| DAY 13 - THE BELLS OF CHRISTMAS |
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"I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day" |
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This song was made famous by
Johnny Cash many years ago, and still
gets lots of airplay during the season.
Here's a version by Travis Tritt,
one of the "new guys" in country music.
This is from a 17 song compilation
of religious Christmas songs by
country artists, called
Mary, Did You Know?,
new this year on the Warner label.
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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.
I thought how as the day had come
The belfries of all Christendom
Had roll'd along th' unbroken song
Of Peace on earth, good will to men.
And in despair, I bow'd 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 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 hearthstones of a continent,
And made forlorn, the households born
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."
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Written on Christmas Eve, 1864
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The twelve bells of Christchurch Cathedral
in Dublin open up this instrumental, written by
Paddy Moloney, and performed by The Chieftains.
The bells date back to 1738. The largest is
inscribed "The People's Bell," and is over
five feet in diameter, weighing over 2 1/2 tons.
THE BELLS OF DUBLIN is also the
title of the CD, which came out
in 1991 on the RCA VICTOR label.
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This 65 second tune, written by
Paul O'Neil and Jon Oliva, is one of 23
Christmas songs, mostly new, produced
by Paul O'Neil for a great CD titled
THE LOST CHRISTMAS EVE.
The performers include a whole slew
of musicians and singers
of various stripes known as the
Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The CD
came out in 2004 on the Lava Records label.
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"Ring Them Bells" |
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This is from Dylan's 1989
album OH MERCY, on the
Columbia label. It's also on
BOB DYLAN'S GREATEST HITS
VOLUME 3, along with 13 other
songs, including other classic Dylan
religious and Apocalyptic material
like "Gotta Serve Somebody" and
"Changing of the Guards."
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Ring them bells, ye heathen
From the city that dreams,
Ring them bells from the sanctuaries
Cross the valleys and streams,
For they're deep and they're wide
And the world's on its side
And time is running backwards
And so is the bride.
Ring them bells St. Peter
Where the four winds blow,
Ring them bells with an iron hand
So the people will know.
Oh it's rush hour now
On the wheel and the plow
And the sun is going down
Upon the sacred cow.
Ring them bells Sweet Martha,
For the poor man's son,
Ring them bells so the world will know
That God is one.
Oh the shepherd is asleep
Where the willows weep
And the mountains are filled
With lost sheep.
Ring them bells for the blind and the deaf,
Ring them bells for all of us who are left,
Ring them bells for the chosen few
Who will judge the many when the game is through.
Ring them bells, for the time that flies,
For the child that cries
When innocence dies.
Ring them bells St. Catherine
From the top of the room,
Ring them from the fortress
For the lilies that bloom.
Oh the lines are long
And the fighting is strong
And they're breaking down the distance
Between right and wrong.
Bob Dylan
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In terms of sheer "power,"
it's one of the most amazing Christmas songs ever written.
It's from the Ukraine, written in 1916 by a man named:
Mykola Dmytrovycch Leontovych.
The original was a choral piece, meant to be sung a capella,
but it's been "covered," as they say, by countless orchestras and ensembles,
with choirs, without choirs, etc., etc.
Here it's the Christmas music powerhouse - Mannheim Steamroller,
from their CD A Fresh Aire Christmas, released in '05
on the American Gramaphone label.
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PBS has done a lot to
give due recognition to the
excellent quintet: Celtic Woman.
This is from their CD titled
A Christmas Celebration, released in '06
on the MANHATTAN RECORDS label.
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Well, we've gone to the dogs with this one, literally.
Here's the woofers (and a few felines) called
The Jingle Dogs, from their '95 CD
Christmas Unleashed, on the Jingle Cats Music label.
Yes, I know, I know...but my dogs,
Duffy and Ziggy (shown below), really like it.
What can a guy do?
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When Christmas bells are swinging
above the fields of snow,
We hear sweet voices ringing
from lands of long ago,
And etched on vacant places
Are half-forgotten faces
Of friends we used to cherish,
And loves we used to know.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
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