Christmas

I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day

Words:
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1864.
Music:
'Waltham (Calkin)' John B. Calkin, 1872.
Setting:
"The Book of Common Praise", 1885.
Metre:
8 8 8 8
  1. 1I heard the bells on Christmas dayTheir old familiar carols play,And wild and sweet the words repeatOf peace on earth, good will to men.
  2. 2And thought how, as the day had come,The belfries of all ChristendomHad rolled along th'unbroken songOf peace on earth, good will to men.
  3. 3Till ringing, singing on its wayThe world revolved from night to day,A voice, a chime, a chant sublimeOf peace on earth, good will to men.
  4. 4And in despair I bowed my head"There is no peace on earth," I said,"For hate is strong and mocks the songOf peace on earth, good will to men."
  5. 5Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;The wrong shall fail, the right prevailWith peace on earth, good will to men."

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Scripture

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In the hymnals

  • Written in 1864, the words are in 145 hymnals indexed by Hymnary.org. Their history →
  • The tune, Waltham (Calkin), is in 638 hymnals. The tune →

Words, music and setting are in the public domain. The score is from the Open Hymnal Project (Brian J. Dumont), which places its own work in the public domain. Further sheet music is from PDHymns.com. The piano is the FluidR3 General MIDI sound font (MIT licence). How many hymnals print a hymn, and when it was written, is from Hymnary.org.

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