THE BELLS (Phil Ochs based on poem by Edgar Allen Poe)

Hear the (D)sledges with the bells, (G)silver (D)bells,
What a world of merriment their (C)melody fore(D)tells.
How they (C)tinkle, (Em)tinkle (A)tinkle in the (C)icy (Em)air of (A)night
All the (C)heavens (Em)seem to (A)twinkle with a (C)crystal(Em)-line de-(A)light,
keeping (D)time, time, (Bm)time with a (F#m)sort of runic (A)rhyme,
with the (D)tintinabulation that so (C)musically (D)wells,
from the (D)bells (G)bells (D)bells (A7)bells (D)bells (G)bells (D)bells,
from the (G)jingling and the (A7)tinkling of the (D)bells.

Hear the mellow wedding bells, golden bells.
What aworld of happiness their harmony foretells.
Through the balmy air of night how they ring our their delight
Through the dances and the yells and the rapture that impels
How it swells, how it dwells, on the future how it tells.
From the swinging and the ringing of the molten golden bells
Of the bells.....
Of the rhyming and the chiming of the bells.

Hear the loud alarm bells, brazen bells
What a tale of terror now their turbulency tells
Much too horrified to speak, oh they can only shriek
For all the ears to know how the danger ebbs and flows,
Leaping higher higher higher in a desperate desire
IN a clamourous appealing to the mercy of the fire
With the bells.....
With the clamor and the clanging of the bells.

Hear the tolling of the bells, iron bells
What a world of solemn though their monody compels
For all the sound that floats from the rust within our throats
And the people sit and groan in their muffled monotone,
And the tolling tolling tolling feels a glory in the rolling
From the throbbing and the sobbing of the melancholy bells
Of the bells.....
Of the moaning and the groaning of the bells.

Repeat verse 1

Recorded by Ochs on "All The News That's Fit To Sing" and "There And Now - Live in Vancouver 1968" and on the compilations "Chords of Fame" and "Farewells and Fantasies".

Recorded by the Back Porch Majority on "BPM" Recorded by The Roches on "A Tribute To Phil Ochs"

I think there may be more recordings.

rich r