Ding dong! merrily on high

Representative Text

1 Ding dong, merrily on high!
In heav’n the bells are ringing;
ding dong, verily the sky
is riv’n with angel singing.
Gloria, hosannah in excelsis!
Gloria, hosannah in excelsis!

2 E'en so here below, below,
let steeple bells be swungen,
And io, io, io,
by priest and people sungen.
Gloria, hosannah in excelsis!
Gloria, hosannah in excelsis!

3 Pray ye dutifully prime
your matin chime, ye ringers;
may ye beautifully rhyme
your evetime song, ye singers.
Gloria, hosannah in excelsis!
Gloria, hosannah in excelsis!

Source: Complete Anglican Hymns Old and New #148

Author: George Ratcliffe Woodward

Educated at Caius College in Cambridge, England, George R. Woodward (b. Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, 1848; d. Highgate, London, England, 1934) was ordained in the Church of England in 1874. He served in six parishes in London, Norfolk, and Suffolk. He was a gifted linguist and translator of a large number of hymns from Greek, Latin, and German. But Woodward's theory of translation was a rigid one–he held that the translation ought to reproduce the meter and rhyme scheme of the original as well as its contents. This practice did not always produce singable hymns; his translations are therefore used more often today as valuable resources than as congregational hymns. With Charles Wood he published three series of The Cowley Carol Book (19… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Ding dong! merrily on high
Author: George Ratcliffe Woodward
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #1227
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Instances

Instances (1 - 10 of 10)
TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #1227

Text

Complete Anglican Hymns Old and New #148

Church Family Worship #667

Church Hymnal, Fifth Edition #155

Complete Mission Praise #114

Hymns Old and New #109

TextAudio

TTT-Himnaro Cigneta #513

Anglican Hymns Old and New (Rev. and Enl.) #154

Audio

Small Church Music #1522

The Christian Life Hymnal #120

Include 2 pre-1979 instances
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