Origins: Hang on the Bell, Nellie

Subject: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: GUEST,mal
Date: 29 May 01 - 06:17 PM

Anyone know the words to a song my grandmother (born 1886) used to sing to us. I guess it was a music hall song of around the turn of the century. It was about a girl who had to hang onto the bell to stop the curfew ringing, so her father wouldn't be hung. The chorus went:-

"Hang on the bell Nellie, hang on the bell, Your poor father's locked in a cold prison cell. As you swing to the left and you swing to the right, Remember the curfew must never ring tonight!"

Any help would be gratefully received,

Mal

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: Stewie
Date: 29 May 01 - 06:26 PM

It is in the DT:

Click

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: Hollowfox
Date: 29 May 01 - 06:28 PM

It's in the Digital Tradition under the title "Hang on the Bell", and Joe Hickerson performs it on one of his recordings on the Folk Legacy label. And you can order it through the Mudcat by clicking on the picture of the fish at the top of this thread.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: BDenz
Date: 29 May 01 - 06:33 PM

My favorite version is the Chad Mitchell version. Same lyrics. Just my input.

Barb

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: GUEST,mal
Date: 29 May 01 - 06:46 PM

Thanks for the info everyone. I did try the DT, but put 'Nellie' in my search. An object lesson - I'll not narrow the search too much next time.

Mal.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: ray bucknell
Date: 30 May 01 - 08:45 AM

I agree with Barb; The Chad Mitchell Trio did a terrific job on this song.

Ray

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: Mrrzy
Date: 30 May 01 - 10:08 AM

Edward Lear does a GREAT illustrated version of this poem in A Book of Nonsense. Imagine his artwork... with this story... but it was her lover, I recall, not her father, yet the line Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight makes it the same poem. Can't recall the poet.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE CURFEW MUST NOT RING TONIGHT (Thorpe)
From: IanC
Date: 30 May 01 - 10:33 AM

The Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight
Rosa Hartwick Thorpe

Slowly England's sun was setting o'er the hilltops far away,
Filling all the land with beauty at the close of one sad day;
And the last rays kissed the forehead of a man and maiden fair,
He with footsteps slow and weary, she with sunny floating hair;
He with bowed head, sad and thoughtful, she with lips all cold and white,
Struggling to keep back the murmur, 'Curfew must not ring tonight !'

'Sexton,' Bessie's white lips faltered, pointing to the prison old,
With its turrets tall and gloomy, with its walls, dark, damp and cold -
'I've a lover in the prison, doomed this very night to die
At the ringing of the curfew, and no early help is nigh.
Cromwell will not come till sunset'; and her face grew strangely white
As she breathed the husky whisper,'Curfew must not ring tonight !'

'Bessie,' calmly spoke the sexton - and his accents pierced her heart
Like the piercing of an arrow, like a deadly poisoned dart
'Long, long years I've rung the curfew from that gloomy, shadowed tower;
Every evening, just at sunset, it has told the twilight hour;
I have done my duty ever, tried to do it lust and right
Now I'm old I still must do it: Curfew, girl, must ring tonight !'

Wild her eyes and pale her features, stern and white her thoughtful brow,
And within her secret bosom Bessie made a solemn vow.
She had listened while the judges read, without a tear or sigh,
'At the ringing of the curfew, Basil Underwood must die.
And her breath came fast and faster, and her eyes grew large and bright,
As in undertone she murmured, 'Curfew must not ring tonight !'

With quick step she bounded forward, sprang within the old church door,
Left the old man treading slowly paths he'd often trod before;
Not one moment paused the maiden, but with eye and cheek aglow
Mounted up the gloomy tower, where the bell swung to and fro
As she climbed the dusty ladder, on which fell no ray of light,
Up and up, her white lips saying,'Curfew shall not ring tonight!'

She has reached the topmost ladder, o'er her hangs the great dark bell;
Awful is the gloom beneath her like the pathway down to hell;
Lo, the ponderous tongue is swinging. 'Tis the hour of curfew now,
And the sight has chilied her bosom, stopped her breath and paled her brow;
Shall she let it ring! No, never! Flash her eyes with sudden light,
And she springs and grasps it firmly:'Curfew shall not ring tonight !'

Out she swung, far out; the city seemed a speck of light below;
She 'twixt heaven and earth suspended as the bell swung to and fro;
And the sexton at the bell rope, old and deaf, heard not the bell,
But he thought it still was ringing fair young Basil's funeral knell.
Still the maiden clung more firmly, and, with trembling lips and white
Said, to hush her heart's wild beating,'Curfew shall not ring tonight.'

It was o'er; the bell ceased swaying, and the maiden stepped once more
Firmly on the dark old ladder, where for hundred years before
Human foot had not been planted; but the brave deed she had done
Should be told long ages after - often as the setting sun
Should illume the sky with beauty, aged sires, with heads of white,
Long should tell the little children,'Curfew did not ring that night.'

O'er the distant hills came Cromwell: Bessie sees him, and her brow,
Full of hope and full of gladness, has no anxious traces now.
At his feet she tells her story, shows her hands all bruised and torn;
And her face so sweet and pleading, yet with sorrow pale and worn,
Touched his heart with sudden pity - lit his eye with misty light;
'Go, your lover lives!' said Cromwell; 'Curfew shall not ring tonight!'

Cheers!
Ian

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: GUEST,Challis (having changed her server!)
Date: 30 May 01 - 01:19 PM

I think this "legend" might have some basis in fact. As a small girl I visited my Grandmother who was hot on plugging in as much local knowledge/family history/lard sandwiches as she could to a 10 year old. Anyway, she lived in Chertsey, Surrey, UK and I remember her pointing out a particular old church and its bell tower and saying that was the one where the girl had swung on the bell all night to saver her lover. 'Cause, sometimes Grandmas like to embellish stories!

But, then again, "Mary had a little lamb" Mary is buried in our local churchyard - simpler lyrics though..

Hille xx

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: catspaw49
Date: 30 May 01 - 05:29 PM

I'm with Barb and Ray.....The CMT had a really wonderful recording of this.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: Matthew Edwards
Date: 30 May 01 - 06:33 PM

Nice to have that old poem IanC.Mrrzy mentioned an illustration by Edward Lear which I can't remember havung seen-but it sounds great.There's another illustrated version by James Thurber which is hilarious;it portrays a very heavy Bessie swinging from the clapper of the bell and looking most alarmed.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: GUEST,mysterious stranger
Date: 31 May 01 - 09:54 AM

IanC- You can save wear and tear on your typing fingers if you check DigiTrad before you post long verses.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: IanC
Date: 31 May 01 - 10:25 AM

Guest

(a) I didn't type it.
(b) I'm not aware the original poem is in DT. Have you looked?

Cheers
Ian

Subject: ADD Version: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 May 04 - 07:00 PM

I'm listening to part of a C.A.R.E. package from Sandy Paton, a wonderful CD called Joe Hickerson With a Gathering of Friends, a reissue of a 1970 LP (Folk-Legacy CD-39). I'm having trouble understanding exactly what Hickerson has to say about the melody in the notes, but I gather that Hickerson's tune was folk-processed, and that the Chad Mitchell Trio version may be closer to the original tune. The notes are very interesting, and the lyrics are different enough from the DT version to be worth posting.

Hickerson's Notes:
9. HANG ON THE BELL, NELLIE (2:49)
Mike Smith brought this hit of tomfoolery to Bloomington, and we all sang it with him until he left, after which we had to fend with it for ourselves. It's a song suitable for such occasions as foot-stomping group-rowdy and informal bluegrassing (Paul Prestopino, Danny Kalb and I once tried this during a concert in Madison, WI, some ten years ago. Mike had learned the song in his native Omaha from a girl visiting from Alaska; she had learned it from someone in the Boston area.
Some of you may have run across "Nellie" swinging to an entirely different tune, as on a Raphael Boguslav LP (Monitor MF 359) entitled, after the sung, Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight or, with a rewritten final verse, on Kapp KL 1262, Mighty Day on Campus, by the Chad Mitchell Trio. Several people, including John Cohen, Bob Keppel, and Jerome Wenker, have told me that "Nellie" was sung with this tune in the Boston area in the early 1950s at folksong gatherings. How the tune changed in the next ten years from Boston to Alaska to Mike Smith remains a mystery, but I, for one, am glad the transformation took place.
Until recently I had thought that "Nellie" originated years ago as a parody of "Curfew Must Not Ring To-Night," a once overly-popular poem written on April 5, 1867, by Rose Hartwick Thorpe, aged 16, of Litchfield, Michigan (it was not published until 1870, when it appeared in an issue of the Detroit Commercial Examiner. For further information on Miss Thorpe and her literary effort (?), see George Wharton James' informative pamphlet Rose Hartwick Thorpe and the Story of "Curfew Must Not Ring To-Night" (Pasadena Calif. The Radiant Life Press, 1918).
My thoughts of an early origin of the "Nellie" parody waned, however, since I could only document it as far back as a 1948 sheet music printing in London, with composition credited to Tommie Connor, Clive Erard, and Ross Parker, and with a tune corresponding to the Boston-Boguslav-Mitchell versions. Recently, Dick Greenhaus sent me (via Lani Herrmann) a crucial lead: "Hang on the Bell, Nellie" had been recorded by, and perhaps written for, Beatrice Kay, an English songstress of the 1940's and 50's who specialized in the songs of the Gay and Naughty Nineties and their ilk. Armed with this lead, I located a 1949 catalog which listed a Columbia 78 rpm recording no. 38528 entitled Hang on the Bell, Nellie, sung by Beatrice Kay and credited to Connor, Erard, and Parker (reissued in 1960 on Harmony LP no. HL-7253).
The theme had certainly been parodied before, however. There was a clappered heroine named Maryland Calvert in a "Drama in Four Acts" by David Belasco entitled The Heart of Maryland, which was first performed on October 9, 1895, in Washington, DC. John Held, Jr., did a characteristic woodcut of the crucial scene in the play (see The Works of John Held Jr., New York, 1931, p. and the cover of the Boguslav LP).
The "Oh, no!" and "Stop!" on our recording are brought to you through the courtesy of Cinny Dildine and Barry O'Neill, respectively.

Hang on the Bell, Nellie
(Tommie Connor, Clive Erard, and Ross Parker - 1949?)

The scene is in a jailhouse; if the curfew rings tonight
The guy in number 13 cell will go out like a light.
She knew her dad was innocent, and so our little Nell
Tied her tender torso to the clapper of the bell.

CHORUS
Hang on the bell, Nellie, hang on the bell!
Your poor father's locked in the old prison cell
As you swing to the left and you swing to the right,
Remember that curfew must never ring tonight.

It all began when Nellie said, "Oh no!" to handsome Jack.
She struggled as he tried to kiss her down by the railroad track.
Daddy came a-running as the train sped down the line.
Jack stepped back across the track and paid the price of crime.

They arrested dear old Daddy and they took him before the law.
The coppers said that handsome Jack weren't handsome anymore.
Nell she came and pleaded but the jury did not care.
They did not have a sofa, so they sent him to the chair.

They tugged upon the bell-rope but there was no ting-a-ling.
They could not get the job done, no, the curfew would not ring.
Upstairs poor Nell was swingin' as below they tugged and heaved,
And suddenly a voice cries "Stop! The geezer been reprieved."

This is the bedtime story that the warden loves to tell.
The convicts listen to the tale of plucky little Nell,
And how she saved her dad that night when the curfew would not ring:
And tears stream down their faces as in harmony they sing.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 27 May 04 - 08:31 PM

A Scout version: Hang On
Chad Mitchell Trio (purported): Hang On the Bell

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 27 May 04 - 09:37 PM

IanC, thanks for posting. Yours is not exactly the 'original'?, but I think that as time went on, various editors added little improvements. I looked up Rose Alnora Hartwick Thorpe (1850-1939). Born in Indiana, grew up there and in Kansas and Michigan. In 1870, she submitted "Curfew Must Not Ring" to the "Commercial Advertiser" of Detroit. Newspapers spread it across the country and to England. This was already posted in Joe's notes from Hickerson with the Connor et al. version, I can't understand how Hickerson arrived at the conclusion that "Nellie" was not a parody of the teenage poem written by Hartwick (later married Thorpe, a carriage-maker). She also wrote children's fiction.
In 1887, her book, "Ringing Ballads, including Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight," was published by Lothrop in Boston. The book has been digitized and is at American Memory.

She also wrote "Remember the Alamo! The War-Cry at San Jacinto, Texas." This is available at the Women's History website.

For a brief biography and the original(?) of the Curfew poem, see the Women's History website:
Curfew Must Not

Mrs. Leslie Carter took the part of the heroine in Belasco's 1895 play, "Heart of Maryland." A scene in the play was based on Thorpe's poem, but I can't find any reference to the poem being sung.
Was the poem set to music before Beatrice Kay's time?. She performed in Canada and USA as well as in the UK. My mother, I remember, had a recording or two by her.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 May 04 - 03:20 AM

I thought I heard a version where Nellie died in her valiant effort, battered by banging into the bell so often. Anybody know of a version like that?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: Flash Company
Date: 28 May 04 - 10:25 AM

I only remembered the chorus, not any of the verses.
When I was a kid, we had a neighbour who wrote an indignant letter to the BBC demanding that they stop playing this (Her name was Nellie). Later, 'Nellie the Elephant' brought another tirade.

FC

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 28 May 04 - 11:35 AM

As Challis has already mentioned, this seems to have been a real historical incident which occurred in Chertsey, Surrey, UK and concerned a lady called Blanche Heriot whose lover was condemned to be executed when the curfew bell was rung.

The incident seems to have occurred during The Wars of The Roses, but there are some lyrics which place it later, during the Civil War. A curfew is still rung at Chertsey today - see more details here.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 28 May 04 - 02:50 PM

Dave Bryant, I wouldn't doubt that Thorpe knew the story and used it. I haven't read them, but apparently much of her work was based on old romantic material.
Nice to have the English poem. I think it should be reproduced here.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: Joe_F
Date: 28 May 04 - 07:01 PM

In _Rise Up Singing_, this song is wonderfully classified under "Hard Times & Blues".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: GUEST,Ken G
Date: 23 Jun 06 - 12:20 PM

can anyone remember the revised final verse used by the Chad Mitchell Trio that begins "They cut her fair young body down?" There is a line on the Mighty Day on Campus recording in that verse that I have never understood.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 20 May 07 - 07:35 PM

Anybody know where we can find the tune to this song? First choice would be a midi or dots but we'll settle for just being able to listen to it. The only two audio files we could find had the tune to the chorus and the verses were spoken but we know there's a tune to the chorus.

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 20 May 07 - 07:36 PM

Let's try that again. We know there's a tune to the verse.

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: Mo the caller
Date: 21 May 07 - 02:16 AM

I only remembered the chorus before.
We used to sing it round the Christmas dinner table 'for' Auntie Nellie.
My mother's song was 'I'll take you home again Kathleen' or 'K-k-k-Katie', and for Auntie Vera we sang 'And the great big saw came nearer and nearer poor Vera'.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: Mo the caller
Date: 21 May 07 - 02:24 AM

Vera's song

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: mandotim
Date: 22 May 07 - 02:24 AM

This brings back terrible memories for my mum. My eccentric great-aunts taught me the chorus when I was about three years old, and I would sing it gleefully whenever I got the chance. Imagine the scene; Catholic church, Easter Sunday morning, concelebrated mass with the Bishop attending, dozens of altar servers, loads of incense and rituals. The church is utterly silent in reflective prayer prior to the communion. The head altar server rings a small bell to call the faithful to communion, and a shrill little voice pipes up...
Tim

Subject: Lyr Add: CURFEW MUST NOT RING TO-NIGHT (R Thorpe)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 May 07 - 08:39 AM

Here's the original poem, from "Ringing Ballads: Including Curfew Must Not Ring To-night" by Rose (Hartwick) Thorpe. The book was published in 1887 but I think the poem is a bit older. This version is different in several ways from the version posted by IanC above, starting with the spelling of the title and author's name, ending with an extra verse:

CURFEW MUST NOT RING TO-NIGHT

England's sun was slowly setting o'er the hill-tops far away,
Filling all the land with beauty at the close of one sad day;
And its last rays kissed the forehead of a man and maiden fair,—
He with steps so slow and weary, she with sunny, floating hair:
He with bowed head, sad and thoughtful; she with lips all cold and white,
Struggled to keep back the murmur, "Curfew must not ring to-night!"

"Sexton," Bessie's white lips faltered, pointing to the prison old,
With its walls so tall and gloomy,—moss-grown walls dark, damp, and cold,—
"I've a lover in that prison, doomed this very night to die
At the ringing of the curfew, and no earthly help is nigh.
Cromwell will not come till sunset"; and her lips grew strangely white,
As she spoke in husky whispers, "Curfew must not ring to-night!"

"Bessie," calmly spoke the sexton (every word pierced her young heart
Like a gleaming death-winged arrow, like a deadly poisoned dart),
"Long, long years I've rung the curfew from that gloomy, shadowed tower;
Every evening, just at sunset, it has tolled the twilight hour.
I have done my duty ever, tried to do it just and right;
Now I'm old I will not miss it: Curfew bell must ring to-night!"

Wild her eyes and pale her features, stern and white her thoughtful brow,
As within her heart's deep centre Bessie made a solemn vow.
She had listened while the judges read, without a tear or sigh,
"At the ringing of the curfew Basil Underwood must die."
And her breath came fast and faster, and her eyes grew large and bright;
One low murmur, faintly spoken, "Curfew must not ring to-night!"

She with quick step bounded forward, sprang within the old church door,
Left the old man coming, slowly, paths he'd trod so oft before.
Not one moment paused the maiden, but with cheek and brow aglow,
Staggered up the gloomy tower where the bell swung to and fro;
As she climbed the slimy ladder, on which fell no ray of light,
Upward still, her pale lips saying, "Curfew shall not ring to-night!"

She has reached the topmost ladder; o'er her hangs the great dark bell;
Awful is the gloom beneath her, like the pathway down to hell.
See, the ponderous tongue is swinging! 't is the hour of curfew now!
And the sight has chilled her bosom, stopped her breath and paled her brow.
Shall she let it ring? No, never! Her eyes flash with sudden light,
As she springs and grasps it firmly: "Curfew shall not ring to-night!"

Out she swung, far out; the city seemed a speck of light below,
There 'twixt heaven and earth suspended, as the bell swung to and fro.
And the sexton at the bell-rope, old and deaf, heard not the bell;
Sadly thought that twilight curfew rang young Basil's funeral knell.
Still the maiden, clinging firmly, quivering lip and fair face white,
Stilled her frightened heart's wild beating: "Curfew shall not ring to-night!"

It was o'er!—the bell ceased swaying, and the maiden stepped once more
Firmly on the damp old ladder, where, for hundred years before,
Human foot had not been planted. The brave deed that she had done
Should be told long ages after. As the rays of setting sun
Light the sky with golden beauty, aged sires, with heads of white,
Tell the children why the curfew did not ring that one sad night.

O'er the distant hills comes Cromwell. Bessie sees him, and her brow,
Lately white with sickening horror, has no anxious traces now.
At his feet she tells her story, shows her hands, all bruised and torn;
And her sweet young face, still haggard with the anguish it had worn,
Touched his heart with sudden pity, lit his eyes with misty light.
"Go! your lover lives," cried Cromwell. "Curfew shall not ring to-night!"

Wide they flung the massive portals, led the prisoner forth to die,
All his bright young life before him, 'neath the darkening English sky.
Bessie came, with flying footsteps, eyes aglow with lovelight sweet,
Kneeling on the turf beside him, laid his pardon at his feet.
In his brave, strong arms he clasped her, kissed the face upturned and white,
Whispered, "Darling, you have saved me! curfew will not ring to-night."

Subject: RE: Origins: Hang on the Bell, Nellie
From: GUEST,PBR
Date: 03 Oct 16 - 04:25 AM

This (more-or-less) is a transcription of how I've heard 'Hang on the Bell Nellie' sung.
X:1
T:Hang on the Bell Nellie
M:4/4
Q:1/4=60
K:D
A,"Verse"|"D"DDDE|FFED|"E"EGFE|"D"D3F|
w:The scene was in the jail-house and if cur-few rang that night, The
FFFG|AA A2|"A"AA/A/GF|"D"E3A,|
w:guy in num-ber thir-teen cell would go out like a light. She
DDDE|FFED|GFGA|B3B|
w:knew her dad was in-no-cent, and so poor lit-tle Nell has
"A"AAA2|AAA3/2A/|EGFE|"D"D2A2-|A4"Chorus"|
w:tied her ten-der tor-so to the clapper of the bell. Oh_
|"D"AA2B|F2DD|"G"dd2B|"D"A3A|
w:Hang on the Bell Nel-lie, hang on the bell, Your
A2A2|B2AF|"A"E2EF|E2FE|
w:poor Daddy's locked in a cold pri-son cell. As you
"D"D2 D>E |F2DD| G2G>A|B3B|
w: swing to the left, and you swing to the right, Re-
"A"A A2 A|A E2 F|"G"G>G "A"F E|"D"D4|]
w:mem-ber   that cur-few must ne-ver ring to-night.