The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #30625   Message #394997
Posted By: wysiwyg
10-Feb-01 - 11:30 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req/Add: Ring Dem Bells / Ring Them Bells
Subject: Lyr Add: RING THEM CHARMING BELLS
It's probably not this one, but it's so pretty I thought I'd share it with those of you interested in the one requested. Or maybe it's a variant. And the source is a treasure itself (see below).

RING THEM CHARMING BELLS

Mary and Martha just gone along
Mary and Martha just gone along
Mary and Martha just gone along
To ring them charming bells. Crying:

CHORUS
Free grace, undying love
Free grace, undying love
Free grace, undying love
To ring them charming bells.

Preacher and the teacher just gone along
Preacher and the teacher just gone along
Preacher and the teacher just gone along
To ring them charming bells. Crying:

CHORUS

Way over Jordan roll,
Way over Jordan roll,
Way over Jordan roll,
To ring them charming bells. Crying:

CHORUS


SOURCE INFO:
This is from a gem found moldering away, in brand-new condition, at a music store: Oak Publications' 1968: A Folksinger's Guide to Grassroots Harmony. Quoting the cover copy:
"42 songs in traditional folk harmony in a collection of ways to sing them. Transcribed from the singing of the Carter Family, the Mainer Family, the Stanley Brothers, Woody Guthrie and Cisco Houston, Rosa and Doc Watson, Pete Seeger and Jack Elliott, The Staple Singers, the Georgia Sea Island Singers, and others. Ed. Ethel Rain and Josh Dunson, ill. Art Rosenbaum."

NOTES APPEARING WITH THE SONG:
"On its appearance in 1959, 'Mickey Miller Sings American Folksongs accompanied by Bess Hawes' (Folkways FA 2393) created a whirlwind of excitement among the small grouping of city people who were interested in traditional music. Mickey and Bess created a rare blend of voices that introduced to many city singers for the first time, the idiomatic harmonic possibilities of Pretty Polly, Now He's Gone, and the song below, Ring Them Charming Bells. Bess Hawes writes:
...this song is sung by both Negro and white congregations in the South today. The term 'charming bells,' incidentally, was likely 'chiming bells' originally; we think this way is much prettier."


The song in 2/2 time and is shown with unison verses and 2-part chorus.

CHORDS (line by line as above):

verses-- A
E, A
A7, D
A, E7, A

chorus-- A
E, A
A7, D
A, D7, A


~Susan