carol of the bells

History

Origins and translation

The song is originally a Ukrainian folk song that was written as a winter well-wishing song. "Shchedryk" "tells the tale of a swallow flying into a household to proclaim the plentiful year that the family will have."^[1] The title is derived from the Ukrainian word for "bountiful." In Ukraine, the song is sung on the eve of the Julian New Year (January 13th). One popular (but inaccurate) interpretation is that the original Ukrainian song is based on an old Slavic legend that every bell in the world rang in honor of Jesus on the night of his birth. It is somewhat unusual among Christmas carols for its minor key, fast pace (the lyrics are sung very quickly, often to the point of being difficult to understand) and brevity.

The English language lyrics below were written in 1936 by Peter Wilhousky of NBC Radio. The song reminded Wilhousky of ringing bells and he captured that imagery in his lyrics.

In popular culture

The carol has been widely used in advertising, and humorous versions of it have appeared on South Park, Family Guy (see below) and Saturday Night Live. One famous use is in Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, when the child Kevin McCallister is setting traps to catch the inept thieves Marv and Harry. It also appeared on the main opening credits of The Santa Clause, which was performed by its very own chorus that even appeared once in an instant shot in the movie when the song was beginning. Canadian band Barenaked Ladies performed a re-arranged version on their Christmas album Barenaked for the Holidays. It was also featured at the end of The West Wing episode Noël, (season 2) when Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman & his assistant Donna Moss walk out of the front gates of the White House and stop to listen to a street choir performing the song. A fellow Warner Bros show, ER, features the carol at the start of season 2 episode 10 "A miracle happens here". Interestingly, both shows have John Wells as an executive producer. The song was also re-done in to a modern, techno dance mix by Producer / DJ Demonixx which has quickly become an underground cult classic. Indirectly, Carol of the Bells has become a staple of American radio during the holiday season. The song is a major part of the Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24 medley recorded by Savatage and popularized by their side project, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, on their 1996 debut Christmas Eve and Other Stories.

There is a popular Flash parody of the song commonly known as I Work at Burger King available on the Internet, where a still image of a worker behind the counter of a Burger King is crudely singing (with a moving mouth, comparable to animutation) to the melody of Carol of the Bells, but with comical lyrics relating to his job. This animation itself was parodied on the animated FOX sitcom Family Guy, where Peter sings exactly like in that animation.

A parody using Lovecraftian themes and lyrics was made by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical society, Carol of the Old Ones.

In late 2006, the music was used in two commercials for Garmin and for a Dell Latitude Laptops commercial.

Lyrics

Hark how the bells,

sweet silver bells,

all seem to say,

throw cares away

Christmas is here,

bringing good cheer,

to young and old,

meek and the bold,

Ding dong ding dong

that is their song

with joyful ring

all caroling

One seems to hear

words of good cheer

from everywhere

filling the air

Oh how they pound,

raising the sound,

o'er hill and dale,

telling their tale,

Gaily they ring

while people sing

songs of good cheer,

Christmas is here,

Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas,

Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas,

On on they send,

on without end,

their joyful tone

to every home

Ding dong ding... dong!