The English version by Les Compagnons de la Chanson is on YouTube here.

I'm fairly sure that this is the recording with "Lucky Old Sun" on the other side. The two sides were later combined with "Galley Slave" and something else and issued as a 45 EP. I transcribed the words of Lucky Old Sun and Galley Slave from the EP around 1959.

This is definitely the recording that was played endlessly by BBC, certainly for some time before 1955. It was often on "Forces Favourites" and other record shows.

Les Compagnons de la Chanson had a number of changes of lineup over the years, and I've also heard other recordings of The Three Bells by them which sound very different to this version.

Incidentally, I found somewhere an attribution of the words to a Swiss poet - I'll try and dig the reference out.

Phil