Darcy Watkins – November 11, 2024
There is a Christmas carol I have grown to love, Ding Dong Merrily on High. The tune originates as a French dance tune from the 1500’s, composed by Jehan Touborot (1519-1593). In the 20th century, an English man, George Ratcliffe Woodward (1848-1934) penned the lyrics we know today, first published 100 years ago in Christmas songbooks in 1924. I would have to say that my favorite recording of it was by Roger Whittaker. There have been many recordings, some staccato and choppy, making it suited for dancing of the day, but I enjoy the Whittaker recording, sung smooth and flowing, but not overly operatic. So, on the centennial anniversary of this Christmas carol, I share my thoughts on my rewrite and arrangement of the song.
A rewrite can be challenging. I wanted to modernize the language somewhat, but to preserve the original character of the song to honour those who touched it ahead of me. There are many rewrites of old hymns and carols of the church. Some seem cheesy. Others are good. Some are clever. I like Chris Tomlin’s story about how he agonized about rewriting Amazing Grace (Chains Are Gone). He wanted to do more than just add a chorus or bridge. He desired to honour the original work and what inspired it. I relate. I didn’t want to just add a bridge to Ding Dong Merrily On High unless it could really add meaning to the message behind the song. But I have to admit, there is a fun element to rewrites and rearranging songs.
Last year (2023) I rearranged Ding Dong Merrily On High as a mashup with Angels We Have Heard On High. I noticed that with a few chord changes, the two songs overlaid nicely and could be sung simultaneously. So, I arranged these as a medley, first Angels We Have Heard On High verses one and two, then Ding Dong Merrily On High verses one and two, then we did each of verse three, simultaneous along with the choruses leading into the ending. It was a fun exercise. I used this during a service and at a seniors’ Christmas luncheon. It was well received at both.
For the mashup, I had rewritten much of the verses to bring them into the 21st century, plus I especially had to lose that “I owe I owe so off to work I go” like line from the original lyrics. So, the centennial rewrite builds on this work from last year. I dropped the mashup with Angels We Have Heard On High and went back closer to the feel of the Roger Whittaker recording. I wanted to find greater significance from a Christmas carol that was previously written as much to be danced to as to be sung. This hit me like a train as I penned the stanza that would become the bridge.
Joyful Christmas bells now ring
Tolling death has lost its sting
Jesus is forever King
Celebrate, rejoice and sing
Sometimes a songwriter starts with the music, or a lyric hook and then builds from that. Sometimes a songwriter has a sense of message or mission and crafts it as a song. Sometimes songwriting is done as a collaborative work involving multiple songwriters passing the work back and forth, each contributing their part. For this work, the other collaborators are long dead. Hence the song has become about the conquest of death with the hope of eternal life in Jesus Christ. I wish I could say I cleverly concocted all this, but I have to admit, I whittled away at the original until it just felt right. Then I stumbled over what became the bridge. After that, I went back to refine my earlier rewrites.
So, what is the significance of church bells? Bells originate from Chinese culture circa 3000 BC. They made their way into European culture much later. They appeared to serve much the same purpose as the ram’s horn (sometimes translated into “trumpets” in the scriptures). Ram’s horns (or trumpets) were well suited to the mobile nomadic cultures of the ancient middle east and small villages lacking permanent infrastructure. Bells became more suited for use in larger villages, towns and cities, places with more permanent edifices.
In medieval times, bells were used to summon people surrounding a centre to gather for civic and church meetings. In church tradition, this evolved into proclamation of significant events, including weddings and funerals. In those days, European society centered around the church, so this is no surprise. There were bell tolls for various events and situations. They even had tolls for alarm, much like how the ram’s horn could be used to warn of a pending invasion.
When my dad died years back, I attended his funeral with my family. It was a grand funeral held at the local Anglican Church. He was honoured by the local Royal Canadian Legion with bag pipes and like. Although he had never fought in a war like his father or father-in-law, he was honoured for his work and contribution to the community and to the local legion chapter’s work. Among other things, he bugled at the annual Remembrance Day ceremonies. The community even named a creek after him in honour of his serving the community and acknowledged his work with the government as part of Fisheries and then later, the Environmental Protection Service.
The hardest part of the funeral, the part that hit me like a brick to the gut, was when they carried the casket out and the bell tolled in the background. Something about the sound of the bell just hit me like a ton of bricks. I couldn’t keep it in. At that point, tears gushed out. The bell tolled that one from among us, regardless of honour, had passed away from life as we know it to the unseen and unknown of what we refer to as the afterlife, that which we can only apprehend in terms such as hope and faith.
But Christmas Bells are different. They toll great joy and peace for all of us. They toll that death has lost its sting. In other words, it’s like death itself is in the casket being carried out the door. So instead of mourning a loss, we celebrate with great joy in the triumph of God over death which had hereto separated us from Him. I looked up the definition of “tolling” in this context. The description I read compared it to a statute of limitations. In legal tort, a statute of limitations commonly refers to an expiry date on a committed crime, after which if charges have not been laid on the suspect, the suspect is free for good.
We chime Christmas bells and sing Christmas carols to herald the advent, the birth of Christ. The birth of Jesus Christ brought with it a statute of limitations on the power of death over us. This was realized later with His resurrection as Jesus became the first born from the dead to eternal life. He did this for us. This is why we also pray “Come Lord Jesus” looking forward to the second advent, the return of Christ in His glory. But today we rest in the hope of resurrection, having faith, knowing we will rise us up just as He arose.
This hope gives us great joy, strength to face the hardships of life and to make impact on the world of darkness in which we live; we prevail as light. We have this strength in Christ as penned in Acts 17:28 “…in Him we live and move and have our being…”. What better significance or meaning can there be to a Christmas carol? It is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ who challenged and conquered death on its own terms, after which He gave the keys of this victory to us, the church. So, it is with the inspiration of these thoughts and prayer that I present this centennial rewrite of Ding Dong Merrily On High (Joyful Christmas Bells).
Resources can be found on the song page set up for it on this site.
I pray that you have a blessed Christmas and enjoy this centennial rewrite of Ding Dong Merrily On High. I pray that this stirs you in your heart like it has done for me.
Ding Dong Merrily On High (Joyful Christmas Bells)
Verse 1
Ding dong! Merrily on high
In heaven, bells are ringing
Ding dong! Cheerily the sky
Resounds angelic singingChorus
Glo- ria
Glo- ria
Hosanna in excelsisVerse 2
Hear now all around the earth
The Christmas bells are ringing
Carols heralding His birth
All gathered here are singingBridge
Joyful Christmas bells now ring
Tolling death has lost its sting
Jesus is forever King
Celebrate, rejoice and singVerse 3
Pray our light will fully shine
And keep those chimes, a ringing
May it beautifully rhyme
This Christmas song, we’re singingCopyright © 2024 Darcy L. Watkins
CCLI Song ID: 7248865