Kate Smith, Frank Sinatra, Sarah McLachlan, Harry Belafonte, Johnny Cash and Bing Crosby.

[edit] Lyrics

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.

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.”

Historical Note: This hymn was written during the American civil war, as reflected by the sense of despair in the next to last stanza of the current, common presentation (above). The original stanzas 4 and 5 (below) speak of the battle, and are usually omit­ted from hymnals:

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.