Lyr Req: Sweet Chiming Bells

Subject: Lyr Req: Sweet Chiming Bells
From: bradfordian
Date: 06 Nov 16 - 08:11 PM

This song with the lyrics "While Shepherds Watched" is well nown to us from the Village carols around Sheffield.

Here are some other lyrics (source: Golden Hind Music)

Sweet Chiming Bells

O blessed night! A star shines bright
Though seen through falling snow:
The star of love lit from above
To set the world aglow.
    Sweet bells, sweet chiming Christmas bells,
    Sweet bells, sweet chiming Christmas bells,
    They cheer us on our merry way, sweet chiming bells.
    They cheer us on our merry way, sweet chiming bells.

Child voices sweet once more repeat
The angels' glorious strain,
Our grey old earth in holy mirth
Becomes a child again.

Chime sweetly on, ye Christmas bells,
While happy voices sing.
Shine out, O star, from heaved afar
And guide us to our king.

To hail the little new-born king
A few poor shepherds came,
Although with wonder, joy and love
The heavens were aflame.

The wise men came upon their way
Led by that heavenly light,
O star of love, shine from above,
And make our pathway bright.

The loving heart, the prayer of faith,
Are sweeter gifts to bring,
Shine out, O star, from heaven afar,
And guide us to our king.

And there is a further set of lyrics by MIRIAM RICHARDS
begining "The bells ring out at Christmas time"
Does anyone have these lyrics they may care to share?

bradfordian

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Chiming Bells
From: leeneia
Date: 06 Nov 16 - 10:37 PM

Thanks for bringing up this song, which I listened to on YouTube.

I didn't find the lyrics for the second song, but here are some people singing it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEbgVmz1QIk

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Chiming Bells
From: GUEST,John Foxen
Date: 07 Nov 16 - 10:21 AM

The Sally Army sings these lyrics to the tune. They were written by Brigadier Miriam M Richards.

The bells ring out at Christmas time
Their message loud and clear.
Our hearts are stirred as on the air
The joyful sound we hear.
Sweet Bells etc

Thanks be to God since all may learn
The bells' exultant theme.
The babe of Bethlehem was born
This lost world to redeem
Sweet bells...

Glad message of the Christmas bells
Of God Whose name is love.
Oh may this music all our days
Our hope and comfort prove.
Sweet Bells...

Foxen will be performing this version at the Leigh Folk Carol Concert this year (St Clement's Church, Leigh on Sea, December 11, 2016) as the While Shepherds Watched lyrics have been bagged for another tune. Good job there is such diversity in the world of folk carols.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Chiming Bells
From: Reinhard
Date: 07 Nov 16 - 12:12 PM

The lyrics bradfordian cited are from Nowell Sing We Clear's 1995 CD "Hail Smiling Morn!". They are a combination of the chorus from "While Shepherds Watched" and the poem "A Song for Christmas Eve" by Clara Broughton Conant as the liner notes stated:

"Hail, Smiling Morn!, Old Foster, and Jacob's Well are from the Yorkshire pub Christmas singing traditions found in several parts of the city of Sheffield. Our versions are taken from The Joy of Christmas: Words & Music of Traditional & Local Carols, compiled and presented by Worrall Male Voice Choir, privately published, ca. 1980.

Sweet Chiming Bells is from the same source, though it was originally another setting of "While Shepherds Watched." We loved the tune and the chorus but didn't feel the verses suited them very well. The solution was to add the poem "A Song for Christmas Eve" by Clara Broughton Conant from Kriss Kringle Recitations, Dialogs and Songs for Christmas, compiled by Hal J. Weigle (Chicago: Meyer and Brother, 1914). Over the years, our "fifth man," friend and sound technician, Steve Voorhees, has produced Christmas related curiosities on his perennial search of yard sales and antique stores. Compared with LPs of "Calypso Christmas" and "Christmas Rap" this little book of poems and stories yielded pure gold."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Chiming Bells
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Nov 16 - 12:41 PM

Dang! I'd swear John Roberts sings "Sweet CHARMING Christmas bells"!

Mondegreen on my part, I suppose.

Joe

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Chiming Bells
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 Nov 16 - 01:15 PM

Good mondegreens like that are how we get interesting variants. I like that one, Joe. I might sing it. I reckon it could take off with a few Mudcatters choosing to sing it that way.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Chiming Bells
From: bradfordian
Date: 07 Nov 16 - 05:17 PM

John Foxen, thank you very much for those lyrics. I was picking up that there was a Sally Army connection. Seems the Brigadier composed a handful of songs (listed on CCLI.com)
Reinhard, thank you for the background to the Clara Conant version.

bradfordian (well impressed with the Mudcat community)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Chiming Bells
From: bradfordian
Date: 07 Nov 16 - 06:46 PM

In the video quoted by leena, the choir sing the first verse as per Richards,(quoted by Foxen) thence forth sing different words. I have sent an email to the church featured in the video requesting information on their version.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Chiming Bells
From: Anglo
Date: 08 Nov 16 - 02:22 PM

To add to Reinhard's accurate comments above, Sweet Chiming Bells as we (Nowell Sing We Clear) found it was yet another setting of While Shepherds Watched. Over the years we incorporated many versions of these wonderful lyrics into our annual concerts and into our recordings, but finding the poem and using it with the Chiming Bells chorus enabled us to use the song independent of Shepherds. John Foxen seems to be doing the same thing with another different and charming set of words.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Chiming Bells
From: bradfordian
Date: 08 Nov 16 - 05:53 PM

Here is a youtube vid of the Clara Conart poem set to Sweet Chiming Bells tune.(They sing the first 3 verses only)

Who is this choir? Maybe a group from the Scottish town of Biggar.

Anglo, Reinhard, any info on Clara Conart?


Sweet Chiming Bells -Clara Canart version

bradfordian

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Chiming Bells
From: bradfordian
Date: 09 Nov 16 - 08:35 AM

I now believe the choir featured in the above video is Loud and Proud LGBT choir based in Scotland. I have contacted them for information on their version.

bradfordian

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Chiming Bells
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 09 Nov 16 - 10:08 AM

Clara Broughton Conant - this may be her;

From Notable American Women

Hannah O'Brien Chaplin September 5 1809 - Feb 18 1865
Married July 12 1830 Thomas Jefferson Conant, Professor of languages at Waterville College, Maine.
They had ten children, including Clara Broughton.

Another possibility;

From Ancestry website

John Conant; Born in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, USA on 2 Feb 1773 to Ebenezer Conant and Lydia Oaks. John married Charity Waite Broughton and had 10 children. He passed away on 30 Jun 1756 [1856?] in Brandon, Vermont, USA.

Charity Waite Broughton; Born in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, USA on 14 Jul 1772 to Waite Broughton. Charity Waite married John Conant and had 10 children. She passed away on 12 Dec 1851 in Brandon, Massachusetts [Vermont?], USA.

Clara Conant; Born to John Conant and Charity Waite Broughton.

Both families had links to writing and journalism.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Chiming Bells
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 09 Nov 16 - 10:20 AM

Two short stories from 1870 and 1873;

Serial: Overland monthly and Out West magazine.
Title: Grandmother's Story [Volume 5, Issue 5, Nov 1870; pp. 475-479]
Author: Conant, Clara B.
Collection: Making of America Journal Articles
Article URL: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moajrnl/ahj1472.1-05.005/471

Serial: Overland monthly and Out West magazine.
Title: Catching a Butterfly [Volume 10, Issue 4, Apr 1873; pp. 315-322]
Author: Conant, Clara B.
Collection: Making of America Journal Articles
Article URL: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moajrnl/ahj1472.1-10.004/311

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Chiming Bells
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 09 Nov 16 - 10:49 AM

And from The Literary World, Boston, 27 September 1890

Publishers' Announcements

American Tract Society - The society promises for the fall season in its special field of religious publications:

Winnie Lorimer's Visit by Clara B Conant